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Last Thursday I took part in an Education Roundtable at St Matthew’s Catholic Primary School, Cornubia, which was attended by Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan. The Minister has been holding similar discussions at a variety of locations and was in Cairns earlier last week for talks with principals, staff and families.
The discussions hosted at St Matthew’s focused largely on how schools manage the complex social issues facing the local community. It was interesting to hear Minister Tehan’s views on schools as community hubs. He also discussed the strong nexus between health and education and sought views on strategies that might allow disadvantaged students access to health services at or through schools.
As the federal election draws closer there will be numerous opportunities for our schools to take part in these types of discussions and I urge you take all possible opportunities to engage with Ministers, MPs, and candidates to ensure Catholic schools have an ongoing voice in discussions on education.
The sentencing this week of both Cardinal Pell and a former teacher at a Brisbane college have ensured that the media retain a high level of interest in student protection in Catholic schools. I spoke on ABC Radio Brisbane last week to address some of the concerns voiced by listeners who had been asked to call in to talk about what actions Catholic schools were taking in light of the developments in the court.
This type of coverage is likely to continue for some time yet and local media are likely to try to make the story relevant to their audiences by attempting to make links to Catholic schools in their readership areas.
Some of the key messages QCEC has conveyed as these stories have unfolded are:
- The safety and wellbeing of all students is the paramount concern of every Catholic school.
- Staff in Catholic schools undertake regular professional development in child protection issues.
- Our focus is on providing high-quality, affordable education for our students in a safe and supportive learning environment.
It is important that we are able to offer students, families, staff and the broader community reassurance that these issues are ones we take extremely seriously.
Last week the RI PJP Principals met in Brisbane for the first of their quarterly meetings for 2019.
Discussions included the current status of state and federal funding arrangements, results of the high-level analysis of enrolment, attendance and Year 12 outcomes data and an overview of the Non-Government Reform Support Fund (NGRSF) projects for 2019.
Professor Elizabeth Labone, Dean of Education at ACU attended the meeting to discuss the changes as a result of the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group (TEMAG) reforms in teacher quality and professional experience with schools and what the future of initial teacher education pre-service teacher placements and formalised agreements with universities might look like.
The Principals will meet again in Term 2.
Nominations are now open for the 2019 Spirit of Catholic Education Awards.
Catholic school communities and Catholic School Authorities in Queensland are encouraged to nominate individuals or teams (staff members, parents/carers or volunteers) who are making an outstanding contribution to the life of the school community in one or more of the areas highlighted.
I am pleased to advise that this year the nomination process can be completed online on the awards page of the new Catholic Education Week website.
Nominations should be submitted online by 5.00pm on Friday 10 May 2019.
I hope this information can be circulated as soon as possible to encourage a strong response. Thank you for again supporting this worthwhile process.
As previously advised, this week we have welcomed Ray Kelly to the Secretariat as Manager – Workplace Relations.
Ray’s experience and expertise will enrich the significant work already undertaken by QCEC in the Workplace Relations area, particularly as we approach EB9.
I am sure you will all make Ray welcome as he engages with Catholic School Authorities in his new role.
I will be taking a period of annual leave from Wednesday 20 March until Friday 12 April 2019. During this time Chris Woolley (chrisw@qcec.catholic.edu.au) will be Acting Executive Director.
Please note that James Riley (jamesr@qcec.catholic.edu.au) will be Acting Director GSCS from 20 – 29 March and Maree Lacey (mareel@qcec.catholic.edu.au) will be Acting Director GSCS from 1-12 April.
As you are aware Project Compassion is Caritas Australia’s annual Lenten fundraising and awareness-raising appeal and is supported by a large number of Queensland Catholic schools.
Visit the website for more information on Project Compassion 2019 and to access resources on this year’s theme for school groups.
Bullying. No Way! Friday 15 March 2019 – resources now available
Missed a Circular? Below is a list of Circulars that have been issued recently. Use your login to access them.
020 Student Protection Inservice Day
021 Updates QCEC Model Student Protection Processes
022 Review of QCEC documentation
023 Teacher Suspensions
024 Highly Accomplishes and Lead Teacher Certification
025 Capital Variation Request Process
026 2019 Spirit of Catholic Education Awards
027 NAPLAN Online Update 1 Key Developments
028 20019 Term 1 Levies