Dear Colleagues,

Last week I had the privilege of presenting at my last Principals Meeting as Director of Schools.

I have always prioritised this group of leaders who are so critical to the success of this system of schools. Over the last 9 years we have been very fortunate to have principals committed to school improvement, and the vision and mission of the Catholic Schools Office in this Diocese. I am very grateful for their support and hard work on behalf of the school communities. We can be justifiably pleased with our achievements which we celebrated at the Principals Meeting.

During my presentation I identified the many strategic initiatives and operational matters that have contributed to system and school improvement during my 9 years as Director. These included:

1development of and commitment to our new Vision and Mission:

2. commitment to our Catholic identity as demonstrated by examples such as our Faith Formation Framework, Catholic Schools Week, professional learning for our RECs, and our Student Support Framework: Living Well, Learning Well

3. development of instructional Leadership teams that included the appointment of a leader of pedagogy, and encouraged site-based action research to improve teacher instructional practices

4. development of a set of Non-negotiables based on Sharratt and Fullan’s Framework for System and School Improvement, or as we refer to it: The 14 Parameters

5. a focus on ‘literate and numerate students for a hope filled future’ through a focus on religious education blocks, an uninterrupted literacy block in primary schools, literacy coaches in secondary schools enhancing student writing skills, and the appointment and support for mathematics specialist teachers (MaSTs) in primary schools

6. human resource strategies to better recruit and retain staff including early career teachers

7. development of an innovative approach to supporting early career teachers with the support of the CSO’s early career teacher coaches

8. refinement of processes to support students with a disability and their teachers. Refining the requirements for teachers in developing student support plans.

9. development of leadership courses and supporting teachers to attend them so that the system has a robust succession plan

10. support for both ongoing curriculum compliance, and for the government’s curriculum reform agenda

11. expansion of student pathways in primary and secondary sport, and secondary vocational education

12. development of strong data literacy to improve student learning and teacher instruction as we developed data walls in schools and the system’s data ecosystem that incorporates quantitative and qualitative data

13. enhanced parent partnerships through new Constitutions for school advisory councils and P&Fs

14. further development of initiatives to support our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, and preparation for the CSNSW and CSO Armidale Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Conference 2024 to be held in Tamworth

15. strong alignment between office and school strategic plans and a culture of continuous improvement informed by the National School Improvement Tool

16. development of online business enterprise systems for financial management (TechOne) and HR/payroll. Full implementation of TechOne will occur in 2024

17. ongoing provision of ICT services as we evolved from full adoption of the Google suite in 2015/16 to system use of Google classroom, Compass, and a recently-adopted LMS for secondary schools which will be implemented in 2024

18. development and implementation of our innovative and leading Student Support Framework: Living Well, Learning Well that is supporting a contemporary and caring culture to enhance the pastoral care and wellbeing of our students, and supports teachers in making stronger links between learning and wellbeing

19. the development of a professional learning community in a Catholic context that focuses on student and staff learning, collaboration and a results orientation

20. respecting strong positive professional relationships between the CSO and school leaders and teachers.

The members of the CSO Mission and Learning Team partnered with leaders and teachers from schools to present best practice in a range of areas supporting system and school improvement. Their presentations included :

Secondary Writing: Alicia Pringle, Nicole Anderson, Kate Walshe, Michael Wooster

Literacy: Claire Ryan, Jacqui Wait

Mathematics: Trish Mitchell & Judy Ryan (SJWT)

ECT Support: Amanda Scott, Amy Iles (St Nicholas) and Georgia Mackson (McCarthy)

Inclusion: Lisa Hunt/ Amanda McNair (Manilla)

Curriculum Reform: Kerrie Priddis, Kate Walshe (SMCG)

Using Data to Improve Student Learning: Briony Martin, Melissa Bearup (MCC)

Leading from the Middle: Maximising Impact: Eli Simpson, Regina Menz

Indigenous Education and CSNSW Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Conference 2024: Karen Tighe

The Principals Meeting provided many opportunities for celebration beyond the system and school improvement initiatives. I have worked consistently to build the positive professional relationship that now exists between the CSO and the Armidale Diocesan Principals Association. The ADPA and I had the opportunity at the ADPA-hosted dinner to farewell colleagues who are moving on for a variety of reasons. We expressed our thanks and best wishes for the future to:

Simon Fleming, St Joseph’s Barraba

Nick Baird, St. Francis Xavier’s Narrabri

Bern Feldman, St. Mary’s College Gunnedah

Rod Whelan, McCarthy Catholic College Tamworth

Jamie McDowell, St. Philomena’s Moree

Robert Holstein, O’Connor Catholic College.

As schools participate in their presentation days/nights, I hope you all take the opportunity to celebrate your wonderful 2023 achievements that have contributed to our moral purpose of supporting young people to be the best version of themselves that their God created them to be.

Wishing you all Christmas blessings in this season of Advent.

God bless,

Chris Smyth

Indigenous Education News

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