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- Message from Head of Schools
- What's on the CS Calendar
- Opportunities for Students From Australian Catholics Magazine
- Calling all Artists! - Jubilee Art Exhibition 31 May
- Art and Spirituality Workshops 4 April & 12 September 2025
- Technology Services Update: NAPLAN 2025
- NAPLAN OPT-IN ASSESSMENTS 2025 - Science, Civics and Citizenship
- St Nicholas OOSH - flyer & events for new families
- The importance of making a phone report to DCJ when it is high risk
- Supporting your schools transition to the FACE forum
- Accountability - A full day professional learning opportunity for Assistant Principals
- Secondary College Library Matters
- EARLY LEARNING - SUCCESSFUL FOUNDATIONS 2025
- Early Career Teachers Supervisor PL
- Webinars to promote to your parents
- Templates for schools to support communication with families- Week at a glance template
- CREATE CHOREOGRAPHIC PROJECT
- JUNIOR THEATRE MAKERS
- HOW TO BE A HERO: UPPER HUNTER CREATIVE ART PROJECT
- VOICEWORX
- ASPIRE SONG WRITING COMPETITION
- SCRIPTWRITING COMPETITION
Dear Colleagues,
The beginning of every school year is an intense and wondrous time in which all staff, no matter their role, are called to work together, to ensure that our schools are places of welcome and inspiration.
Our schools are committed to establish and grow communities that challenge and nurture. An invitation is extended to all who join our communities of living faith, to be in communion with God and with one another.
Supported by our parents, carers and diocesan partners, our schools set the foundations for success. I offer my gratitude for your efforts to welcome and engage new members of your community, to provide settled learning environments and establish strong and supportive relationships.
THANK YOU
- to staff for your generous efforts in preparation for parent engagement opportunities including Parent/Carer Information sessions
- to our RECs, Ministry Coordinators and Liturgy teams for coordinating opening school masses and commissioning ceremonies for student leaders
- to staff involved in school swimming carnivals or offsite camps
- for management of timetables, duty rosters and resources
- to kindergarten teachers and support staff for ensuring a very settled approach to the year for so many little ones who are transitioning to new environments
- to office and administration staff for managing the extraordinary number of requests, calls and administrative jobs needed at this time of year, including enrolment enquiries for 2026
- for those coordinating open days, school tours and welcome campaigns
- to grounds maintenance staff and general assistants for coordinating and managing the many requests from staff and ensuring our schools are well maintained
- to Learning Support Teams for your care and nurture of students with additional needs, for tirelessly working in preparation of Post enumeration audits, liaising with external providers and the many ways you work to temper anxiety and expectation
- to each and every one of you for being patient, flexible and positive, for enduring disruptions and delays, for ensuring a calm and settled environment, and for being the Face of Jesus for our school community. You are appreciated for the work you do, but more-so for the people you are and your contribution to our school ethos and cultures…THANK you!
St Joseph’s Catholic College Aberdeen – Diocesan Awards Assembly
St Joseph’s Catholic College Aberdeen held its awards assembly on Wednesday. I congratulate all our award recipients! May this be the beginning of many more achievements guided by faith and determination?
St Joseph's Primary School and the Parish of Toronto
Well, done to St Joseph's Primary School and the Parish of Toronto, which recently commemorated 40 years since relocating to its current site at Kilaben Bay with a series of special events. The celebrations began with a Mass in December, marking the anniversary of the first Mass held at the new location.
The festivities continued Wednesday evening with a liturgy, followed by activities including a memorabilia display, souvenirs, BBQ, ice creams, music, face painting, and some special musical performances.
With my best wishes,
Jacqui
Please promote the following with your students:
The 2025 Young Voices Awards are open. We are looking forward to many more wonderful entries this year. The theme for the awards ‘Voices of hope’ echoing that of the 2025 Jubilee Year ‘Pilgrims of hope’. The competition is open to secondary school and senior primary school students – junior (years 5 and 6); intermediate (years 7 to 9); or senior (years 10 to 12). Each section has three entry categories: articles, photographs and digital (video or podcast) and prizes will be awarded for each category.
Deadline: Entries are due by 5pm (AEST), Friday 9 May 2025.
This is a valuable opportunity for any 15-17 year old students who are keen writers, journalists or keen to explore a career in media. Internship participants work with us for a week over Zoom to write and compile the September edition of Australian Catholics magazine It is an immersive work experience program. The theme of the edition will be 'Voices of hope'.
