As we begin term four and anticipate the usual workload that occurs with prizegiving, assessment, reports, examinations and camps it would be easy to dismiss the need for us to also be vigilant about the content of a number of the reports that are due to be released during this busy time.

Following all the huis and consultation meetings the first draft of the Tomorrow’s School Review is due out in November and we will need to be ready to respond to aspects that have an impact on integrated schools. Hopefully, there will be many positives to respond to and encourage the government with, but any loss of choice or moves to restrict enrolment in integrated schools will require a co-ordinated effort counter it.

On October 25^th, Proprietors and Principals have been invited to meet with Minister Salesa and Minister Hipkins to continue to build on our relationship with the current government. We will be looking for assurance that state-integrated schools have a place in providing choice for parents. Following that meeting, I will share with you the detail of our conversation.

Enjoy your term,

Paul Ferris, CEO

SAVE THE DATE: CATHOLIC SCHOOLS DAY

The Coalition Government wants every New Zealander to have access to a world-class education. That’s why we’re working towards developing a 30-year strategic approach to education in New Zealand.

Tens of thousands of Kiwis have already participated in Education Conversation | Kōrero Mātauranga and taken the opportunity to let us know their thoughts about the current education system and what it should look like moving forward. We value what everyone has to say and we know this feedback is crucial in developing an education system that is inclusive and fit for the future.

This is the same inclusive and collaborative approach we want to have with the State integrated schools sector, which has an important role in providing education throughout the country.  We acknowledge there are some challenges for the sector and we are committed to working through them together.

The Government values the choice and quality of education that State integrated schools provide, and overall we are addressing barriers and issues that students may face in education. This work will be influenced by that of the Independent Taskforce on Tomorrow’s Schools, which is currently considering the governance, management and administration of our school system and whether the needs and aspirations of all learners are being met.

We want to ensure that any future changes to the settings for State integrated schools are fair to students, parents and proprietors. This means collaborating and working together on what the future of the State integrated schools sector might look like. As the minister responsible for policy, funding rules and regulation in relation to State integrated schools, I want to build on these relationships as we look toward a system that works better for everyone.

Recently, as part of Kōrero Mātauranga I hosted extra meetings for Pacific people and ethnic communities who had low participation rates during the consultation period. Themes of equity, diversity, inclusiveness and connectedness with the community emerged from these meetings, which were also consistent with themes that came out of the Education Summit in May this year. We want all of these ideas to influence the Government’s work programme in developing an education system that delivers for New Zealanders into the future.

I am very much looking forward to engaging with proprietors on 25 October in Wellington. Your views are an essential part of delivering world-class education in Aotearoa.

Malo ‘aupito

Hon Jenny Salesa

Associate Minister of Education

EDUCATION COUNCIL SEEKING PCTS FOR MENTORING PILOT

The Education Council is launching a new induction and mentoring pilot. Tuakana Teina aims to harness the skills and knowledge of experienced mentor teachers and match them with a limited number of beginning teachers (PCTs) who are looking for a mentor. It went live on 15 August 2018. The Education Council has had a great response from mentor teachers already. PCTs are now requested to get involved. Information for mentors, click here. Information for mentees/PCTs, click here.

PROMOTING WELLBEING THROUGH SEXUALITY EDUCATION

A new ERO report is now available on the publications page on ERO’s website: www.ero.govt.nz/publications/. The report provides findings from ERO’s evaluation of how well schools were promoting and supporting student wellbeing through sexuality education. It includes high-level findings and examples of good practice and recommendations for schools. One of our integrated schools was featured as a best practice story. Congratulations!

LEADERSHIP STRATEGY AND EDUCATION LEADERSHIP CAPABILITY FRAMEWORK

The Education Council officially launched the Leadership Strategy for the Teaching Profession of Aotearoa New Zealand and its companion document, the Educational Leadership Capability Framework (the Framework). The Strategy, Framework and FAQs are now available on the Council's website.

KŌRERO MĀTAURANGA UPDATE

To see the latest update on the Ministry of Education's work on the Education Conversation, Kōrero Mātauranga, visit conversation.education.govt.nz.

TAPASĀ FRAMEWORK LAUNCHED

The Ministry of Education has recently published, Tapasā: Cultural competencies framework for teachers of Pacific learners. It is designed to help improve the way teachers and leaders engage with Pacific learners, and to an extent parents, families and their communities, to make the biggest difference in a child’s educational success. Click here to access a PDF copy.

EDUCATION COUNCIL SUPPORTS TEACHERS ONLINE

The Education Council is creating a new user-friendly and teacher-focused online platform for the teaching profession. Implementation is to occur in the last quarter of 2018. Once the platform goes live, it will enable teachers to complete their certification online and have better access to advice and information, and support for professional learning and development. Read more here.

