Dear Colleagues,

Called to Serve Mass

On Wednesday evening, members of the Catholic Schools Maitland-Newcastle community filled Sacred Heart Cathedral for the annual Called to Serve Mass. It was presided over by Bishop Michael Kennedy, who described the occasion as an “opportunity for the Catholic school community to express their commitment to serve the mission of Jesus Christ in the ministry of Catholic school education.” School communities, in turn, marked this commitment with the tradition of bringing the names of all staff members in a procession symbolising unity to the foot of the altar. 

The names of all staff who work in the Catholic Schools Office, were also offered in the procession, acknowledging that all who work across the Diocese in different ministries are indeed called to serve.  

I thank you for gathering as representatives of our shared mission to make Jesus known, and in service of our school communities.

St Michael's Primary School at Nelson Bay

St Michael's Primary School at Nelson Bay started the school year with modern classrooms and new facilities. Students returned to school last week and were excited about the school's new upgrades. Year 6 student Noah, who has been at the school since kindergarten, said it was exciting to walk back into school and see all the changes.

The upgrades included new classrooms, a learning hub, a new administration building, and basketball and netball courts, which were popular with the students.

Award Ceremonies across the Diocese

This week held many 2025 Opening School Year Masses and Assemblies, Student Leadership Commissioning Services and Award Ceremonies, acknowledging the academic achievements of the 2024 Year 12 cohort and recipients of ROSA.

As a Diocese, we walk this journey together, united in Christ’s love. Let us support one another, celebrate our gifts, and make this year one of joy, service, and excellence.

May God bless you abundantly as you embark on this year’s journey. Let’s make it a year to remember!

As we honour these accomplishments, let us also remember that awards and our impact on others measure success. May we strive for excellence, uplift those around us, and use our gifts to serve God and our communities.

Congratulations to all our award recipients! May this be the beginning of many more achievements guided by faith and perseverance.

“Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” – Matthew 5:16

See some of the photos below: 

SFX Hamilton

The 2025 Commissioning Ceremony was held on the 11th of February at the Newcastle Civic Theatre. The 2025 Student Leaders were introduced and acknowledged before the assembled College community

St Paul’s College Booragul

Catherine McAuley Medowie

St Mary’s Catholic College Gateshead

St Bede’s Catholic College Chisholm

With my best wishes,

Jacqui

Bishop Michael has invited all Catholic schools to join our Diocesan Launch of the Jubilee Year on March 2. It begins with a pilgrimage walk from Foreshore Park all the way to Sacred Heart Cathedral (4km) at 8am with Bishop Michael – our chance to be Pilgrims of Hope! Following this you’re invited to a family festival of fun, free food trucks and ice cream, amusements, entertainment, and an obstacle course taking over the Cathedral Precinct.

This event doubles as our Launch of Project Compassion and collection of resources for this year’s campaign.  Please watch and share this video about the Jubilee Year, Our Pilgrim Churches and the Launch event to learn more.

Register Your Interest for the 2025 National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Catholic Tri-Annual Assembly

Every three years, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council (NATSICC) hosts a National Tri-Annual Assembly.

In 2025, the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle is honoured to host this gathering on the lands of the Wonnarua people at Rydge’s Hunter Valley from Monday 29 September to Friday 3 October 2025.

With the theme “Pilgrims of Hope,” inspired by Pope Francis’ Jubilee Year, this Assembly promises to be a meaningful event.

The success of the assembly relies heavily on the Host Diocese and our generosity and/or attendance.

Complete this form to register your interest in attending or volunteering: https://forms.office.com/r/5XDUHy3Vrc

Enquiries can be sent to mission@mn.catholic.org.au

This year the RE&S Team has reimagined the SEEDs initiative to a new 2-year pathway program that aims to nurture the next generation of faith leaders who will inspire and guide our school communities. This program will provide tailored, sequential, and targeted pathway for those seeking to grow in their understanding and capacity of being a faith leader in our contemporary world.

This new program is available to aspiring Religious Education Coordinators (RECs), Ministry Coordinators (MC), Leader of Learning Religious Education (LoLRE), or those simply interested in building their capacity in faith leadership to share in God’s mission.

