All Staff Edition, Week 11, Term 1, 2025

We hope all staff enjoy a happy and holy Easter and a safe, restful break, feeling inspired by the deep sense of connection and compassion this Jubilee Year brings.

Resignation – Principal, St Therese Catholic Parish Primary School, West Wollongong

After thoughtful reflection and prayerful discernment, Stephen Thorne has decided to retire from his position as Principal of St Therese Catholic Parish Primary School, West Wollongong. Steve will conclude in the position at the end of the 2025 school year.

Read the full announcement here.

Peter Hill
Director of Schools
Diocese of Wollongong

CRSSFIT

A Spiritual Boot Camp | LENT 2025

“Lent comes providentially to reawaken us, to shake us from our lethargy.” — Pope Francis, 2021

Outline

This week, we journey with Jesus during the Passion and then the triumphant Resurrection on Easter Sunday.

We journey with him as his weary legs and broken body make their way to be crucified. We remember Mary, who stood at the foot of the cross, next to Jesus in unrelenting love and solidarity as he died on the Cross.

Finally, the joyous resurrection of Jesus, as he sets foot on the ground and then out of the tomb. We imagine his footmarks actually being left on the ground as he walked out. We aspire to follow these footmarks as we seek to realise the kingdom here on Earth.

The Passion:

• Catholic Social Teaching Focus: Solidarity
• Body Part Awareness Exercise – LEGS.

The Resurrection:

• Catholic Social Teaching Focus: Stewardship of Creation
• Body Part Awareness Exercise – FEET.

The instructions for this week’s session can be found in the booklet here. 

All vacant positions can be viewed on Employee Self Service (ESS) each Wednesday morning prior to being uploaded to the public website, to give Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong staff first priority to view positions

This week you will find advertised positions for the following schools:

Primary

St Columbkille's Catholic Parish Primary School, Corrimal 
Principal

St Michael's Catholic Parish Primary School, Nowra
Principal 

Secondary

St Benedict’s Catholic College, Oran Park
English Teacher (F.T.E. 0.4)
School Support Officer – Food Technology (52 hours per fortnight)

Magdalene Catholic College, Narellan
TAS Teacher (Re-Advertised)

Catholic Education Office

Education Officer – Primary (CLEM)

FREE AccessEAP Awareness Sessions

AccessEAP are inviting all CEDoW staff to a complimentary online EAP Awareness Session. Each session will provide practical information about the confidential support available.

What will you gain from attending? Understand how the free, confidential EAP counselling service provided by AccessEAP can support your mental health and wellbeing. The qualified facilitator will also be sharing mental health and wellbeing insights and tips to support you in daily life.

Who can attend these sessions? All CEDoW staff can register and attend a free session.

Upcoming Awareness Sessions: Click on your preferred date below to register. Places are limited, so book now to secure your spot.

If you have any questions regarding these sessions, please contact Workplace Safety and Wellbeing at whs@dow.catholic.edu.au.

For CEDoW’s full range of workplace, safety and wellbeing resources, please visit the Workplace Safety and Wellbeing Hub on Gateway.

Urgent request from CatholicCare Wollongong

CatholicCare's Fostering Futures program are seeking a forever home for Lachlan* aged 12. Lachlan is a happy, loving boy who would like a family who can take him to the park to ride his scooter, kick a football around or push him on the swing. An ideal carer for Lachlan is someone who can help him find his feet in new surroundings.

There is a critical shortage of foster carers at the moment and Lachlan has been waiting for a long time for his forever homes. Like all kids, he deserves a home where he can feel safe, secure and loved.

CatholicCare have over 30 years' experience helping carers give vulnerable children a loving home and a brighter future. Carers receive comprehensive support including training, regular case worker support and career allowance for the child's day-to-day financial needs.

If you can provide a safe and supportive home for Lachlan or kids like him, we'd love to hear from you.

Please call 0418 783 956 or email fosteringfutures@catholiccare.dow.org.au for more information, and you will be supported every step of the way.

*Name has been changed for privacy.

