Updates

Recommendations and actions arising from the Review into CEO Accountabilities

As part of the CEO’s 2024 strategic objectives, a working group was established to “review CEO services and functions to ensure accountabilities (i.e. who is responsible for what) are defined and clearly understood by both CEO and school staff”.

At the end of 2024, the working group provided a report that identified the areas where accountability for key functions was missing or unclear, and provided recommendations to address their findings. Throughout 2025, the Strategy and Communications service area will work with the relevant CEO staff to coordinate the timely implementation of accepted recommendations. 

To help you understand what this will involve, a document has been prepared that provides a summary of the endorsed recommendations and the actions required to implement them.

If you have any questions, please contact communications@dow.catholic.edu.au. 

Bishop’s Schedule for Secondary Schools

For: Secondary Principals, RECs/Leaders of Mission

Please refer to this document for a list of 2025 events involving the Bishop that are relevant to secondary schools.

Laudato Si’ Lenten Prayer and Reflection Resources

For: Primary and Secondary RECs/Leaders of Mission

Please share with your schools.

During Lent, we are invited to embark upon a journey of ecological conversion through reflection, repentance, and renewal.

By committing to concrete changes through fasting and lifestyle changes, we can live more in solidarity with our Earth and each other, reduce our ecological footprint and inspire our sisters and brothers to join this conversion process.

Click here for resources that may assist you in exploring a Laudato Si' Lent with your school community.

CR+SSFIT | A Spiritual Bootcamp | LENT 2025

For: Principals, RECs and Leaders of Mission

Targeting Student Leaders and Early Career Teachers (Primary)

CR+SSFIT | A Lenten Spiritual Bootcamp | Lent 2025 is being offered to all schools in 2025.

The 7 week program to a ‘fitter’ spiritual self weaves our Catholic Social Teachings into the Lenten program sessions which include multiple elements relating to faith and wellbeing.

The method used for the bootcamp is Faith in Action and Lectio/Visio Divina.

The faith elements include scripture readings, artwork, reflections and brief periods of meditation while the deep breathing practices, body awareness exercises and weekly social gathering address our general wellbeing in busy school and office communities.

The program is designed to be delivered by the student leaders and early career teachers in our communities as a means of developing their Catholic Leadership capacities.

The CLEM team is available to deliver 30-minute workshops during weeks 4 to 7 in our primary and secondary schools.

• Primary Schools – Target group is Year 6 students or Early Career Teachers
• Secondary Schools – Target group is School Captains/Vice Captains/SRC OR YMLs

The CR+SSFIT | A Spiritual Bootcamp | LENT 2025 program here.

For any further information contact David Gearin at gearind01@dow.catholic.edu.au.

ONE LICENSE 101: Webinar Recording

For: Primary and Secondary RECs/Leaders of Mission

Please share with the relevant members of your staff.

ONE LICENSE 101 was designed with newer users in mind. Filled with supportive and solutions-oriented content, this webinar provides helpful information for all of your team members and will keep you up to date on the latest information from ONE LICENSE.

Access the ONE LICENSE 101 webinar recording here.

Jubilee Year: Soul of Ireland and Italy Pilgrimage, 26 September - 19 October 2025

For: All Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong Staff   

In the 2025 Jubilee Year, the Church celebrates the theme Pilgrims of Hope, encouraging us all to live with hope in God and to share that hope with others.

To celebrate and mark this significant event for our international Catholic community, CEDoW invites staff to participate in a special Jubilee Year Pilgrimage to  Ireland and Italy, led by Bishop Brian Mascord.

For more information about the pilgrimage, including how to submit an Expression of Interest, please refer to the link here.

Expressions of Interest close on 13 March 2025.

Enquiries to Claire Cooney at cooneyc02@dow.catholic.edu.au.

NSW Ambulance School and Group Cover Scheme 2025

The NSW Ambulance Schools and Group Cover Scheme (ASGCS) provides schools free emergency ambulance services for all students at school involved in approved, fully supervised school activities.

If a student requires emergency ambulance services, an invoice will be sent either to the parent or directly to the school.

Upon receiving this invoice, schools should promptly submit it to NSW Ambulance using the details below. (Please note: These details have changed from previous years).

To ensure the claim is processed, the school’s ASGCS number 147764 must be included when submitting the invoice which can be mailed or emailed.