Please have conversation with members of your Executive if you are interested in this great professional opportunity. 

Please complete an application form by Friday 21 February 2025 which can be found in the link below. Places are limited.

Further information can be found here or in the attached flyer.

On Wednesday 12 February more than 70 Early Career Teachers attended the annual Orientation to Teacher Accreditation Day held in the Victor Peter Suite.

We welcomed Bishop Michael Kennedy who addressed the teachers relating his experience of being a teacher and sharing the purpose and mission of Catholic schools. Bishop Michael then led the group in prayer, blessing the teachers and distributing to each a blessed keyring with the image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the patron saint of our Diocese. Mrs Jacqui Wilkinson, Head of Schools, then warmly welcomed the early career teachers to the teaching profession.

Throughout the day participants heard from a number of speakers who outlined the expectations and responsibilities of teachers within our Diocese and shared many of the rewards and challenges they may face along their teaching journey.

An orientation to Teacher Accreditation was also provided to the group with an outline of the accreditation support and the Growth and Development Program that is offered over a two-year period. This program provides professional development in the areas of Understanding and Supporting Behaviour, Teacher Health and Wellbeing, Parents and Schools Working Together and several other workshops to develop professional practice.

The day fostered an environment where new early career teachers could network, make connections, share ideas, practice, and experiences, and look at their own aspirations and career paths as teachers.

Jane Scahill and Narelle Cross

Education Officers – Teacher Accreditation and Registration

This week we acknowledge the children from St Therese’s New Lambton, St Aloysius Chisholm, St Joseph’s Kilaben Bay and St John Vianney Morisset, St Paul’s Rutherford and St Benedict’s Edgeworth where the following images were taken as part of our school visits in the Lakes, Lower Hunter and Central regions this week.

As previously shared, throughout Successful Foundations, Kindergarten children play for an hour a day for the first five full weeks of school to support their transition to school. Play is fundamental to the Early Learning Policy in our diocese as an important method of teaching and learning.

We encourage all educators to step back and take time to truly observe the children in play at their school. Look for literacy, numeracy, creativity, curiosity, self-regulation, cooperation, problem solving and most importantly JOY!

Bridie Stanger

Schools can now enrol Year 6 and Year 10 students to participate in NAP Opt-in assessments in key curriculum areas. These new optional assessments are part of the National Assessment Program and are being phased in over 3 years. In May 2024, science literacy was delivered successfully. Civics and citizenship is being added for 2025, followed by ICT literacy in 2026. From 2026, NAP Opt-in assessments in all 3 domains will be available each year.

Schools choosing to take part in NAP Opt-in assessments will be able to measure student performance against national standards in key curriculum areas beyond literacy and numeracy and use the results (available only to the participating school) to review, plan and adapt teaching and learning programs.

Schools can run the assessments using the online platform at a time that suits them in the testing window, which in 2025 will run from Monday 5 May – Friday 30 May. Schools will already be familiar with the online platform and processes used as they are similar to NAPLAN. Schools will self-administer the NAP Opt-in assessments in 2025 via the platform – www.assessform.edu.au.

Schools have the option to enrol both Years 6 and 10 students, or one year, or individual classes of students within either year. When schools enrol full-year cohorts, they benefit from more data for school-wide planning.

There is no fee for schools registering to take part. 

Registration for the assessment will open on 25^th March 2025 and close on 29^th April 2025.

Further information is available here: NAP - Opt-in , by contacting ACARA's NAP Opt-in assessment team at: opt-inhelpline@acara.edu.au 

If you have any questions, please contact Madeline Smith, Education Officer - Curriculum & Pedagogy

Applications for 2026 Kindergarten and Year 7 enrolments open February 17 and are managed in two rounds.

Priority Round (Round 1):

• Applications Open: February 17
• Applications Close: May 23
• Offer Letters Sent: June 13
• Acceptance Deadline: June 27

Ongoing Placements (Round 2):

• Opens: May 24
• Rolling Offers: June 28 – December 19

Note: Different dates apply for Inner-City Schools (Trinity Catholic College, St. Francis Xavier's College, and San Clemente Catholic College). Refer to these dates here.

