Dear Parents and Carers,

From Friday September 8 to Sunday September 10, the NSW Catholic School Parents Conference will be held at St Paul’s, Manly. The conference allows us to acknowledge, support and celebrate parent engagement in education. It provides a wonderful opportunity to talk with other parents and educators, to share stories, gain new skills and understand what is happening in our Catholic schools and education today. The College is prepared to support attendance of between 2 to 4 parents to attend part or all of the conference. For more information please visit here.

The conference title, “#FutureReady - Preparing our children for a changing world” particularly took my attention. It resonates with my recent reading and discussions about the vision for St Luke’s which, as you know, is to nurture faith filled curious children to become creative contributors and innovative problem solvers for a changing world. Our strategic approach to support and enable this vision to become a reality is to focus on the development of the social skills and enterprise skills for a changing world.

From our Catholic perspective, Pope Francis reminds us that teaching and learning is more than transmission of knowledge and content. Earlier this year via Vatican Radio, the Holy Father reminded teachers that, “You must not teach just content, but the values and customs of life. A computer can teach content. Instead there are three things that you must transmit: how to love, how to understand which values and customs create harmony in society.” Yes, the role of any educator is far more than teaching content to be memorised for a test. For more from this article, click here.

Locally, Mr Mark Scott, secretary of the Department of Education NSW, has labelled our current circumstance as “Education’s Moment”. In March of this year, Mr Scott spoke to a group of teachers and said,

“But educators should be gripped as well. Gripped by the sense that all the social turmoil, all that economic uncertainty, all that political upheaval and the breaking of conventions – all speaks to our responsibility. The challenge of that swirling terrain speaks to our challenge: preparing children so they can be as ready as they can be: steady, assured, skilled and confident to deal with a future that now seems uncertain and unknown. Children with growth mindsets who have learned to learn – so they can take on all that will be new, and demanding, and different. We see the future in the eyes of the children in our classrooms today.” Click here to see the full transcript.

Pope Francis, Mr Scott, and our own Executive Director of Catholic Education, Diocese of Parramatta (CEDP), Mr Greg Whitby, remind educators of the immense responsibility of educating students; however, it is done so knowing that parents are the primary educators of their children. In my discussions with current and prospective parents, there is a growing awareness, and occasional concern, about the lifestyle and work possibilities that may (or may not) await each child when they leave school. While it is critical that students engage with core curriculum content, there is more to a child’s education than sitting NAPLAN, passing a test and pursuing an ATAR if they are to live a meaningful and purposeful life.

On Wednesday 24 July, Federal Deputy Opposition Leader, Mrs Tanya Plibersek visited the College. Mrs Plibersek and Shadow Minister for Education and the Shadow Minister for Women. The purpose of her visit was to hear from educational thought leaders about ‘the how and the why of school transformation’ for a changing world. Executive Director of CEDP Schools Greg Whitby was joined by local CEDP principals and

Stephen Dinham, Associate Dean (Strategic Partnerships) and a Professor of Instructional Leadership at Melbourne Graduate School of Education. Stephen Dinham is a well respected educator with experience both in government secondary schools and at tertiary level. He has conducted a wide range of research projects in the areas of educational leadership and change, effective pedagogy/quality teaching, student teaching, professional teaching standards and teachers professional development.

Stephen Heppell, internationally renowned educational leader and expert in learning spaces, new media and technology. He holds various positions such as CEO of Heppell.net, and has worked with governments around the world, international agencies, Fortune 500 companies, schools and communities on innovative and transformative education projects.

Yong Zhao, Foundation Distinguished Professor in the School of Education at the University of Kansas. He is also a professorial fellow at the Mitchell Institute for Health and Education Policy, Victoria University in Australia. He previously served as the Presidential Chair and Director of the Institute for Global and Online Education in the College of Education, University of Oregon, where he was also a Professor in the Department of Educational Measurement, Policy, and Leadership. Zhao is known for his research and in many key areas including creativity and entrepreneurship education, globalization and education, and, technology in schools.

It was an absolute privilege to be a part of educational conversation with such educational luminaries all together in the one room. Some key points which emerged from the conversation included:

Best practice learning and teaching is student-centred, personalised and involves authentic engagement with families and the community partnerships.

Teachers are now course designers not content delivers because they are now asked to be researchers, designers, learners, analysts and collaborators.

Educational assessment needs to measure what we value, not value what we measure by using data and broader assessment to support each child’s growth as a learner.

Looking ahead there is a need for :

policy that supports learning is student-centered, personalised and shaped by real life experiences through inquiry.

new thinking required to fund a preschool to post school education model that will support learning communities enrol students from age three, and transform traditional before and after school care to instead be part of a coherent schooling experience for children. St luke’s is leading the way here!

much stronger and meaningful links between community, business and schools.

In conclusion, in listening to people like Stephen, Yong and Stephen, it is most apparent that St Luke’s is vindicated in its pursuit of establishing the new normal for preschool to post school learning. Mrs Plibersek’s encouragement of us to ensure we educate in a way which assist students to meet the needs of our students was well received.

Onwards and upwards!

Mr Greg Miller

Principal Leader

Sir Harold Wyndham Medal

Recently, we received the very exciting news that Mr Greg Whitby has been awarded the Sir Harold Wyndham Medal by the Australian College of Educators (ACE). The ACE NSW Annual Awards is the major state event of the year.

The Sir Harold Wyndham Medal is the highest award given by ACE NSW and recognises the outstanding contribution by an individual to the education of young people in NSW, as well as an active involvement in the College and its activities.

Mr Whitby will be presented with his award on Friday 4 August by the Minister for Education.

On behalf of the St Luke’s community, I offer congratulations to Mr Whitby on this auspicious award.

2018 Uniform

As a part of our ‘next steps’ in the process to establish uniform requirements for 2018 onwards, three companies have been engaged to make a 30 minute presentation to Stage 3 students. These presentations will take place on Wednesday 2 August, 11:00am-11:30 am and Friday 4 August, 2 sessions from 11:00am-11:30am and 12noon-12:30pm.

These presentations will be 30 minutes in duration. With the understanding that we seek a “modern and modest” uniform, each presentation will focus on:

· ‘the look’ of the uniform using the school colours of navy and teal;

· clarification of materials used; and,

· reflect the learning journey of a St Luke’s student within a preschool to post school learning community.

All parents are invited to attend these presentations. We understand that the majority of parents may not be able to attend due to work and other commitments. As such, our intention is for each presentation to go Facebook Live so that we can engage with parents who are unable to attend the presentations.

Luke Foley and Prue Car visit St Luke's

Parent Library