Catholic Education Canberra Goulburn eNewsletter

Every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student in Catholic schools in the Canberra Goulburn Archdiocese will be supported to embrace their culture and identity, and to achieve personal excellence, through a commitment launched by the Catholic Education during National Reconciliation Week.

Catholic Education Canberra Goulburn has moved quickly to commence implementation of its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Strategy, the system’s first dedicated policy to improve the learning outcomes of the region’s Indigenous students.

Director Ross Fox said the strategy is built on the belief that a child’s first teacher is the parent but that the child’s growth and future is the shared responsibility of the village - teachers, principals, and the whole school community.

“At Catholic Education we believe that a child’s background should not determine their educational success and our schools are very serious about achieving our vision for inclusive communities that deliver contemporary quality learning for every person,” Mr Fox said.

Catholic Education and school have already commenced implementation for more than 600 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students who attend Catholic schools in the Archdiocese from Wiradjuri in the north, south to Ngarigo and Yuin country.

Ngunnawal parent Selina Walker, and member of the Archdiocesan Catholic School Parents advisory group said the strategy had been developed in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents from school communities throughout the region.

“The thing I like most is that it focuses on an individual child’s learning and making sure that they are achieving their personal best, which will not only help their employment prospects, it will give them the confidence they need to make the life they want,” Ms Walker explained.

“A strong sense of culture and spiritual identity is very important to the mental health and wellbeing of our children and to their learning. The strengthening of Culture and identity is a pillar of this strategy which is tremendously important for our children.”

“Ultimately this strategy is about families and schools working together for the child,” Ms Walker said.

Ross Fox said while every community, culture, language and child may be different what remains the same is the vital role of education in their future success.

“It is our shared responsibility to work and walk with Elders and families to ensure our First Nations children have the knowledge, skills, faith and confidence needed to build a life they aspire to.”

Year 2 student Bronte Casson is in Nicholls but her teacher is in Beijing. She is on a live webcam call with the rest of her class, taking their weekly lesson in the Chinese language.

The program is run by Tom Shuggs, of My Education Group, which links Australian schools with Chinese teachers. Two Canberra schools, Holy Spirit Primary in Nicholls, and St Francis of Assisi Primary in Calwell, are using his company in their language classes.

Holy Spirit students learn from Cong Fei Fei, who speaks with them from Beijing for the half-hour lessons.

Mr Shuggs said there was a huge benefit in engaging with a native speaker, and by using a webcam, the students were “inherently excited”.

He had received “overwhelmingly positive feedback” from both students and teachers, with even the teachers themselves learning Chinese.

Mr Shuggs co-founded the program with Sam Dean in 2012, and started with just 100 students in the first year. It had taken off dramatically, now also in New Zealand, Britain and the US, teaching Chinese to more than 18,000 students.

Mr Shuggs said he used to struggle to learn languages himself but was now fluent in Chinese, which inspired him to begin the program. He had since lived in Beijing for a decade.

The Canberra Times, 27 May 2018

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Thousands of people from around Australia recently 'banded together' in the Bega Valley to show their support at the Tathra Bushfire Relief Contert, with two special acts from past Lumen Christi Catholic College students.

Erin McMahon (2014), Jack Biilmann (2008) and brother Joe Biilmann (2011) performed alongside 29 regional and local bands over three stages at the Sapphire Coast Turf Club to over 3500 people.

Bands, organisers, stage-builders and sound technitians donated their time at the extaudinary sold-out event raising money for the victims of the Tathra bushfires.

This is a wonderful accolade for the College and the local region, boosting community spirit and raising money for the victims of the Tathra bushfires.

Over 100 teachers and CSAs from around the Western Region came together on Friday 18 May to collaborate and share a profound professional learning opportunity at Sacred Heart Central School in Cootamundra.

Educational Consultant Leonie Anstey provided an excellent keynote on Raising Challenge and Thinking Maps which provoked deeper thinking, discussion and excitement at how quickly and easily staff would be able to implement the ideas presented and practiced during the session.

Numeracy Learning Specialist and Maths Coach Russell McCartney facilitated a second workshop with hands on activities to promote differentiation for students in all classes.

Sacred Heart Principal Janet Cartwright said it was a wonderful day of sharing, discussion, questioning and learning for all involved.

“We are very grateful to both presenters for fitting us into their busy schedules and for the opportunity to share with colleagues from schools around the Western Region,” she said.