For any enrolment questions please contact Luke Job, School Enrolment Officer

Welcome back to 2025

As you can imaging the People & Culture team are processing a great number of casual staff contracts and I thank you for your patience as these are being processed.

As per last year, I aim to provide schools with a weekly list of newly onboarded casual staff. I am excited to introduce the casual staff members listed below who will be joining our Maitland-Newcastle Diocese school communities! I am sure that these individuals will bring a wealth of experience and enthusiasm, and we are thrilled to welcome them to our schools.

In 2025, I will also directly email ClassCover administrators a newsletter that indicates newly onboarded casuals to their region and other useful information.

A full list of newly onboarded Teachers can be found here

A full list of newly onboarded Learning Support Assistants can be found here 

All new visiting staff are available on ClassCover where you can view their profile and availability.

Schools, please ensure your ClassCover is up to date and your administrators within schools are also up to date. 

Thank you for your continued dedication to fostering a nurturing and collaborative environment in our schools. We look forward to seeing the positive impact our new casual staff will have working alongside you.

If you have any questions about new casual staff or need assistance reaching them, please feel free to contact Aaron Campbell for support.

In 2025, there will be twelve Curriculum Focus Days (CFD) total, including seven across secondary and five for primary. Resources for these CFDs will be published in early 2025.

Secondary

Primary

• Creative Arts Stage 1
• Mathematics Stage 3

Like 2024, we will be looking to hold three of the primary CFDs in regional clusters (Upper Hunter, Manning and Lower Hunter). Could you please email Alicia Dibben if your school would be willing to host a CFD within one of the three regional clusters listed above. 

Alicia Dibben

School Improvement

As part of my role as Education Officer School Leadership Development, I assist School Leadership team members to reflect on their practice and, through coaching conversations, set authentic PP&D goals. A positive impact of this guided process is the upskilling and motivation of leadership team members and the embedding of reflective practices in the teams they lead.

As we head into a new year, if you and your leadership team would like support in Term 1 with your PP&D, please reach out.

The School Improvement Team is leading a review and update of the current PP&D policy, process and forming guidelines for Catholic Schools. Thus, we are seeking volunteers who are willing to share with us their school’s PP&D procedures and guiding documents as we seek to develop a consistent PP&D process across all schools.

Your insights and feedback on the PP&D process are also welcomed via the link below. Please note, please continue with your current PP&D process for 2025.

Please use the link below to:

1. Book an in-school session in Term 1 to work with your leadership team to develop goals and individual PP&D plans.
2. Share your school’s PP&D process and guiding documents.
3. Provide feedback around the positives and any challenges related to PP&D (this should only take 2-3 minutes of your time).

As the ‘knowledgeable others’, your input is greatly appreciated in shaping our practice.

Principal Survey link:

https://forms.office.com/r/MhSEHWkXiP?origin=lprLink

Lauren Carlson

School Leadership Development

Dear Principals

In recognition of the important role of parents and carers as the first and foremost educators in their child’s lives, you are encouraged to share details with them of upcoming webinars that will empower them in supporting their child’s learning and wellbeing needs.  

To this end, please find attached:

• A table that contains the details of free webinars that are being offered by a range of reputable providers and geared towards parents and carers of children in primary school. (Please click here for attachment)
• A table that contains the details of free webinars that are being offered by a range of reputable providers and geared towards parents and carers of children in high school. (Please click here for attachment)

You are welcome to adapt and convey the information contained in these tables in style that best suits your school community. Alternatively, you may like to ‘cut and paste’ the table directly into your school’s newsletter or, into a Compass post.

Each week, I will provide an updated table in Connect, so keep an eye out for new sessions to promote to your school community.  

Kind regards,
Lizzie Watkin
Catholic Schools’ Professional Officer- Family Engagement

Dear Principals

As previously been advised, over the coming weeks I will share templates that you may like to consider adopting to aid communications and relationship building with parents and carers in your school community.

This week, please find attached a ‘Lines of Communications’ templates document. This document is also available to staff at any time on the Family Engagement tile on SharePoint (School Improvement > Family Engagement > Templates).

