Welcome back to another school year.  The start of the 2022 year is perhaps not quite what we envisioned when schools broke up for the Christmas holidays.  However, we have learned over the last two years of the pandemic to be even more agile and adapt to whatever new circumstances present themselves. We look forward to welcoming the majority of Queensland Catholic school students back to the classroom on Monday 7 February.  

As students and staff are busy preparing for the start of Term 1, we are still awaiting the Queensland Government’s plan for the return to school which we expect will be issued in coming days.  

Queensland Health has released its Principles for preparing for COVID-19 in school communities to assist school staff to ensure they are well equipped to respond to COVID-19 issues as they arise.  

A reminder that the Department of Education’s Frequently Asked Questions page also provides information about the 2022 academic school year, COVID-19 and vaccinations. Please check this website regularly as the Department is constantly updating the information. You can view the FAQs here.  

I am pleased to welcome four new schools to the Queensland Catholic school sector in 2022.

Holy Spirit College, Fitzgibbon; Star of the Sea School, Merrimac; Newman Catholic College, Smithfield; and Catherine McAuley College, Mackay, will welcome new staff and students into the classroom for the first time.

Holy Spirit College and Star of the Sea School are both operated by Brisbane Catholic Education, while Newman Catholic College falls within the Diocese of Cairns and Catherine McAuley College is in the Diocese of Rockhampton.

The addition of these four new schools brings the total number of Catholic schools in Queensland to 313.

Online Student Protection Training Modules have been developed by QCEC’s Student Protection Reference Group to assist Catholic School Authorities (CSA’s) with the delivery of training for their staff and volunteers.

The modules are available for download and cover a range of student protection issues as follows: 

• Module 1: Introduction and Context 
• Module 2: Responsibility and Obligations 
• Module 3: Mandatory Reporting Processes 
• Module 4: Identifying Abuse and Harm 
• Module 5: Inappropriate Staff Behaviour 
• Module 6: Volunteers and Visiting Service Providers 

CSAs are encouraged to nominate a representative to access to the documents as access will remain restricted. The nominee should be a staff member who is comfortable working with Learning Management System (LMS) and Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) content.

For more information on how to access the modules, please contact Patrick MacDermott via email at patrickm@qcec.catholic.edu.au.

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

The conference provides a wonderful opportunity for Catholic schools to share with others their best practice in a range of areas.

The theme of the conference is The Future is Listening which highlights the areas of:

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

Abstracts must be submitted by Monday 14 February. Find out more here.

As detailed in Circular 2022/004 on 19 January 2022, registration for the NCCD activities to be managed by QCEC via Eventbrite are now open and can be accessed using the following links:

NCCD 2022 Training

NCCD 2022 Leading Practice

NCCD 2022 Cross-School Moderation

NCCD 2022 Reflection and Planning

Registration for cross-sector moderation is to be managed by the Department of Education. More information about registration for these sessions will be provided in due course.

The process for certification in 2022 is well underway, however QCEC and trained diocesan facilitators will continue to deliver introductory sessions and in-depth workshops within each diocese for teachers who intend to apply for Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher Certification in 2022 and 2023.

Registrations are open now here.

The QCEC Student and Staff Wellbeing Forum will be held on Friday 18 March.

Wellbeing has come increasingly under the spotlight in Catholic schools and this forum showcases contemporary research and practice.

Speakers at the event include Fr Frank Brennan, Professor Patrick McGorry and Professor Caroline Mansfield.

The event has been planned as a hybrid presentation for both in-person and online attendees.

Registrations will close on Monday 14 March 2022. You can register to attend here. For more information contact Shannon O'Gorman at shannono@qcec.catholic.edu.au.

The Queensland Catholic Education Commission has worked with the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority to deliver online Professional Development events specifically for the Catholic education sector in 2022.

The online PD covers a range of topics including Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments (AARAs), applied syllabus subjects and external assessment. Registration for these events is available via the links below:

SATE - Applied Syllabus Subjects - Thursday 10 February 2022

SATE – Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments (AARAs) - Wednesday 23 February 2022

SATE – External Assessment – Tuesday 14 June 2022

If you require further information, or have any questions about these events, please contact Hannah Orchard via email at hannaho@qcec.catholic.edu.au.

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

2021 Circulars

113     Teacher Suspensions and Cancellations
114     Students with Disability Resource Allocation Review
115     QCEC Committee Membership
116     Review of Queensland’s Anti-Discrimination Act 1991
117     Music Copyright Licence
118     Online Student Protection Training Modules
119     Update QCEC Model Students Protection Processes and Guidelines
120     2022 Student Residential Address and Other Information Collection
121     National Tree Day Grants
122     Inquiry in the Opportunities to Improve Mental Health Outcomes for Queenslanders
123     NCEC Submission Religious Discrimination Bill

2022 Circulars

001     Teacher Suspensions and Cancellations
002     Evaluation of Capital Project Scoring Methodology
003     SketchUp Pro Statewide Licence Grant Program update
004     National Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD) Coordination Project
005     Reporting Timetable 1st Quarter Update