Principal's Message

Every few years St Luke’s takes part in the Enhancing Catholic School Identity (ECSI) research. It is run by KU Leuven in Belgium under Professor Didier Pollefeyt and commissioned by Catholic Schools Parramatta Diocese. Students from Year 5 upwards, staff and parents complete surveys measuring how belief is held, how Catholic identity is expressed, and how a school handles diversity.

Our participation was strong: 1,033 respondents in total, including 91 per cent of students and 100 per cent of staff.

The headline findings for our community:

• Students and staff both identify St Luke’s as a Dialogue School, the model ECSI regards as the healthiest for a Catholic school in a diverse setting. It holds a clear Catholic identity alongside genuine openness to other cultures and beliefs. Around eight in ten of both groups described the school this way.

• A substantial population of our teachers sit within the Recontextualisation group, again, the preferred theological position. That is the practice of reinterpreting the Catholic tradition for the world students actually live in.

• Our students hold a wide diversity of belief. We welcome a significant population of non-Christian students, which is consistent with the 46 cultural backgrounds represented here. The diversity of St Luke’s is one of our most beautiful, welcoming attributes.

• Students told us clearly what they want more of: openness to other cultures, ecological initiatives, and social justice projects, in that order.

• The challenge the report named is that students are enthusiastic about the service and social justice work, but less able to connect that work back to the Catholic teaching and Scripture that grounds it. The report warns that service action disconnected from its faith source gradually loses that source altogether.

Each year we develop specific goals for learning, mission and wellbeing. This years mission goal is:

To enhance student ability to name the Catholic Social Teaching principle behind their faith in action, to identify root causes, and to connect outcomes to Scripture or Church teaching.

What we have done this year to bring it to life.

• Explicit teaching of reflection as a skill, K to 12. Students in Kindergarten to Year 4 now use reflection booklets with dedicated class time; students in Years 5 to 12 reflect on their Faith in Action work through Canvas as part of Religious Education.

• Embedding Catholic Social Teaching directly into the Encountering Jesus syllabus, so the principle behind an action is taught alongside the action itself.

• Building a shared Faith in Action resource base, including an updated Canvas page with current information on the organisations we partner with, and teacher reference guides developed jointly by the FIAT team and RE teachers.

• Targeted coaching for RE teachers on the interconnection between Catholic Social Teaching, Scripture and student service work.

• Explicit teaching of analytical writing in RE, so students can construct a reasoned argument that integrates Scripture rather than simply quoting it. Early findings show students moving from retelling a Scripture passage to explaining why the evidence matters to the question in front of them. This also aligns with our learning goal 5-12 which is to improve student writing.

I have been fortunate to be supported by the Diocese to take a leave of absence to travel to KU Leuven in Belgium to study this work intensively at its source. KU Leuven, founded in 1425, is the oldest Catholic university in the world, and it is where the ECSI research our school has used for years is designed and analysed.

I will be on study leave for Weeks 8 and 9 and will return for our Year 12 Graduation in Week 10.

While I am away:

• Mrs Jacqui Genovese will be Acting Principal

• Mr O’Callaghan will be Acting Head of School 9 to 12

• Mrs Pepper will be Acting Assistant Principal

• Mrs Norton will act in Mrs Pepper’s Year 7 role

I look forward to bringing the learning back to our school.