Educating Catholic students in Catholic Schools remains a priority for New Zealand families. Over 66,000 students fill our 237 schools and comprise 8.3% of the students in New Zealand schools.

During the year we have celebrated that work with a wonderful convention in Wellington attended by over 800 teachers, priests and board members. We have worked to engage with the Government over lack of funding for new Catholic Schools and we have promoted and encouraged our teachers to renew their faith and understanding of the Church through online resources.

The Government has been engaged in a detailed review of Tomorrow’s Schools which could significantly impact on the way we organise and manage schools in the future. The impact of the review will be felt for many years, so we await the detail in the report with some anticipation.  There is likely to be commentary about choice and competition among schools which has characterised much of the administration of education in the last 30 years.

In October we held a meeting with Ministers Salesa and Hipkins with 100 Proprietors and principals of state integrated from APIS. The meeting focused on our partnership with Government and both Ministers confirmed the coalition commitment to working with state integrated schools. Just what that commitment will look like is likely to be subject of discussion in 2019.

2019 will bring its own challenges but as we move to the end of 2018 we should celebrate the learning and achievements of our students in all fields. The Spirit is alive in our schools thanks to the commitment and talent of our teachers and principals.

NZCEO thanks all those parents, students, board members and parish communities who have supported and encouraged our schools. Together we are stronger.

Ngā mihi o te Kirihimete me te Tau Hou

Season's greetings for Christmas and New Year

Paul Ferris, CEO

TEACHING COUNCIL ELECTIONS

A reminder that nominations for the new board of the Teaching Council open 23 November and close 25 January. Voters in seven teaching sectors will elect seven board members, one teacher and one principal from the primary and secondary sectors, one teacher and one leader from early childhood education, and one teacher educator. More information is available on the Councils website, click here.

ATTENDANCE DUES CIRCULAR

Proprietors are required to submit audited attendance dues accounts each year. For more information, Ministry of Education has released this year’s circular for Attendance Dues Accounts (click here).

NCEA REVIEW

Submissions for the NCEA have closed, and the Review team have advised they have had engagement with over 16,000 people. 8,058 filled in a survey or provided a detailed submission. Approximately 8,000 people attended a workshop, meeting, hui, fono, focus group, in-depth interview or debate. For the next steps, see the timeline below or visit their website here.

ROYAL COMMISSION INTO ABUSE IN STATE CARE

This inquiry has now been expanded to include Faith-Based Institutions. More information about the Commission can be found on their website, click here.

PROPERTY SECTOR FORUMS

A useful summary update from the nationally held property sector forums is now available (Click here to view the digital PDF; note this is for the South Central group; the information is the same nationally, just the contact people on the final page are different). Topics include police vetting and asbestos management and will be relevant for Proprietors and Principals.

We also wanted to share the Holiday property checklist, which was provided at the forums:

And Fire and Emergency New Zealand also have a checklist on their website for protecting schools (click here).

We are delighted with the interest in our 2019 Teachers' Retreats. There is now a waitlist for the Auckland retreat but still space at the Wellington retreat. Register with nzceooffice@nzceo.org.nz.

We are delighted to announce that we will be partnering with teachers and leaders in Catholic education to hold a Catholic Education Un-Conference next year.

Please mark your calendars, Wednesday 17 and Thursday 18 July 2019 (second week of the holidays). This will be held in Auckland. 

What is an Un-Conference?

Often when attending a conference the best conversations happen outside the keynote speeches and lectures. It is where people form connections, ideas are shared, plans are hatched and collaborative projects are created.

This is the focus of an Un-Conference. Participants will share their voice and expertise with others. Each participant will have the opportunity to pitch, select, organise and deliver sessions on a topic that they believe will help fellow educators across the Primary and Secondary Catholic education system. The Un-Conference format empowers participants to share their expertise and an opportunity to have an unfiltered exchange of innovative ideas.

Proprietors and Principals of state integrated Schools embraced the opportunity to meet with Education Ministers

On 25 October Proprietors and principals of state integrated schools flew into Wellington from around the country to meet with the Minister of Education, Hon Chris Hipkins and Associate Minister, Hon Jenny Salesa.

The meeting was coordinated by the New Zealand Catholic Education Office (NZCEO) and drew together almost 100 people from the state integrated school sector.

There was significant interest to hear first-hand about the Government’s planned review of state integrated schools, due to begin next year.