Closing date for applications: 21st March
Further details for both of these can be found at: https://www.australiancatholics.com.au/
With NAPLAN fast approaching, Technology Services has undertaken some initial preparation. See below for more information.
NAPLAN Locked Down Browser (LDB)
The latest LDB has been remotely deployed to all school-owned devices. Please check that all devices meant for NAPLAN testing have the LDB by following the steps below:
- Power on the device
- Check the NAP 2025 Purple icon is showing on the desktop (see image below).
BYOD Devices
Students with BYOD can download the latest version using the download links from the ACARA site.
Internet Optimisation
During the NAPLAN testing period, we will limit internet traffic related to non-essential software updates. Please note that this does not include any restrictions to media streaming sites such as YouTube, which are widely used as teaching resources. If this is something the school would like implemented, please consult with your principal and submit a request via Service@MN.
Other Considerations
- Ensure all devices used for NAPLAN testing have been connected to the school network, powered on, and checked before the testing period begins.
- During your school's testing period, please limit non-essential Internet use.
- Tech Services do not support Android devices such as Chromebooks for NAPLAN testing, this includes BYOD.
For more information and resources, including support contacts, please look at the NAPLAN 2025 Connect@MN Page. It includes information on the LDB, how to install it, and troubleshooting tips.
Read Less
Did you know?
- When you complete an MRG (Mandatory Reporter Guide) and the outcome is: Immediate Report to the Child Protection Helpline, you should call 132 111 immediately – NOT an eReport.
Why?
- The risk to the child is deemed extremely high and DCJ need to know this information straight away.
- eReports are back logged for weeks to months, so serious and imminent risks often go unmanaged if we don’t pick up the phone to report these concerns.
When should I eReport?
- eReports are helpful to capture cumulative risk/harm if you have ongoing concerns and need to give context to DCJ. These should be very detailed and include background information.
- NEVER if you have serious concerns that need a response quickly. Please also consider 000 if you believe your concerns are an emergency.
What if I am not sure?
- Give the Office of Safeguarding a call on 02 4979 1390 – we are always happy to consult and guide you.
Well for most people 14th February is known as Valentine’s Day, but did you know it is also Library Lover’s Day, and what a great way to kick off the new year! At St Joseph’s Lochinvar a new cohort of Junior Library Assistants were welcomed to the team. These Library Lovers pitch in with some of the general library procedural activities and also get on board to help run special events. It is a great initiative, and the Junior Library Assistants are wonderful advocates for reading for pleasure and leisure and spruiking the benefits of getting to know and being involved in your school library. At St Catherine’s in Singleton "Love at First Line" was the feature, showcasing books with captivating opening lines to hook readers from the start. The aim was to spark some curiosity and encourage students to pick up something new! Where at St Mary’s Gateshead students were tempted to have a Blind Date with a Book. Brown paper wrapped books that included clues to what was inside, asked students to choose a book based, not by its cover, but by what was inside! The hope was that they would discover a new genre, author or series to expand their reading horizons!
This week we acknowledge the children from St Joseph’s Merewether, Holy Family Merewether Beach, St Patrick’s Lochinvar, Our Lady of Victories Shortland, St Peter’s Stockton, St Catherine’s Singleton, Rosary Park Catholic School Branxton, St Patrick’s Swansea, St Joseph’s Charlestown and Holy Spirit Infants Abermain where the following images were taken as part of our school visits in the Norths, Lakes, Lower Hunter and Central regions this week.
We are so grateful to be welcomed into Kindergarten classrooms across the diocese during the Successful Foundations project and acknowledge the time our Kindergarten teachers have invested to create classroom environments and provocations to support children as they transition into school. Make sure you visit the Kindergarten classroom in your school to observe children engaged in play!
Bridie Stanger
This week Narelle Cross and Jane Scahill delivered the Early Career Teacher Supervisor professional learning on Monday in Newcastle and Wednesday at Aberdeen. A total of thirty supervisors attended.
The course provided participants with the knowledge and understanding to support early career teachers in developing their knowledge and practice as they work towards Proficient Teacher accreditation.
Throughout the days the participants developed an understanding of the supervisor's role and how to form positive supervisor – early career teacher relationships. Through a variety of activities and discussion they gained an understanding of the characteristics of an effective mentoring and supervision program, gained knowledge about modelling teaching practices and how to provide purposeful and meaningful feedback.
The days were a great success with the supervisors sharing a wealth of knowledge and experience with each other.