St Benedict’s, Oran Park – Careers Expo

On 3 April 2025, St Benedict’s Catholic College, Oran Park, hosted a Careers Expo for students in Years 10 to 12. Coordinated by Tracee Brown, the college’s Transition and Pathways Specialist (TaPS) and VET teacher, the event featured a variety of vendors and service providers, allowing students to explore a wide range of career pathways.

Students engaged with exhibitors and gathered information to help guide their future career decisions. CEDoW hosted two stalls—one promoting VET opportunities and the other highlighting the Step into Teaching Scholarship Program.

Christina Desmond, VET/RTO Training Manager, and Sherryn Moore, Talent Pathways Officer, represented CEDoW at the event. Christina promoted CEDoW’s VET courses, while Sherryn provided information about CEDoW’s scholarship programs. It was a highly successful event and exceptionally well coordinated by Tracee Brown.

In early Term 2, CEDoW representatives will visit each secondary school, targeting Years 11 and 12 students, to promote the Step into Teaching Scholarship Program and the Australian Catholic University Step Up Into Teaching Program. Students considering a pathway into teaching will receive key information to support their decision-making.

Turn-around times for non-urgent legal matters

'Turn-around' times for non-urgent legal matters are longer than would ideally be the case due to the unprecedented number of requests for legal services. The legal team reviews all requests for legal advice before prioritising the preparation of responses. This process is necessary given the modestly sized legal team attempting to serve a seemingly ever-increasing demand.

Be assured that all urgent matters (typically student-related school-based requests) will continue to be promptly answered.

Your patience and understanding is appreciated.

Michael Knight
Assistant Director
Governance, Assurance and Risk

Supplier Payment Run – Public Holidays

Due to the upcoming public holidays on Friday 18 April 2025, and Friday 25 April 2025, the payment runs have been brought forward by one day to:

• Thursday 17 April 2025
• Thursday 24 April 2025 

The payment run will return to normal processing on Tuesday 29 April 2025. 

Accounts Payable Team

Resources to Celebrate a Millennial Saint

Did you know that Carlo Acutis, the inspiring teenager who used his computer skills to share his faith, will be officially canonised as a saint on 27 April 2025, during the Jubilee of Youth week?

To mark this special celebration, CEDoW has developed digital resources that embrace Carlo's tech-savvy spirit and his passion for evangelisation. Created using apps and AI, these resources are perfect for exploring Carlo's life with your students:

• For primary students: An interactive digital school magazine. Access the magazine via Publuu here.
• For secondary students: A thought-provoking podcast and discussion guide. Access the guide via Publuu here.

These resources, inspired by Carlo's own use of technology to spread faith, demonstrate how to engage with and share faith in the digital age and can be explored for learning activities across Religious Education, English, ICLT, HSIE, Music and Art, and Civics and Citizenship.

The CEDoW resources for Carlo Acutis can be accessed here.

Palms Australia Easter Newsletter

You can read the latest Palms Australia newsletter here.

The newsletter features an inspiring update on CEDoW’s former Head of Human Resources, Carolyn Hadley, and her immersion experience as a volunteer teacher in Timor-Leste.

NAPLAN 2025 Concludes

NESA has advised Catholic Schools NSW (CSNSW) expects that schools will have access to their school and student summary reports (SSSR) in the national assessment platform from the week commencing 28 April 2025.

The initial SSSR released through the platform will contain students’ proficiency level results for Reading, Numeracy, Spelling and Grammar and Punctuation test domains. Writing results will be included in a second SSSR release in mid-May.

NESA will email schools directly with instructions on how to access their results in the national assessment platform.

In preparation for the release of the SSSRs, ACARA has developed a 2025 How to interpret the SSSR guide.

The guide has been uploaded to the NAP website under Results and Reports.

The NSW Department of Education has yet to confirm the date for the release of the 2025 NAPLAN results in Scout. CSNSW will advise schools once the date has been confirmed.

Questions? Schools should contact the NAPLAN team at NESA for any assistance by calling 1300 119 556 or 02 9367 8382 or emailing naplan.nsw@nesa.nsw.edu.au. 