Associate Minister Salesa, who has responsibility for contact with state integrated schools, started the morning’s discussion by expressing the government’s commitment to working collaboratively with our schools.  Minister Hipkins reiterated this commitment. He provided reassurance to those present by saying that he saw state integrated schools as playing a vitally important role in the New Zealand education system and affirmed the government’s commitment to support the growth of state integrated schools.

Much discussion among those present centred on the relationship between this government and state integrated schools. This included how the schools can play a greater role in sharing the educational aspirations of the government and what key actions the government can take to support the work of proprietors of our schools.

The Minister encouraged dialogue and collaboration between the sector and the government to ensure complementary and sustainable growth.

NZCEO Chief Executive Officer Paul Ferris commented that it was a welcome opportunity to meet with the Minister and his Associate Minister. The Minister’s responses to the many questions fielded were reassuring for the group.

 

The following have been elected on the Religious Studies Teachers Association of Aotearoa New Zealand (RSTAANZ) Executive Committee for 2019-2020. Our congratulations and best wishes for them in their work:

• Andrew Murray (Sacred Heart Girls' College, New Plymouth) Vice President
• Colin MacLeod (National Centre for Religious Studies)
• Amjad Ali (Al-Madinah School)
• Maria Fouhy (De La Salle College)
• Andrea Craig (Villa Maria College)
• Tamar Aiono (Longburn Adventist College)
• Linda Aitchison (Rosehill College)

Children changing the world

New Zealand Catholic school students have been invited to create projects in which they will take local action towards fulfilling the United Nations Global Goals for the world.

Some of our students will be selected to join 4,000 other children from all over the world at a Global Summit at the Vatican on 20-23 November 2019.  At the summit they will present their projects to the rest of the group. The NZ group will have fares, accommodation and food paid, so every child selected can attend.

Pope Francis will attend the closing ceremony and speak to the whole gathering.

Schools have already received publicity material on this project, and teachers are hopefully planning to introduce the project to children early next year.  New Zealand schools are well used to encouraging their students to create the sort of projects needed, and NZCEO looks forward to being told of many wonderful projects. For more information, visit www.dfcnz.org/icanchallenge or contact NZCEO.

A recent NZ Catholic article featured a Wellington ceremony in early October for the unveiling of a plaque honoring Suzanne Aubert. The plaque was placed outside the creche Mother Aubert founded in Buckle Street. Councillor Nicola Young said “Mother Aubert carried out her work without regard to religious or political affiliations, which certainly upset the establishment at times. She was determined, energetic and had great vision.”

More information via the NZ Catholic, click here.

Caritas' Social Justice Week in September was about disability and participation. Congratulations to schools that took part. In addition, our thanks to Sr Nerina, who has prepared a list of websites with valuable resources for educators:

Students with learning support needs
https://www.education.govt.nz/school/student-support/special-education/#Further

Early Intervention Services
https://www.education.govt.nz/early-childhood/teaching-and-learning/learning-tools-and-resources/early-intervention/

For further support - National organisations
https://www.education.govt.nz/school/student-support/special-education/where-else-can-i-get-information/
 
Contact details for the Ministry of Education’s Senior Advisors: Refugee and Migrant Support
https://www.education.govt.nz/ministry-of-education/regional-ministry-contacts/ministry-of-education-refugee-education-coordinators/

Inclusive Education - Guides for schools (Information for Māori, Pasifika, LGBTIQA+, Foetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder (FASD))
http://inclusive.tki.org.nz/

For more information about Social Justice Week, visit the Caritas website here.

The National Centre for Religious Studies has provided guidance to Catholic schools throughout New Zealand on gender complexity. This guidance is endorsed by the NZCBC. The document is available online at www.tci.ac.nz/ncrs.

Congratulations to the National Centre for Religious Students (NCRS) on the newly released Secondary Religious Education Bridging Document (SREBD). A downloadable version is available on their faithcentral.nz website, click here for a direct link.

This document is intended to be a reflective and practical support for teachers in effectively teaching the mandated NZ Religious Education Curriculum.

Click here to read the media release.

This new book by Graham Rossiter has as its extended title Life to the Full, the changing landscape of contemporary spirituality: Implications for Catholic school Religious Education.  Graham Rossiter of ACU, has published a number of books that Catholic educators may be familiar with – this latest one is available for free download and distribution online here.

