I would like to wish Queensland Catholic school communities a safe and relaxing holiday break, noting that this will be the last Communique newsletter before the school holidays.

During the break, please be mindful of current COVID-19 restrictions that may affect staff and students as they return for the beginning of Term 4.

QCEC will continue to issue relevant updates during the holidays if major changes to restrictions eventuate but I also encourage you to continue to monitor the Queensland Government website for the most up to date information regarding any changes in Queensland and other states and territories. 

Information on exposure sites is updated here and updates to Queensland restrictions can be found here. 

Queensland Health has released a class exemption to enable boarding school students to enter and leave Queensland during the upcoming school holidays. 

We congratulate Queensland Health on their proactive approach to this important issue. Queensland Health worked closely with stakeholders, including QCEC, in developing the class exemption and worked hard to have it ready as early as possible to facilitate family and boarding school families. 

The class exemption has been developed to assist boarding school families in being reunited as much as possible during the Term 3 school holidays. The Delta variant of COVID-19 has made this particularly challenging.

Options include a class exemption for Queensland residents boarding interstate and a class exemption for interstate residents boarding in Queensland.

More information about key features and requirements of the class exemption can be found here.

I was pleased to meet with State and Independent school staff last week to discuss the Overview of Students With Disability Resource Allocation Review Project.

The Department of Education confirmed that the current state model for funding students with disability, known as the Education Adjustment Program, will be reviewed.

The new model is expected to be developed by mid-2022 to commence in 2023. Our understanding is that the Department is looking to more closely align with the NCCD model, however, the details are yet to be worked through.

There will be no changes to the current levels of support provided by state verifiers throughout the rest of this year and 2022.  

Director, Curriculum Services Division, Jacqueline Wilton, from the QCAA met with the QCEC Senior Assessment and Tertiary Entrance Taskforce on 2 September.

Key items discussed at the meeting included issues impacting on student’s eligibility for a QCE, confirmation (including a request for schools to support teachers to be confirmers), changes to the external assessment timetable, applications for Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments and support for schools offering subjects in Alternative Sequence. 

As political advocacy is a key function of the QCEC Secretariat, staff recently took part in a professional development activity that featured a presentation from Archbishop Mark Coleridge centered on the topic Doing political advocacy differently.

Archbishop Coleridge provided an excellent context for addressing this topic through a detailed and insightful overview and analysis of the history of Church-State relations. He then drew on a number of contemporary examples to highlight the importance of advocacy and the distinctive features of advocacy on behalf of the Church and Catholic education.

Archbishop Coleridge particularly emphasised the importance of ensuring our voice is a gospel voice and highlighted the clear distinction between advocacy (which is an important activity for a peak body like QCEC) and lobbying (which is not part of our remit).

I would like to thank Archbishop Coleridge for his generosity, insight and wisdom while sharing his time to deliver such an engaging presentation. The Archbishop’s ability to make an online (Zoom) presentation come alive for all participants was also greatly appreciated.

More than 20 participants from eight Queensland Catholic schools met last week for the Australian Council for Educational Research’s two-day course for RI/PJP staff.

Hosted in collaboration with QCEC, the National School Improvement Tool course unpacked in detail the nine domains of the National School Improvement Tool which assists school staff to conduct a holistic review of their school.

This training was first offered to RI/PJP schools in June and due to the success of the course, the RI/PJP Principals requested a second round of the training.

Between the two courses delivered in 2021, more than 80 staff have been supported to receive training.

These courses were fully funded by the Australian Government’s Non-Government Reform Support Fund with no cost to participants or their schools.

I would like to congratulate three staff members who will begin new appointments with Queensland Catholic education, commencing in 2022.

We welcome John Downie who will commence his role as Principal of St Kevin’s School, Benowa; Michael Hopkinson as Principal of Holy Spirit School, New Farm and Mike Quinn who will commence his new role as Principal of St Stephen’s Primary School, Algester.

Upon welcoming these new appointments, I would also like to thank the current principals of these schools for their many years of dedication to Catholic education in Queensland.