CSNSW acknowledges and thanks schools for their efforts to deliver 2025 NAPLAN.

Workplace Learning Update

Workplace Learning (WPL) insurance arrangements have changed, and new resources are available to schools. After 31 March 2025, each diocese will maintain its own public liability insurance for students attending school-approved work experience or work placement for VET courses. 

This insurance covers:

• Injury to students
• Loss or damage occasioned by students
• Indemnity cover for host employers (subject to individual school's policy terms, conditions, limits and exclusions). 

Host employers must also have current public liability insurance. 

CSNSW Workplace Learning Guides, forms and videos are available from CSNSW's VET Workplace Learning webpage.

Pulse Behaviour Dashboards Are Now Live

Behaviour related Pulse dashboards have been deployed in your school. Key personnel (school leadership, PB4L teams, pastoral leaders) now have access to the following dashboards:

Behaviour Analysis Dashboard

The following information can be found in this dashboard:

• Whole school behaviour data including data from the last 14 days
• Role related data including information on Impacted students
• Year level behaviour trends
• Behavioural pattern information across groupings

Behaviour Analysis Dashboard – Individual Student

The following information can be found in this dashboard:

• Detailed view of individual student behaviour
• Behaviours over time and the role a student has played in incidents
• Details of each behaviour issues (Problem behaviour , teacher response , location and time)
• Behaviour timing analysis KLA/Subject Analysis

Behaviour Analysis Dashboard - Problem Behaviour

This dashboard will assist schools to dive deeply into behaviour definitions and to ask curious questions such as:

• What are the problem behaviour details being selected by staff?
• Are there particular behaviour(s) happening in various locations?
• When are particular behaviours taking place?
• Does our behaviour definition matrix capture behaviours across the school Is the “other” option over represented in the data?)

Dashboards have been designed to provide easy access to your Compass portal behaviour data with the aim of:

Facilitating Data-Driven Decisions: Provide actionable insights into behaviour patterns, allowing schools to identify areas of strength and areas needing targeted support.

Enhancing Individual Student Support: Offer detailed student-level data to inform individualised behaviour support strategies, contributing to positive academic and social outcomes for all students.

Strengthening School-Wide PB4L Implementation: Visualise the effectiveness of our PB4L initiatives, enabling your school to continuously refine and improve school-wide systems and PB4L implementation.

LMS Pulse training support: To assist with navigating Pulse, you now have access to an optional training model through LMS. The module provides technical and PB4L related process guidance using a school based example with questions that guide your school to start analysing your data. The module is located here. 

DLST Network Meeting #2 

Please see the link to the Zoom recording and slide presentation from the DLST Network Meeting held on Friday 4 April 2025.

The following topics were discussed:

• PP Meeting Bookings in Compass
• Updates on PPs Moderation
• Case Collaboration
• Supported Enrolments
• NCCD Resourcing
• DLST Refresher/Induction
• Partial Attendance
• DLST Hub
• BOL
• Reminders.

CEDoW Library

ACEN eBook of the Week

This week’s Sora eBook theme is World Health Day. 

See the link here to explore the eBook titles for primary, secondary, and staff through the Australian Catholic Education Network (ACEN). Click on each image or use the QR code to access further information. To sign in to Sora, select "ACEN" as your school.

ClickView Highlight

This week’s ClickView highlight is Respectful Relationships & Healthier Masculinities. You can view it here.

If you have any questions, please contact Jim Gallagher, Library Services Manager, at gallagherj01@dow.catholic.edu.au. 

Have an Ethical Easter in 2025

“Every person ought to have the awareness that purchasing is always a moral – and not simply an economic – act.” – Pope Francis

A significant portion of the chocolate available in Australia is produced using cocoa beans harvested by child labourers, many of whom endure enslavement and exploitative working conditions.

Indulge responsibly, select ethically sourced chocolate, and support companies working towards eliminating slavery from their supply chain this Easter and beyond.

Click on the links for tips and further information.

