Updates
Sacred Sparks – Beacons of Hope
On 26 June 2025, four Northern Illawarra primary schools—Good Samaritan, Fairy Meadow; St Columbkille's, Corrimal; St Michael's, Thirroul; and St Joseph's, Bulli—celebrated the incredible talents of their gifted and high-potential students at the Sacred Sparks – Beacons of Hope event. This mini Da Vinci-style competition provided a dynamic platform for these bright minds to showcase their skills. Teams collaborated and competed across eight challenging disciplines, including Religious Education, Mathematics, English, Science, Engineering, Dramatic Interpretation, Cartography, and Code Breaking, illuminating their potential and demonstrating their diverse abilities.
Minor amendments to the Corporate Travel Procedure and Information Sheet: Responsible Stewardship of Educational Funds and Resources
Minor amendments have been made to the Corporate Travel Procedure and Information Sheet: Responsible Stewardship of Educational Funds and Resources. The documents were updated in line with ATO Taxation Determination 2025/4 and concern reasonable travel and overtime meal allowance expense amounts (Corporate Travel Procedure) and catering standards (Information Sheet: Responsible Stewardship of Educational Funds and Resources).
These amendments have been applied to Appendix A of the Corporate Travel Procedure and the ‘Provision of Gifts, Benefits, Gratuities and Hospitality Tables’ in the Information Sheet: Responsible Stewardship of Educational Funds and Resources.
The updated documents will come into effect on 26 August 2025.
2025 Ready Set School Bag
Transition to School (Kindergarten) Information
For children and their families, transitioning to school is a significant time that can have a considerable impact on a child’s longer-term academic, social and wellbeing outcomes.
The Transition to School (Kindergarten) Information is designed to support principals and their staff, including Kindergarten teachers and Senior School Support Officers (SSSOs), in planning their school's Transition to School processes in collaboration with their respective Heads of CCSI.
Within the document, schools have access to a range of optional resources, including templates, to support the administration involved in planning transition events and activities. SSSOs may contact Kylie Hawke at hawkek04@dow.catholic.edu.au or Lisa Burton at burtonl01@dow.catholic.edu.au if they have any questions or require additional support.
Ready Set School Bag
The Ready Set School Bag is a resource designed to support both parents and children as they play, explore, and learn together. Each bag is given directly to the child during School Orientation to help prepare them for a positive start to school.
For 2025, CEDoW will provide the following items to be included in the bag. Schools are also welcome to include any additional items at their discretion.
- Ready Set School Bag
- Ready Set School Booklet
- Picture Book
- Totem Card
Arrangements will be made with the SSSO’s working on site during the student vacation period and all remaining bags will be delivered to schools by the first week of Term 4.
Thank you for your continued support in helping children and families feel confident and connected as they begin their school journey.
NSW K–12 Curriculum Implementation Survey
K–12 teachers are invited to share feedback on curriculum implementation, including the new syllabuses and the use of AI in classrooms. Your input will guide the support we provide through resources, materials and professional learning, and teachers and curriculum leaders can also express interest in a focus group on syllabus preparation or AI in teaching and learning. Click here to complete the survey.
Explicit Teaching: Resources from the NSW Department of Education
The Department of Education has released several resources on explicit teaching. Explicit teaching is one of the eight themes that What Works Best 2025 regards as the most valuable and powerful practices that make an impact.
Designed to help teachers sequence the learning process for children, explicit teaching puts learning into a clear sequence: getting students to understand why they are learning something, what their goals are, how it connects to what they already know, the expectations, how to do it, and what success looks like.
Explicit teaching matters because it is heavily backed by research in cognitive science as well as practical classroom experiences of students who have been taught using explicit teaching, compared to those who haven't experienced it. It sets high expectations yet manages to engage students across a number of year levels and ability levels, improving their understanding and overall success.
Download the What Works Best explicit teaching resources:
- What Works Best 2025 – Evidence Guide for Excellent Schools (pages 20-28)
- What Works Best 2025 Practical Guide – Explicit Teaching
- What Works Best 2025 illustration of practice – Explicit Teaching at Doonside Technology High School.
To find out more, visit the NSW Department of Education's website.
Boost Engagement with Powerful Paddock to Plate Education
Australian Good Meat Education offers free, curriculum-aligned resources for Kindergarden to Year 12. Lessons save teachers time while connecting students to real-world food production, sustainability, technology and nutrition.
What’s Inside
- Cross-curricular content for Design and Technologies, Science, Maths, English and HASS
- Ready-to-use lesson guides, student worksheets and engaging supplementary materials
- Senior secondary case studies building research and analysis skills
- Teacher tutorials for confident delivery
Teachers love it because it’s free to download, print, or use digitally, curated by educators and adaptable for all classrooms, usable as activities, full lessons or custom units, and features relatable content that connects students to Australian practice.
Leading Life to the Full: A Student Round Table
Campion College Study Camp
From 8–10 October 2025, Campion College Australia will host its first Study Camp for Year 11 and 12 students preparing for final exams.
The three-day camp combines:
- 6–8 hours of supervised study each day
- Mini-seminars to strengthen exam preparation
- Social activities and sports to recharge
- A formal hall dinner with faculty and a guest speaker
Only 30 places are available. The $400 fee covers two nights’ accommodation, meals and activities.
Date: 8–10 October 2025
Open to: Year 11 and 12 students
Venue: Campion College, Toongabbie, NSW
Cost: $400 per student
Register now: Study Camp – Campion College
Enquiries: (02) 9896 9303 | study@campion.edu.au
UniSuper – Interactive Webcast
Join UniSuper's interactive webcast on Tuesday 2 September 2025 at 12:30 pm (AEST) to learn how your super is invested and how it impacts your retirement balance. Open to all, including non-members, the session covers investment fundamentals, long-term strategies, UniSuper's options, including sustainable and environmentally focused options, and available support. The webcast allows questions, opens early for resources, and personalised guidance is available through UniSuper consultants on 1800 823 842. Register here.
This Week’s CEDoW Library Resources
ACEN eBook
This week’s Sora eBook edition is Map Out Your Adventure.
Use the link here to explore eBook titles for primary, secondary, and staff through the Australian Catholic Education Network (ACEN). To sign in to Sora, select “ACEN” as your school.
ClickView Highlight
This week’s ClickView highlight for primary is Coding and Programming, and for secondary is Hardware and Software. You can view it here.
If you have any questions, please get in touch with Jim Gallagher, Library Services Manager, at gallagherj01@dow.catholic.edu.au.