Registered Queensland Catholic School teachers and school leaders still have time to complete the Australian Teacher Workforce (ATWD) Teacher Survey.

Your participation in the survey will ensure the voice of Queensland Catholic teachers is heard and reflected in the national dataset to inform future reforms, policy, and funding.

The ATWD provides valuable information about teacher wellbeing and helps to identify how teachers can be better supported as they deliver quality learning.

If you have not yet received an invitation to take part in the survey before it closes on 8 October, email atwd.secretariat@aitsl.edu.au.

In line with celebrations for World Teachers Day and the Bicentenary of Catholic Education, the National Catholic Education Commission will host the Faith in the Future Virtual Symposium on Wednesday, 27 October.

The free virtual event will run from 3pm - 4.15pm (AEDT) and would suit Queensland Catholic school educators and leaders interested in joining the discussion on teaching as a profession and effective ways to draw out student potential.

The program will feature keynote speaker Dr Lyn Sharratt, followed by a panel discussion moderated by broadcaster, Geraldine Doogue.

Catholic School Authorities are encouraged to share this event within their networks. A registration link is available here and a number of resources are listed below:
 
Virtual Symposium Flyer (PDF)
Website & Social media banners (GIF)
Virtual Symposium banners (JPEG)
Social media square tile (JPEG)

Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher Assessors
Are you interested in becoming an Assessor of Highly Accomplished and Lead Teachers in 2022? QCEC is calling on Expressions of Interest (EOI’s) from eligible individuals to undertake training and appointment. EOI’s can be submitted online  through QCEC’s Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher website. The closing date for applications is 4pm Friday, 15 October. For more information click here.

QCEC Online Assessment Virtual Symposium
The QCEC Online Assessment Virtual Symposium will take place tomorrow (Thursday, 9 September). Although registrations have been finalised, videos of each session will be made available on request for a limited time for Queensland Catholic education representatives who were unable to attend the event. The symposium provides insights into 2021 NAPLAN results, future directions in national standardised assessment, NAPLAN Online reports, learning analytics and digital resourcing enhancements for the new Australian Curriculum website. The keynote speakers will be CEO, ACARA, David de Carvalho and Deputy CEO, ESA, Nick Weideman. If you would like a link to the video, please contact QCEC staff member Susan Downes via email at susand@qcec.catholic.edu.au and specify which session you are interested in as per the program.


Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher Certification Workshops
Queensland Catholic school teachers interested in becoming a Highly Accomplished Teacher Lead Teacher in 2022 are invited to attend HAT and LT workshops throughout Terms 3 and 4. Introductory sessions an in-depth workshops will be hosted by QCEC in conjunction with 11 facilitators from each Queensland Diocese. To register click here.

NCCD Reflection Workshops
Registrations are currently open for QCEC’s NCCD Reflection and Planning Workshops. The online and face-to-face workshops will run throughout terms 3 and 4 and are most suited to Queensland Catholic school NCCD teams and school leaders. The workshops will identify NCCD successes and areas for improvement in participants schools. To register click here.

Queensland World Teachers’ Day
Queensland World Teachers’ Day will this year be celebrated on Friday, 29 October. However, as the Ekka public holiday now falls on Friday 29 October, school communities in the Brisbane, Moreton Bay and Scenic Rim local government areas are encouraged to celebrate the day locally on Thursday, 28 October. How will your school be celebrating the event? For ideas and to find out more about the resources available click here.  #ThankQldTeachers

Day for Daniel
Queensland Catholic school communities are encouraged to register now for Australia's largest child safety education and awareness day, Day for Daniel. The event was established to raise awareness of child protection and harm prevention. Register here.

Missed a Circular? Below is a list of Circulars that have been issued recently. Use your login to access them.   
 
2021 Circulars

085     Pedagogy Development Positive Learnings from COVID-19
086     HAT&LT Assessor – Expressions of Interest
087     Alannah & Madeline Foundation eSafety Programs for 2022
088     Ministerial Student Advisory Council - Request for Student Nominees for 2022
089     Teacher Suspensions and Cancellations
090     Non-Government Reform Support Fund Workplans