Leonie was formally a Principal in Victoria for 6 years and has worked as a Teacher/Principal Coach for 5 years in mathematics and physics. She currently holds a Masters of Education and has supported Early Childhood settings to implement Mathematics and Science strategies.

In 2010, Leonie was presented with the prestigious Lindsay Thompson Fellowship for her work in raising mathematics achievement for middle year students across a network of schools. The fellowship focused on Instructional Leadership at the school, district and national levels in America, Scandinavia and the United Kingdom.

Leonie has presented at National and International conferences on Mathematics, Leadership and Thinking discussing Professional Learning Teams, Questioning, Australian Curriculum and Leadership practices.

Russell McCarthy is a Maths Coaching Specialist with more than 10 years’ experience delivering school-wide professional development days, conferences, PLTs an PLCs.

He assists teachers to explore how they might engage students in rich tasks and differentiate student learning, working with teams to collect and analyse data.

Over the past two years, as part of the Primary Maths/Science Specialist program Russell has led a team of numeracy coaches across three school settings and is now currently employed as a Numeracy Teaching and Learning Specialist and Maths Coach for the department of Education and Training Victoria.

Through an initiative called Studio Curious, Catholic Education-Canberra Goulburn and its partner Knowledge Society brought together a team of seventy educators from across fifty-six schools, early learning centres and the CE office to work on solutions to its biggest challenges.

Director Ross Fox said the approach has been to give on-the-ground educators – teachers, and school leaders – the evidence, a rigorous process and support to design solutions for the schools in our system.

“Our teachers and leaders know their contexts and challenges best.” Ross Fox explained.

Facilitator, Elena Douglas from Knowledge Society said the design process started with the evidence base, curated into a ‘Global Knowledge Consensus’ from action-oriented researchers who have a demonstrated record improving the performance of whole school systems.

She said the participants took their inspiration from leading school systems, such as Ontario, and education researchers including John Hattie, Michael Fullan and Lyn Sharratt, who have a track record of designing long-term, sustainable improvement in student performance.

“Starting with the evidence base is critical, otherwise design solutions miss the target,” she said.

Ross Fox said it’s our own teaching workforce through this human-centred design process that has produced a body of ideas supported by recent Gonski Report. “It validates the capacity of our teaching professionals to design the solutions. It shows that our frontline staff are best placed to identify the opportunities, strategies and pedagogy that will enhance performance across our 1000 classrooms in the Archdiocese.”

“We know that for any school or system to improve its performance, they need to adapt the global evidence and create solutions that respect the unique context of their particular schools. The best people to co-design these solutions are the people who will be implementing them on the ground,” Mr Fox explained.

Project teams in the Studio Curious initiative have presented 14 preliminary project designs to colleagues and a panel that included Mark Huxley, Executive Director of the School Performance and Improvement at the ACT Education Directorate; Dr Bill Maiden PSM OAM, Chair of the ACT Teacher Quality Institute Board; Tom Lowrie, Centenary Professor at Canberra University and Patrick Mcardle, Campus Dean of ACU’s Canberra campus.

“The opportunity to collaborate on projects that will make a difference to our work in class with principals and teachers from other schools – working with the evidence and learning how to create new solutions – has been amazing,” said Melanie Stratford, a teacher at St Benedict's Primary School, Narrabundah. “People don’t realise that it is not normal for teachers to collaborate – and it should be,” she explained.

John O'Neill, Assistant Principal (Curriculum and Achievement) at Carroll College in Broulee, and a teacher of science, biology and physics, said, “If you are going to have things work on the ground, you really have to have them designed by school people.”

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More than 200 educators from all sectors joined Catholic schools for a day of Challenging Learning with global inspiration James Nottingham from the UK.

Thanks to Colleen Cadey-Murphy and Lina Vigliotta who were the driving forces behind this energetic and refreshing opportunity to look at learning from different angles.

Twitter feeds highlighted tremendous motivation to translate into personal practice and local classrooms.

“I found James very motivational and talking about the learning pit and how we can all learn about our mistakes which is something that the children need to hear more often, learning from their mistakes, and teachers as well.” – Amanda, St Joseph’s Primary School Goulburn

“It was inspirational – to be able to hear him for a whole day has been amazing. It gives you so many wonderful ideas that we can take back and use with our children.” – Claire, Mother Teresa School Harrison

“I was interested to hear James focus on ‘progress’ over ‘performance’ which is really positive venacular to adopt. If a child is doing really well, in the middle or struggling, we should always be focused on ‘progressing’ them.”

St Clare’s College students have won an ACT Government Health Promotion Innovation Grant and will soon launch a project to encourage healthy food choices at the school.

