From the Director

Curriculum Reform-  Supporting schools

The NSW Government launched the NSW Curriculum Review in 2018, the first comprehensive review of the primary and secondary curriculum in 30 years. Over the past 3 decades a strong evidence base has emerged identifying approaches to curriculum that are explicit and knowledge-based, and that lead to improved outcomes for students. Feedback from stakeholders, particularly consultation with teachers, shaped the NSW Curriculum Reform's direction. That feedback indicated that syllabuses would improve learning for students in NSW by providing:

• stronger foundations especially in the early years
• well-defined pathways to careers and further study
• more time, opportunities and resources for teachers to do what they do best: teach.

( Retrieved from https://curriculum.nsw.edu.au/about-the-curriculum/introduction)

NSW schools are required to implement new syllabuses in alignment with the  government mandated timeline. To support our schools in the deep implementation of the Curriculum Reform, two additional student free days will be utilised in 2024.  The purpose of this time is to allow teachers and leaders to :

• Engage with the new syllabuses to understand what needs to be taught to students 
• Explore the best way to plan, teach and assess, and then review and refine the units of work to best support the needs of their students
• Embed best practices across the school.

Whilst we appreciate the additional days may be challenging for parents and carers, we know that this investment of time for teachers to fully implement the changes will have a positive impact on the learning outcomes for all students.

Your child’s school will provide you with information about the timing of the student free days well in advance to assist you with planning.

We thank you for your ongoing support of Catholic Education.