Today I attended the official launch of Catholic Education Week, which is took place at St Joseph’s Cathedral, Rockhampton.

Our theme this year is Many Voices. One Spirit.

It reminds us that there is great diversity in our 306 Queensland Catholic schools where we welcome students and staff from all corners of the state and from a wide variety of social, economic, religious and cultural backgrounds.

But the many voices of Catholic education are not limited to our students and staff.  Our schools are a central part of vibrant communities where we all benefit from listening to the voices of families, our parishes, our social services and our governments.

These combined voices make our schools rich learning environments where we are educating young people within our Catholic faith tradition, inspired by the Holy Spirit. This year’s Spirit of Catholic Education Award recipients are wonderful examples of the many facets of Catholic education life.  Read their stories here.

My thanks to the Catholic Education Week Working Group and to Leesa Jeffcoat and the staff of the Rockhampton Catholic Education Office for their work preparing for today’s launch and to The Cathedral College for their hospitality. Thanks also to Bishop Michael McCarthy and Archbishop Mark Coleridge for their participation in today’s event.

On Monday this week I attended a consultation session with the National School Resourcing Board (NSRB) as part of their review of needs-based funding requirements.

This review is significant for Catholic schools as the NSRB will make recommendations to the Federal Government on guidelines to ensure Federal funding is distributed according to a needs-based model and the compliance measures that should apply.

The NSRB issued an Issues Paper earlier this year and written submissions closed late last month.  This week’s meeting follows on from that process.  I will keep you updated with further developments in this important process.

Details of the review are available here.

Discussions on EB9 are continuing and another round of meetings was held yesterday. 

We will shortly be communicating to staff details of the employer offer. This is an important step in the process.

Employers are keen to achieve agreement as soon as possible.

All updates on EB9 can be found on the dedicated website here.

I was recently honoured to be named along with other Catholic education representatives among the recipients of this year’s Australian Council for Educational Leaders awards.

This year’s other recipients from Queensland Catholic education are:

Excellence in Educational Leadership      

Jim Midgley

Director of Teaching and Learning Toowoomba Catholic schools

Fellowships

Trevor Doyle

Senior Leader, Learning and Identity, Brisbane Catholic Education

Michael Newman

Principal, St Mary’s College, Toowoomba

 Inspiring educator   

Samantha Johnstone

Teacher, Unity College, Caloundra

Details of this year’s awards ceremony to be held on 27 August can be found here.

Applications have opened for funding for eligible projects through the Local Schools Community Fund announced in the last Federal Budget.

The funding is for amounts of between $1,000 and $20,000 and can be for the total cost of a project or part of the cost where the school also contributes an amount.

Applications close on 30 September and projects will be assessed and funding allocated before the end of the year.  Projects must be completed by the end of 2020.

Schools may wish to proactively contact their MP to discuss involvement in this scheme.

More information is available in Circular 2019/075 or on the Federal Education Department website here.

Registrations are now open for the QCEC Online Assessment Symposium being held on Tuesday 20 August. The full-day symposium will provide participants with insights into key NAPLAN Online developments and resources as well as proposed future directions in formative assessment.

Click here to register.

For information about support for travel costs and TRS visit the QCEC website.

Congratulations to all the student recipients of this year’s Future Leaders Awards.  The Future Leaders Awards recognise and reward young Australians who have shown achievement, leadership and potential.

Among the recipients this year were:

• Domenica Fox, Lourdes Hill College, Hawthorne – Future Leaders Justice Award
• Hannah Park, St Mary’s Catholic College, Cairns – Future Leaders Writing Prize.

Congratulations Domenica and Hannah.

Missed a Circular? Below is a list of Circulars that have been issued recently. Use your login to access them.

069        Review of disability loading

070        Distribution of Grant interest January - June 2019

071        QCEC Online Assessment Symposium

072        State recurrent funding

073        Federal Census 2019

074        Every Child Succeeding by Design Conference

075        Local Schools Community Fund

076        NAPLAN Online Update No. 4

077        QCEC Online Assessment Symposium Update