As this will be the final Communique for 2021, I would like to wish Catholic school teachers, staff, students and their families a happy Christmas and a safe and restful holiday break.

The last two years have seen a time like no other as we have successfully navigated through the ups and downs of a pandemic while continuing to deliver a quality education to Catholic school students across the state.

This year has seen our school communities adapt to ‘COVID normal’ operations for much of the year while remaining in a constant state of readiness to tackle any new challenges as they arose.

From mask mandates, to travel restrictions, I am extremely proud of how our school communities have responded, adapted and turned challenges into new learning and teaching opportunities.  I am confident that a similar responsive and positive approach will be evident in our schools in 2022, irrespective of the expected ongoing COVID issues.

As recently as yesterday the situation changed once more with the government announcement of mandated vaccination requirements for all workers on school sites.  We will continue to keep Catholic School Authorities updated as more information on this becomes available.

For those planning to travel interstate for the school holidays, please ensure you stay up to date with current travel restrictions on the Queensland Government website here.  

Please also note the QCEC Secretariat will be closed for a short period over the holiday break. The office will be closed from 4.30pm on Friday 24 December 2021 and will reopen at 8.00am on Tuesday 4 January 2022.

After 42 years of service to Catholic education, Executive Director of Brisbane Catholic Education (BCE), Pam Betts will retire from her current role next week.

I would like to acknowledge Pam’s dedication and service to Catholic education in Queensland.

Pam has served in a variety of roles within the sector, including nine years with BCE, whilst also serving as a member of the Commission.

Pam’s passion for Catholic education has inspired many and her enduring optimism and calm and reflective presence were greatly appreciated in local, state and national gatherings.  

We wish Pam every blessing as she embarks on the next part of her journey.

I would like to extend my congratulations and welcome to the newly appointed Director-General of Queensland’s Department of Education, Mr Michael De’Ath.

Michael’s background includes experience in public sector leadership coupled with a career in education as a teacher, school principal, Regional Director and Deputy Secretary.

I look forward to working with Michael in his role of Director-General in 2022.

Photo source: LinkedIn

Last week I attended the Department of Employment, Small Business and Training’s School to Work Transitions Stakeholder Roundtable meeting.

The event was hosted by Minister for Employment and Small Business and Minister for Training and Skills Development, Di Farmer, alongside Minister for Education Grace Grace.

Minister Farmer addressed the meeting and set the scene for discussion to address workforce concerns with effective solutions. Minister Grace then discussed the importance of partnerships across all sectors of government, schools, industry, community and regions to improve school to work transitions.

Attendees had the opportunity to discuss solutions for improving school to work transitions and collaborated on what action is being taken and how to deliver potential new programs/pilots.

I was pleased to attend the National Catholic Education Commission’s National Regional and Remote Workforce Strategy eSummit on Thursday.

The event was facilitated by former director of Ballarat Catholic Education, Audrey Brown and presentations were provided from political leaders, teachers and religious and school leaders about recruitment, faith formation, professional learning and retention of high-quality staff.

The eSummit provided an excellent opportunity for diocesan directors and staff to learn from one another in the area of staffing in Catholic schools in rural and remote locations. I congratulate and thank those who undertook the extensive planning and preparation for this new initiative, including Leesa Jeffcoat , Diocesan Director of Catholic Education, Diocese of Rockhampton.

More than 40 school leaders from RI/PJP schools across Queensland attended the final face-to-face workshops in Brisbane this week as part of the QELi Leading for Inclusive Education course.

The nine-month program was designed for school leaders (both school leadership teams and leaders within Inclusive Education) to develop their ability to support and lead inclusive education practices in RI/PJP schools.   
  
Throughout the course participants engaged with a Leadership Challenge and Action Project which involved leading a project to further strengthen an area of Inclusive Education within their school.  Participants presented the results of these projects on Monday to their principals and colleagues, working together to plan what will happen next to continue strengthening inclusive practices in the future.
  
This event was fully funded by the Australian Government’s Non-Government Reform Support Fund.

Congratulations to Geoff Sullivan who has been appointed as Principal at St Paul’s School, Woodridge.  Geoff will take up the role from the start of 2022.

He comes to St Paul’s with leadership experience in a number of schools in both the Archdiocese of Brisbane and the Diocese of Toowoomba.

Registrations are now open for the QCEC Student and Staff Wellbeing Forum on Friday 18 March 2022.

The forum will be held both online and at the ACU Leadership Centre in Brisbane. The agenda will include presentations on the following topics:

• Wellbeing in a Catholic context 
• Respectful Relationship Education resources
• Ed-LinQ supports for schools
• Child and adolescent mental health
• School-based responses to vaping and other emerging drug trends
• Teacher resilience
• School refusal

Senior and middle leadership, wellbeing staff, guidance officers and counsellors are encouraged to attend. To register your attendance click here.

For any further information about the forum contact Shannon O'Gorman at shannono@qcec.catholic.edu.au.

In response to feedback, QCEC has worked with the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) to provide the following events specifically for the Queensland Catholic sector in 2022:

Event 1: Applied Syllabus Subjects

10 February 2022 | 2:30pm

This online event will provide an update by QCAA on the Review of the Applied Syllabus subjects as well as the opportunity for CSA personnel to connect with colleagues and share practice and resources in specific subject groupings.

Event 2: Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments (AARAs)

23 February | 3:30pm

This online event will feature a presentation by Tim Roberts from the QCAA on AARAs. This event would be suitable for school leaders, heads of curriculum and teachers of senior subjects, to assist in understanding the AARA process.

Event 3: External Assessment

14 June | 9:00am

This online event will feature a presentation by QCAA regarding External Assessment processes and key learnings from 2020 and 2021. The event will also feature Masterclasses, where teachers will share their learnings from marking External Assessment pieces to assist with the preparation for External Assessment processes. An expression of interest for volunteers will be distributed in 2022.

Please register for these sessions via the Eventbrite registration link.

Further introductory and in-depth workshops will be delivered across all Queensland dioceses next year for teachers who intend to apply for Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher Certification in 2022 and 2023.

Registrations are currently open for events in Term 1. To register click here.

The National Catholic Education Commission is calling for abstracts for papers to be presented at its conference to be held in September 2022.

The theme of the conference is The future is listening.

The conference will have four streams:

• Catholic Identity and Mission
• Leadership and Governance
• School Improvement
• Communication and Community Engagement.

Details on how to provide an abstract can be found here.

The theme for Catholic Education Week (CEW) 2022 has been announced. Communities of faith, hope and love will be the theme for the year with planning underway to deliver resources for school communities.

 
More details will be available on the CEW website early next year.

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

105     QCT Professional Development webinars during student free days – January 2022

106     Sick Leave Portability

107     Nomination to QCT Professional Standards Committee

108     Student Wellbeing Forum

109     2022 SATE Date Claimers

110     Appointment Director-General Dept of Education

111     Review Disability Standards for Education 2005

112     ABSTUDY Year 7 2022 students