The girls will work with a local dietitian and College food providers, and establishment a kitchen garden program.

It was an initiative of the St Clare’s College Student Representative Council which submitted successful ideas on how they could use the Grant to create a healthier community. They were among seven other successful local organisations.

Meegan Fitzharris, Minister for Health and Wellbeing, congratulated the College and said “the projects that will be funded will help give the ACT the edge it needs to improve our standards of living and encourage more healthy lifestyles. When 80 per cent of the burden of disease and injury in the ACT is caused by chronic conditions, we need to tap into the intellect, ideas and creativity of our people and organisations to develop programs that will change habits and encourage change as early as possible.”

Stay tuned to St Clare’s social media to see the project develop.

The Saints Peter and Paul Garran community came together to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the school with a 60's themed dinner at the National Arboretum on the 19th of May.

"It was wonderful to see so many past and current staff members, students and parents in attendance at the Arboretum," said School Principal Margaret Pollard.

"The Funky Fedoras band had people dancing the night away as they reminisced and renewed acquaintances."

The 50th Anniversary celebrations will continue throughout the year with school events leading up to Founders Day in September.

The St Michael’s Catholic Primary School community gathered in May to remember and celebrate the life of Jordan Taylor, a sustainability enthusiast at the age of 7, who lost a sudden fight with a brain tumour.

Jordan’s life was celebrated through an opening and blessing, by Archbishop of Canberra –Goulburn Christopher Prowse, of a Greenhouse and Garden built by members of the school and business community.

After waking early on the 17th May 2017 with a headache, Jordan crawled into bed with her mother Mia where she did not regain consciousness. Within hours Jordan was at Canberra Hospital receiving emergency surgery ahead of being flown to Sydney by the Snowy Hydro Helicopter. Over the next few days Jordan did not respond to further surgery or treatment and early on the 26th, with her Mother and Father by her side, Jordan passed.

Alan and Mia Taylor who had recently moved to Canberra have been overwhelmed by the generosity shown.

“Being new to town, we were astonished by the support we had received, from food deliveries, to a cupcake stall, and the generous donations of time and materials from many local companies have been truly appreciated. We are part of a beautiful community and we are grateful for that. Thank-you so much for your support,” Jordan’s mum Mia said. “Jordan would be proud of what we have create together.”

Jordan’s school community was keenly supported by the business community in creating a legacy in her honour, a greenhouse to celebrate Jordan’s short life, and in memory of her personal interest in sustainability.

St Michael’s Principal Mr Patrick Ellis said Miss Jordan’s Greenhouse is all about precious life, nurturing growth and passion for sustainability.

“Jordan’s memory will be forever in the hearts and minds of future students who come to learn the way nature works, to support the growth of healthy fresh foods, and how to create sustainable energy and environments.”

The morning will include the official opening of the greenhouse project funded and built by the community, including families from the school and local Canberra businesses.

A number of distinguished guests joined the community gathering including Senator Zed Seselja, Archbishop of Canberra Goulburn Diocese Christopher Prowse, Director of Catholic Education Ross Fox, and MLAs Meegan Fitzharris, Alistair Coe, Michael Patterson, Suzanne Orr and James Milligan.

On Tuesday 15 May, famous maths teacher Eddie Woo visited St Francis Xavier College in Florey, to spend some time with staff and students and run some workshops on his methods for mathematics education.

Eddie Woo is the head maths teacher at Cherrybrook High School in Sydney’s North West, won the Australian Local Hero award at the Australia Day awards ceremony in January, gave the NSW Australia Day address (the first time a teacher has done so) and is a Top 10 Finalist of the Global Teacher Award.

Mr Woo featured in Australian Story earlier this year, and has made it his mission to educate people in numeracy not only at the school where he is head of maths, but around the world through his “Wootube” channel with over 14 million views.

When asked about what he would say to those daunted by mathematics and those who find it difficult, Mr Woo had some wonderful practical advice.

“Mathematics is a subject that is woven into absolutely every aspect of our lives but sometimes we don’t realise that it is,” he said.

“If you struggle, open your eyes; If you’re driving through traffic, have a look at how the traffic is flowing or how the traffic lights are changing colour,

“When you’re buying something at the shops think about all the numbers and patterns around you.”

He encouraged SFX students to have a positive attitude, perseverance, and suggested that the best way to enjoy and understand maths is to find beauty in the mathematical concepts that surround us.

“Maths is like gymnastics - you have to twist your body into funny forms and in maths you twist your mind,” he said.

