The Commission met yesterday for its first meeting of 2021 and the first face-to-face meeting in many months.

The meeting commenced with an opening Mass led by the Bishop of Toowoomba, the Most Reverend Robert McGuckin, at St Stephen’s Chapel in Brisbane.

Commission members each received commemorative pins in honour of this year’s 200 years of Australian Catholic education celebrations.

I was also delighted to welcome three new Commission members Dale Morrow, Ron Pugh and Ross Jones to their first Commission meeting. You can read more about our new Commission members on the QCEC website here.

Included in a busy Commission agenda were a presentation on Day 8 enrolments across Queensland Catholic schools, a discussion of the upcoming review of the Commission’s constitution and the ongoing support offered by our Catholic School Authorities for families by way of fee relief mechanisms.

The National Catholic Education Commission held its first meeting of the year last Thursday. The meeting included the national launch of 200 years of Australian Catholic education celebrations. 

The National video launch celebrated and paid tribute to the role Catholic education has played in the lives of generations of students and the successful learning outcomes it continues to deliver today.

School communities across the country have joined these celebrations with the launch of their own events.  

Queensland Dioceses have also marked the occasion with their own events. Brisbane Catholic Education will host its official launch on Friday at St Mary’s Church, Ipswich, close to the site of one of the state’s first Catholic schools. 

Queensland Catholic schools have been a vital part of the Australian Catholic education story since 1845.  QCEC has produced a short video showcasing just a small part of that heritage. 

School communities still looking to celebrate their own event associated with the 200 years celebration may benefit from resources provided on the NCEC website. These resources include electronic noticeboard banners, a promotional video, powerpoint slide templates and suggested activities and events. 

Last week I met with Education Minister Grace Grace for one of our regular discussions on a range of education issues. 

Minister Grace confirmed that a review of the Education (General Provisions) Act will get underway this year. We will be working closely with the Government and Catholic School Authorities when the consultation phase of the review commences.  

The Minister has also confirmed the commitments made by the ALP during the election campaign late last year.  

These include an increase in the Capital Assistance Supplementary Scheme for the non-government sector, increased funding for parent engagement and the inclusion of Catholic schools in a program to provide personal hygiene products to the most needy schools.  

NAPLAN testing is set to resume this year with all sectors taking part following the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission direction to the Queensland Teachers’ Union (QTU) to recommence NAPLAN preparation activities for their members in the state school sector. 

The Queensland Department of Education has since recommenced NAPLAN communications with their schools and the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) National Protocols Training for NAPLAN Online is currently underway until 10 March 2021. NAPLAN Online schools will receive registration details directly from QCAA and QCEC strongly encourages all Catholic schools to take part in practice test activities. 

There will be 128 new schools from the Catholic sector transitioning to NAPLAN Online in 2021 bringing the total to 295 schools (95 per cent). A further 13 schools will transition in 2022 and new schools in the future will participate in online testing. 

QCEC is required to provide an update on the readiness of the Catholic sector for 2021 NAPLAN Online as part of the Queensland Jurisdiction Responsible Officer (JRO) Checklist Report to the Prime Minister’s Office on 6 April 2021. Catholic School Authorities are encouraged to review the 2021 NAPLAN Online key developments to inform planning and support for participating schools within their jurisdiction.

To assist the Catholic school sector, QCEC will host the NAPLAN Online Readiness Forum on 3 June, and separately, an Online Assessment Symposium on 9 September.

To register or to find out more about NAPLAN Online developments please contact Edwin Choi at edwinc@qcec.catholic.edu.au or Liam Garvey at liamg@qcec.catholic.edu.au. 

A reminder that the next Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) data collection is coming up in Term 2.

The data collection will commence on 4 May and close on 25 June, 2021. Catholic schools have a record 100 per cent participation rate with survey instruments completed for all prep children in the previous data collections. 

Participation in the survey is extremely valuable as it provides individual School Profiles which can help schools plan for the needs of children arriving at their school and provide a catalyst to assist schools to develop productive relationships with providers of early childhood services in their community.

For more information about the AEDC data collection click here.

QCEC staff recently participated in cultural awareness training with John Briggs from JB Consultancy as we begin the process of implementing QCEC’s Reconciliation Action Plan.

Earlier this year QCEC submitted an Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) to Reconciliation Australia.

The Innovate RAP is a commitment to develop and strengthen relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

John shared with us his own story of growing up as an Indigenous Australian, as well as imparting knowledge around the diversity of Indigenous Australian cultures and focusing on the purpose of a RAP.

The Secretariat staff were engaged by his recount of critical points of Australian history including the strength of the “yes” vote in the 1967 referendum, the unpaid labour of Indigenous Australians (some of which now supports the QATSIF funds made available in schools), as well as the poignancy of reflective questions.

At the heart of John’s message was the need for reconciliation to include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and businesses in commercial decisions such that the mechanisms are in place for Indigenous cultural groups to further develop and sustain the individual enterprise, pride and self-reliance that were once strongly embedded in their relationships and culture.

The Australian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (ACARA) will update the My School website with the 2020 school profile, 2019 school finance and 2019 senior secondary data.

Before information is released on Wednesday 17 March, Catholic School Authorities are urged to remind school principals to preview their school data and update their school’s profile comment, website address, location and governing body as required.

The Principals’ Portal website will be open between Thursday, 25 February from 1pm and Friday, 12 March until close of business. All updates should be submitted before close of business Friday, 12 March to ensure they take effect before the 2021 My School update.

Any questions or concerns about school content on the website, should be directed to the ACARA Principals’ Portal support team on portalsupport@acara.edu.au.

The National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence will take place on Friday, 19 March.

The Day encourages young Australians to start the conversation about positive change that can be implemented to prevent bullying.

Queensland Catholic schools are invited to promote the campaign. School resources can be found on the NDA website here.

Image source: NDA website

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

2020 Circulars

014     Personal Care in Schools

015    QCEC Nominee for NCEC Faith Formation and Religious Education Standing Committee

016     Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) 2021

017     Mental Health Support Regional and Rural Primary Schools

018     ACARA Writing Assessment Review – pilot study

019     ACARA My School Principal’s Portal Update

020     NAPLAN Online Update 1 – Overview of key developments