The ‘Lines of Communication’ templates have been designed based on the back of parent, carer and staff feedback.

• Many parents and carers indicated in the TTFM Survey that they do not know who in the school community to contact regarding issues concerning their children and expressed a feeling that schools often don’t provide advice regarding key school dates far enough in advance.
• Staff in various roles, both teachers and leaders, have indicated that parents are often not choosing the most appropriate avenues to ask questions, raise concerns or provide feedback and also do not regularly read the information that is provided to them.

As such, it is hoped that these templates may assist schools to proactively bridge these communication gaps and thus, support relationship development between staff and parents not only for their own benefit but also the benefit of all students’ learning and wellbeing.

The Lines of Communications templates (for customisation by the school) include:

• A cover letter that includes suggested wording
• A key school dates overview for each term 
• A tabled guide of communications and engagement initiatives families can expect from the school
• A tabled guide for families on who to contact in the school regarding urgent matters, general information, student learning and wellbeing as well as safeguarding and Code of Conduct.
• A flow chart for families on how the school partners with families to address matters of a complex or ongoing nature.

Please be advised that:

• It is not mandatory for schools to adopt these templates as part of your communications with parents and carers. Rather, they are there for your consideration.
• You may choose to communicate the entire Lines of Communication document with your families or alternatively, you may choose to only share those sections you feel are most relevant. If you choose to only use parts, you can find each individual section in separate documents on SharePoint.
• The entire document can be customised. Suggested wording has been included throughout, however, it is the responsibility of the Principal to review (and potentially amend) all content contained in the document to ensure it is appropriate for their school context and reflects their school’s procedures, protocols and staffing arrangement.
• Parts that are highlighted MUST be customised. 
• You may choose to incorporate information/tables contained in this document into other existing school communications such as newsletters, websites or the School Handbook
• It is strongly encouraged that prior to the document (or parts thereof) being shared with families that your staff are made aware of the advice contained in the document.

I welcome any feedback you have on this document and if you require support populating it, please contact me.

Finally, if there are other templates you would like to see developed to assist your staff to build relationships with parents and carers, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards,
Lizzie Watkin
Professional Officer- Family Engagement

Click here for attached documents

The ASPIRE Song Writing Competition is open to all students in our primary and secondary schools.

Aspire 2025 is set in a post-apocalyptic future where young people are not allowed to feel any emotions. When mysterious artworks start appearing around the city questioning this course of action a small group of rebels are inspired to challenge the decisions of their leaders.

The Song Competition will be broken into 4 categories- Primary School (individual), Primary (class), Year 7-9 and Years 10-12. Using the story for the production, the themes below will be the song writing focus for these allocated year groups.

Primary (class) category- Primary school teachers are encouraged to create a song with their classes or part of their class. This could be part of programming or a co-curricular project.

Primary School (individual and class categories): Emotions

What are emotions?

Select an emotion to be the focus of your song

Different ways of expressing emotions

Years 7, 8 or 9: Rebellion

Using 'rebellion’ as a theme for lyrics and/or music

Think about making a stand

What do people rebel against and how might they go about it?

Years 10, 11 or 12: Artwork

Using 'artwork’ as a theme for lyrics and/or music

You may be inspired by a particular artist or artwork

What effect does art have on people

The attached flyer will give you more about the song competition which closes on Thursday 3 April 2025. Those selected as finalists will workshop their songs and then perform at the Song Writing Showcase on Thursday 22 May 2025.

ASPIRE is introducing a scriptwriting competition in 2025 for secondary students. Interested creative writers are encouraged to get writing and enter a script to go through a shortlisting process. There is no theme, and students can write about whatever they are interested in. Scripts must be PG rated and be between five and eight minutes in length, with a maximum of six performers.

Once entries close, shortlisted finalists will be sent feedback to consider from the judges and asked to submit a second draft of their script. The winner of each category will be decided at a live staged reading performance where a guest panel will judge the scripts. There are two categories: Years 7-9 and Years 10-12.

Entries close Friday 18 April 2025.