Eddie spent an hour with over 150 Year 9 students, teaching them through number games, an engaging presentation style which had the students enthralled.

He also had a word of advice for those who teach maths and struggle to get through to their students.

“My greatest piece of advice for teachers who teach maths is to know that this is a subject that kids often don’t connect to their everyday life,” she said.

“We need to see that it’s relevant, but no matter what profession or work I go into there is mathematics tucked away in that’

“By knowing this, we can start to appreciate the patterns and relationships in the world.”

Written by Beth Doherty

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Former Hennessy Catholic College school captain Alicia Prest has graduated from the University of Canberra with a Bachelor of Law with First Class Honours and three Dean’s Excellence awards while working full-time and raising three boys.

In an impressive display of academic excellence, Alicia topped several of her subjects, received eight awards for her outstanding achievement and was invited to become a member of the Golden Key International Honours Society for achieving a GPA of 6.68.

Alicia was also the recipient of one of three Herbert Burton Medals for providing a valuable contribution to the University in combination with her outstanding academic results.

Alicia’s drive for purpose compelled her to help other young women in law co-founding the University of Canberra Women Lawyers Mentor Program, connecting third year female law students with professional female lawyers to assist with the transition from University.

The mother of three recently completed her Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice and has since been admitted to the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory.

Hennessy College is immensely proud of Alicia and her ongoing contribution to our community.

Congratulations to the members of the St John Paul II College Social Justice Group who received a ‘highly commended’ recognition in the Young ACT Citizen of the Year group awards.

Principal Catherine Rey accompanied a group of students from Year 7 -12 representing the Social Justice Group to the Awards Ceremony at QT last month.

Year 11 student Bronte Froome was also nominated for an individual award for her contributions to the wider ACT community.

Bronte continues to work passionately for the Love Your Sister Cancer Research Charity and will be assisting the ACT Director of Human Rights Commission work on issues affecting ACT youth.

The St Bede's Primary School community in Red Hill has been raising money and awareness for Project Compassion and supporting the families affected by the Tathra bushfires.

For the school’s Lent social justice fundraiser students ran a water bucket relay and through their enthusiastic participation raised over $1400 for Project Compassion and were able to relate to the hardships of children living in poverty.

St Bede’s families have also generously donated bottled water to be collected by St Vincent de Paul and diverted to Tathra NSW after the bushfires.

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St Joseph’s Grenfell Primary School student Yetu Akhiwu has won Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack’s 2018 Anzac Day writing competition for her high calibre entry ‘The Brave Anzac’.

The year 6 student was delighted to discover that her short story about the heartache encountered by a nurse serving in the war was the overall winner in the Primary North Riverina section.

St Jospeh’s Grenfell Principal Therese Clancy said that Yetu’s story was of a very high standard and thanks year 6 teacher Mrs Heath for providing students with the opportunity to enter in the competition.

Mr McCormack said that the competition is a great way for students to further learn about Australia’s military history and to remember the men and women who fought so bravely for our freedom.

Read Yetu's winning entry:

THE BRAVE ANZAC

The sun is barely up. Mercifully, the rain is quiet outside the almost bare room. At night, sleep was chased away by nightmares, and never came back.

Everybody is thankful to be alive. But how can you celebrate a new day of living if every day is death?

Cold. Raining. Miserable.

The walk to the hospital seems dull and difficult. Now, I can’t remember a time without bombs and blood and death and tears and guns and goodbyes.

The hospital is full of patients. Bedridden volunteers crying, tears streaming down faces like rivers, clearing dirt from mud-stained cheeks. Whether they are crying from sorrow or pain, no one knows.

Others who aren’t hurt physically are ill in a different way. Headaches, coughing, moaning, dying. Silent and weak. Just as many people die both ways.

Another soldier is brought in. His eyes are closed. Legs, ripped and torn, shirt dyed red and wet from the deep wounds, hidden underneath. Arms covered in mud. But breathing.

I almost cry. But nobody here cries every time someone dies. If we did, we would have cried all our tears and blood away long ago.

He stops breathing. He won’t survive.

Quickly, his wounds are cleaned and bandaged. He is put in new clothes, given medicine.

Many seconds pass. Nothing. The doctor examines him. Reluctantly, the final word is given.

Another soldier dead.

He is lifted up to be buried. Suddenly…. a soft noise. Breathing. Quietly. Everyone smiles as his eyes open. Another soldier lives.

Written by Yetu Akhiwu
Year 6, St Joseph’s Primary School Grenfell

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