Slavery Free Easter Chocolate - Catholic Earthcare

Indulge Responsibly Easter Poster

Also, consider not buying something that is overly packaged. Lots of Easter eggs come encased in several layers of foil, cardboard and plastic - each of which come with an environmental and often human cost of their own. Remember to recycle your foil…

“The knowledge about what we buy is the first act in not being complicit. Look at where those products come from.” – Pope Francis

Courage to Be Overnight Retreat

The Courage to Be Overnight Retreat is a spiritual formation opportunity for CEDoW staff. It seeks to provide an opportunity to slow down and explore some of the wisdom from our tradition which can support us in taking those next courageous steps in life.

It endeavours to create a space for participants to reflect on their lives and will include input, gentle discussion, personal reflection and Christian Meditation.

“The Courage to Be” is an overnight retreat and will be held in the beautiful grounds of The Hermitage in Mittagong on Thursday 29 and Friday 30 May 2025 (Term 2 Week 5). Day One will be funded by the CEO (C15) and Day Two is to be funded by schools. Please register through LMS no later than Friday 9 May 2025. Approval by your principal | Assistant Director | Team Leader is required before registering on LMS. Please see the flyer here.

Due to the nature of this retreat numbers are limited so please register as soon as possible.

For those staff members who have already attended the Courage to Be, the Courage to Continue retreat will be offered in Term 3, 2025. Further information regarding The Courage to Continue will be forwarded at a later date.

Another Cup of Our Life

The Staff Spiritual Formation team would like to inform you of an upcoming personal formation opportunity which is being offered to School Support Officers and CEO Administration Staff.

The retreat is entitled “Another Cup of Our Life” and seeks to provide staff with an opportunity to slow down and reflect on different aspects of their lives. Please note that staff are not required to have attended the previous Cup of Our Life Retreat and that for those who have, it will be a unique experience from the last. 

We will explore some ways to ensure that our cups are replenished and how our loving God longs to walk with us in all that we face. The day will include personal reflection, interactive discussions and meditation. All staff attending the retreat are asked to bring a cup that holds significance for them as this symbol will be central to the day.

“Another Cup of Our Life” is a one day retreat and will be held in the beautiful grounds of The Hermitage in Mittagong on Tuesday 24 or Wednesday 25 June 2025 (Term 3, Week 9). We are offering it twice to provide schools with the opportunity to send staff on different days if necessary. All meals, facilitation and venue expenses will be covered by the CEO. Schools are required to cover the cost for release. Registration is through LMS by Friday 6 June 2025.

Due to the nature of this retreat numbers are limited so we would encourage interested staff to register as soon as possible. All of the details regarding the retreat are on the flyer here.

CSNSW Inclusive Education Symposium | 1 May 2025

CSNSW invites all education leaders, teachers and support staff in diversity to join us for another excellent day of learning and collaboration on Thursday 1 May 2025. 

We are delighted that Dr Shiralee Poed, Associate Professor within the School of Education at the University of Queensland, will once again be joining our professional learning community. Dr Poed will share the latest research in inclusive and restrictive practices in education, providing valuable insights into current trends and effective strategies. 

Other topics on the day will include Legal Perspectives when Enrolling Students with Disability and Twice Exceptionality. 

To register and for further information, visit the CSNSW website here.

Blended Online Learning | Semester 1 2025

Please see the Blended Online Learning (BOL) flyer for upcoming course dates.

Registration on CEDoW's Learning Management System (LMS) closes 11 April 2025 for:

• Understanding Autism: LMS Registration
• Understanding and Supporting Behaviour: LMS Registration
• Dyslexia and Significant Difficulties in Reading: LMS Registration
• Speech, Language and Communication Needs: LMS Registration

Registration on LMS closes 20 June 2025 for:

• Understanding Hearing Loss: LMS Registration
• Supporting Student Wellbeing and Mental Health: LMS Registration
• Attachment Trauma and Theory: LMS Registration

Interest in further courses can be offered by completing this Expression of Interest form. For any questions, please contact: wssadmin@dow.catholic.edu.au. 

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