Message from the Director

Dear Colleagues,

2024 Catholic Schools NSW Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Conference

Wow what an amazing conference. We were honoured to co host this Catholic Schools NSW  Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Conference. Spirit on Country Learning Together Then Now and Always. In the lead-up to the conference, we’ve been on a meaningful journey with our Armidale Catholic Schools, preparing to come together - in reflection, learning, and celebration.

On Day 1, we visited Myall Creek, a place with deep significance. It reminds us of our past, and the work we still have ahead. Karen Tighe, who shaped so much of this conference, says that each time we visit Myall Creek, it brings a new experience and a new understanding.

This was my fourth time at Myall Creek yesterday and listening to the voices of our young people speak in language, I reflected on how proud they were and how confident they were in sharing the story. I was filled with gratitude to walk on country with colleagues and friends from across our Diocese, State and Australia. 

Keynote Address

On Day 2, I was privileged to have the opportunity to present at the conference and to highlight the work in our Diocese to support our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people to realise a hope-filled future. I include a number of the slides and some parts of the speech I presented. 

Over 15% of our student population is Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, that is one in 6. If you have worked in our diocese, you work with Aboriginal students. If you've taught, listened, or guided, You have been part of this story.

How well do we know our Aboriginal young people? Look at these graphs —a rising line of achievement, a story of growth in NAPLAN reading. Together, we’ve contributed to this success and together, we continue to build a future of hope. 

St Joseph’s, West Tamworth— A school doing extraordinary things. The success of this school brings joy to our Aboriginal students and shines as a beacon of hope. We are seeing this hope, across our Diocese as we improve educational outcomes for all our young people.

At St Joseph’s West Tamworth, we see this reality. The future for Aboriginal students is bright, with 100% of Year 3 students achieving strong and exceeding in Year 3 Writing. We as educators know that this success has become contagious across the Diocese.

While the growth for our young people is clear here at St. Joseph’s, with 80% of K-2 students excelling in reading, we see this same growth reflected across the Diocese.

At St. Francis Xavier, Narrabri, led by the great work of Uncle Terry Hynch and Maddy Simmonds-Cutts, our cultural plans help us visualise language groups, totems, and support networks. These plans include key goals- cultural, literacy, numeracy, and leadership- and capture the voice of our students through free text that is presented in a word cloud to highlight what’s important to them:  improve, acknowledgment, language. Listening to and supporting our young people will lead to even greater improvements in faith, learning and wellbeing outcomes.

I’d like to highlight to you St. Joseph’s, Walgett, and the Yuwaalaraay language program— an achievement not of recent years, but one that has been thriving for over thirty. If we aim to create a strong language program that honours our country, culture, community, and curriculum, we can look to Walgett for just solutions.

With talented Aboriginal educators like Dr. Aunty Faye Green and Uncle John Brown, alongside the leadership of Donna Fiechter and Tara Schiller, our Diocese supports educators in doing what’s best, to ensure our students can flourish. It begins with recognising that the solution lies in the classroom, in how we deliver lessons and offer support to Aboriginal students. When we get these things right, we create environments where all students thrive, strengthening connections between school and community.

Our classrooms will shape tomorrow’s leaders, grounded in respect, driven by purpose, empowered by the values of country, culture, and community and our faith - ready to build a more just and hopeful world. When we teach with positive high regard for our young people, we create a foundation for learning.

Our students leave us, not just literate and numerate, but confident in who they are, and what they can achieve. We equip them to flourish, faith filled, with hope, into the future. I am confident that we can build on what we’ve learned at this conference, that we can continue to grow for a hope-filled future for our young people.

Message Stick Journey

The Message Stick Journey across our Diocese was a wonderful way for everyone to be part of the Conference. Here is a short video of its journey across our Diocese:

ACS - The Message St.mov

Thank you

Without all the many people who helped we would not have had the success we have had over the past 3 days. Your joy and work made this such a wonderful experience.

Special thanks to

• Armidale Catholic Schools -
  • Karen Tighe, Subject Matter Expert: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education K-12,  James Russell, Subject Matter Expert: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Student Engagement & Conference Organisation, Judi Wark, Administration Officer and Justin Matthews, School Performance Leader.
    The vision that Karen had, and the work that Karen, Judi, James and Justin did in helping the vision come to life was outstanding
• Conference Committee
  • Our Elders - Dr Aunty Fay Green, Uncle JB, Aunty Liz Stahlhut, Uncle Terry Hynch
  • Karen Tighe, James Russell, Justin Matthews, Tahnee Denton, Judi Wark, Darryl Martin, Hanne Pedersen, Lisa Smith, Amanda Gwalter, Sam Kennedy, Sharon Pitt, Harrison Boney
• Our Aboriginal Educational Assistants and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Focus Teachers and Principals in our schools
• Monsignor Wilkes, Damian Roff, Darryl Martin, Kate Frazier and Matt Griffin for a beautiful Mass
• Teachers of dance performances
• ACSO Staff for all the behind the scenes work
• ACSO Mission and Learning Team

Thank you. How proud you should all be of the dedication you show each and every day to support our young people realise a hope-filled future.

Farewell Dr Justin Matthews

I would like to farewell Dr Justin Matthews as he heads to Port Pirie Diocese as Deputy Director on Thursday 31st October. Justin has had an enormous impact on our Diocese in his 6 years working at St Joseph’s Walgett and CSO. Justin spearheaded the transformative change management process that reshaped our school performance culture by creating the Armidale Schools Data Ecosystem. The ecosystem promotes best practices, fostering collective efficacy among educators and aligning with Lyn Sharratt’s 14 Parameters of System and School Improvement. This unified approach nurtures a shared belief in the potential of all students to be literate, numerate, and hopeful about their futures. Justin’ relational nature has transformed our system to be one of the highest performing in Australia. Through his commitment to regional, rural and remote education, he will continue to have a positive impact on the lives of young people. It was fitting that on Friday night Justin was the recipient of the William Walker Award for Excellence in Educational Leadership at the New England Education Cooperative Awards. Pictured here is Justin with Vice Chancellor of UNE, Profession Chris Moran. I wish Justin, Catherine, Thomas, Florence and Patrick all the best for the future. 

A few selfies to finish (so many to choose from)

Regina