Report from the APIS representative:

The Minister of Education has listened to feedback from schools regarding the burden of compliance and administration tasks and its impact on schools. The Minister convened a Joint Taskforce that met on the 25th July under the chairmanship of Graeme Cosslett (NZCRE). The taskforce is made up of mainly principals representing various sector groups plus union representation and there was robust discussion with regard to our concerns.

The outcome of this meeting was a strategy to collect the voice of staff in schools across the country through a number of workshops. These workshops will finished with last workshop in Christchurch in the last week of term 3.                        

Participants in these workshops have identified where waste within compliance and administration could be reduced. The taskforce will then meet again on the 17th October to look at the analysis of the data from these workshops and prepare an interim report for the Minister. There is a genuine desire by the Minister to act quickly in this area.

Thank you for the opportunity to represent the Integrated school sector.

We are delighted to announce and welcome Actura as a partner for NZCEO & APIS. Actura offers the CASE Space School International Study Program and FlipRobot, an intuitive coding platform and learning kit for robotic education.

Since launching Space School to Australia in 2014 and New Zealand in 2017,​ Actura has offered school expeditions to over 200 schools with thousands of students who have participated.  The opportunity is now finally here for New Zealand schools to join the expedition.

We are now planning expeditions for students from NZCEO & APIS Member Schools and the 2019 dates are:

• Junior Program (Years 8-10) from 8 to 21 December
• Senior Program (Years 11-13) from 9 to 22 December

The great advantage for schools is that they don't have to make a financial committment to offer this program to their students.

If you are interested hearing more, please contact CASE Ambassador, Tegan Morrell, tegan.morrell@actura.co.nz, 022 1 022 458.

Click here to read the Media Release about the partnership.

We note a recent article reporting that Microsoft has renewed a deal with the Ministry of Education. This will continue the provision of free access to Microsoft software in New Zealand schools. Click here to read more.

Religious Studies will be included in the Scholarship List from 2020. We are delighted with this result, and congratulate the RSTAANZ executive on this achievement. Read more.

Our Catholic Character best practices material has been updated for 2018 and is now organised into the four dimensions from the review framework. The latest edition of this publication is now available in the Resources section of our website (link here).

Here are two items, to tempt you to read the full document, which has many more good ideas that your school might care to emulate. Thank you to all the schools doing wonderful work that led to these items being circulated.

• A number of parents and families have become baptised, and there are whānau in school supporting other whānau in the RCIA programme. People feel supported in a safe, inclusive and non-judgemental community which allows them to explore, reconnect with or deepen their faith.
• Students preparing for the sacraments of initiation are linked with an older student who is already attending Mass in the student’s home parish.

• Following on from the highly praised YOUCAT for Young People, YOUCAT for Kids has now been published. Click here.
• Vaughn Publishing has website worth visiting. It has a wonderful range of resources for Catholic educators.  Moving from Theory to Practice: Religious Education in the Classroom, Rymarz and Sharkey, is now available at a special pre-publication price.

Pope Francis, on 30 August 2018 spoke to members of the Italian Parents Association which is celebrating its 50^th anniversary this year.

Referring to his Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, the Pope pointed out, “school is not a substitute for parents but is complementary to them... In school education, collaboration between the various components of the educational community must never be lacking”. He also told parents gathered that children “are the most precious gift you have received” noting that it was their commitment and generosity that would help their children grow in faith and character.

Click here to view the article on VaticanNews.va.

The Diocese of Hamilton has released a new series of videos on The Mass.

These are accompanied by an instructional PDF on how you can access the videos online or download them.

Click here to view the YouTube playlist, or click play below.

St John’s College, Hastings: David Ivory, HOD Commerce, has been named a finalist in the NZI Sustainable Business Network Awards 2019, for leadership of the Social Enterprise Programme based on students’ work with inmates and those with mental health issues.

Sacred Heart College, Lower Hutt: Tuimaleali’ifano Fiso came 1st in Senior English Impromptu Speech and was Overall Winner of Senior English at the National Ngā Manu Kōrero Speech Competition finals.

Villa Maria College, Christchurch: Paris Wadle, Sarah Williams and Leonie Stauder (Y10) won the National Tech Girls are Superheroes competition.

Roncalli College, Timaru: Jaxson Whyte won all four stages at the Southern Tour U15 time trial, criterium, hill climb and road race. He also won awards for king of the mountain, sprint ace, and overall tour leader.

Click here to read more of the fantastic work happening in Catholic schools throughout New Zealand.