Mailing Address
NSW Ambulance
Locked Bag 6
SILVERWATER NSW 2128

Email Address
AMBULANCE-FinanceAccounts@health.nsw.gov.au 

For further information on the details, this policy can be accessed on the Workplace Safety and Wellbeing Gateway site under Student Health and Safety or by accessing this link. 

If you have any questions regarding the resources, please contact Workplace Safety and Wellbeing on 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.

Shape the Path Forward: Life To The Full Framework Feedback Form

The Life To The Full Framework—A Framework for Respectful Relationships, Child Safety and Human Sexuality (RRCSHSE) was initially launched in 2020 and remains a strategic priority of CEDoW.

We invite all principals, assistant principals (primary), REC’s and PDHPE Leaders of Learning to complete a brief Google form to assess the current implementation of the framework and its readiness for further development. Your input will provide feedback and guide future direction for relaunching the framework to ensure it meets the evolving needs of both educators and students.

Please find the links to the forms below:

1. Principals (Primary and Secondary) and Assistant Principals (Primary only)

2. REC (Primary and Secondary)

3. PDHPE Leader of Learning (Secondary)

Questions and enquiries: jennifer.sharp@dow.catholic.edu.au or liam.nicholls@dow.catholic.edu.au.

Important: Supported Enrolments Information

For: K-12 Principals, APs, SSSOs, Enrolment Officers, leaders of diverse learning

The Wellbeing and Student Support (WSS) Team continue to be available to support schools with complex enrolments. Under the new WSS service delivery model, we will be managing supported enrolments differently in 2025 and have developed a workflow to assist with this.

Please see below for some key information regarding support for enrolments. This information will be discussed further at upcoming network meetings.

• Schools will maintain autonomy over the level of support provided from the Wellbeing and Student Support Team.
• Schools no longer need to notify WSS Education Officers of enrolment applications.
• Filters have been established in Funnel to automatically send an alert to the wssadmin@dow.catholic.edu.au when a family identifies on the enrolment application that their child requires support as a result of a medical diagnosis, diverse learning, behaviour need or they are interested in a CEDoW Support Class placement.
• All of the above applications will be triaged by WSS and schools will be notified via email at the completion of this triage process.
• Principals or their delegate are encouraged to email wssadmin@dow.catholic.edu.au at any point throughout the enrolment or transition process should they require support with an individual student’s enrolment application.

It is acknowledged that, at times, information is not disclosed during the enrolment application process or new information is provided throughout the process. Should this occur and you discern that you require support please do not hesitate to email wssadmin@dow.catholic.edu.au.

Should you have any questions or wish to seek further clarification, please contact Katie Carroll at carrollk02@dow.catholic.edu.au.

Case Collaboration Procedure Update

For: K-12 Leadership and leaders of diverse learning and pastoral care

Congratulations on all that you have achieved so far and the positive approach all schools have taken in working to align current structures and processes with the procedure or identifying what areas continue to need an ongoing focus.

This procedure continues to remain in a familiarisation phase, providing schools with the opportunity to work on identifying and embedding processes and structures to enable a gentle transition into the implementation phase later in the year.

In the coming weeks, the Wellbeing and Student Support Team will be reaching out to schools to deepen our understanding of what differentiated support we can provide as we move forward towards the implementation of this procedure.

The Wellbeing and Student Support Team have developed a Case Collaboration Procedure FAQ. This document addresses the various questions that have been asked since this procedure was made available to schools. It is intended that this FAQ will be updated as new questions arise.

New Compass Template to Be Released in All Schools

Release Date: Estimated Thursday 6 February 2025
Category: 4a. Collaboration and Consultation
Name: Staff Case Collaboration Record
Users: Any school or CEO staff

Purpose:

• To support compliance with record keeping requirements under the new Case Collaboration Procedure “1.6 All employees are responsible for documenting and recording all aspects of a case collaboration matter with which they are concerned”.
• The template will be used to record collaborations between any staff (school or CEO) that take place in relation to supporting the needs of an individual or group of students, when the activity is not better captured under other existing templates. For example: Parent consultation/meeting templates, or school level case collaboration meeting templates, external provider consultation, safety alert, and safety record. The collaboration can be between:
  • School to school staff (e.g. diverse learning leader and curriculum leader, or class teacher and middle leader);
  • School and CEO (e.g. diverse or pastoral care leaders and WSS Education Officer); and/or,
  • CEO and CEO (e.g. WSS to GAR).