I would strongly recommend it. I particularly want to draw attention to various tables, for instance on trends in cultural meanings in traditional society and traditional religious spirituality, compared with trends in cultural meaning in contemporary Westernised societies, and in individuals with a secular, individualistic spirituality (ch 4); Evaluative criteria for the identification and appraisal of spirituality (ch 4); a very clear and useful section on the Melbourne Scale arising from the Enhancing Catholic School Identity Project (Pollefeyt and Bouwens, Leuven University) which could be very helpful in considering the Catholic Character of Schools (ch 11); and a summary of the Characteristics of Youth Spirituality (ch 12).

Susan Apáthy, Deputy CEO

Congratulations to:

• Mereana Anderson, Te Kura o Hato Hohepa, Waitaruke
• Louise Campbell, Our Lady Star of the Sea, Howick, Auckland
• Kristina Couch, St Michael’s Catholic School, Rotorua
• Moana Thomson, St Patrick’s Catholic School, Taumarunui
• Helen McGuigan, St Mary’s Catholic School, Gisborne
• Nathan Matthews, Hato Paora College, Feilding
• Caroline Deazley-Gilligan, Our Lady of Lourdes School, Palmerston North

St Patrick's School (Invercargill) is celebrating its 75th Jubilee over the weekend of 15 - 17 March 2019. Registrations are being accepted online, click here.

The following was included in the recent Principals' Digest Newsletter:

John Hattie’s research shows that what produces truly meaningful results in schools is teachers’ collective sense of efficacy, constant feedback to students, and other low-tech factors. Individualisation and web-based learning do quite poorly in Hattie’s meta-analysis – 0.23 and 0.18 effect sizes, respectively.

In order for learning to be personal, it must be meaningful and transferable which only comes when human connection is at the centre of what we do. He suggests four guiding questions for tech in the classroom:

• Does the technology help to minimise complexity?
• Does the technology help to maximise the individual power and potential of all learners in the room?
• Will the technology help us to do something previously unimaginable?
• Will the technology preserve or enhance human connection in the classroom?

If the answer to all four questions is yes, you’ve chosen effective technology. If not, keep looking or go low-tech.

“Why Are We Still Personalizing Learning If It’s Not Personal?” by Paul Emerich France in EdSurge News, July 2, 2018

Baradene College, Auckland: won the Girls Lotto Premier Tournament (football). Student Hannah Pilley was co-Golden Boot recipient for the tournament and Most Valuable Player for the school.

Sacred Heart College, Auckland: won the Boys Lotto Premier Tournament (football). Student Jack Duncan was Most Valuable Player for the school.

St Mary’s College, Auckland: Senior Choir students took part in a recording project with singer-songwriter Chelsea Jade. They performed her song Perfect Stranger.

St Peter’s College, Auckland: won the national secondary schools rugby top four championship.

Sacred Heart Girls’ College, Hamilton: student Simone Peers won the GirlBoss New Zealand Enterprise award for her vending machine franchise, Hot Nutz.

Campion College, Gisborne: student Madeleine Pittar was interviewed about her work as a Gateway student, and was the only student featured in the article ’Transitioning into the world of work while at school’, page 26 of the 30 October 2018 edition of the Education Gazette (view online here).

Francis Douglas Memorial College: teachers have been growing Movember moustaches to raise awareness of men's health and encourage students to talk about mental health. (Read more here.)

St John’s College, Hastings: the school has won one of only four national Young Enterprise Teams excellence awards for their project that partnered students and prisoners in the design and creation of rimu bread boards. This is along with their National Whai Tikanga Award for the use of the arts as an integral part of a tikanga programme to encourage a strong cultural identity and support pro-social living and their highly commended status at the 2018 New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO Awards. In addition, students Kadyn Newport, Rhyva van Onselen, Shane McDonald, Brad Selwood and Ben Gardiner featured on national news recently, for their invention of a low-cost rain and flood monitor alert system. It detects flooding levels for holiday homes and farms and sends an alert to the owner's cell phone.

Students from St John’s College, Hastings.

Bishop Viard College, Porirua: Head student, Imran Tautu was recognised for his outstanding leadership at the Graeme Dingle Foundation 2018 Excellence Awards. He received the Stars Outstanding Contribution from a Peer Mentor Award, as a mentor making a significant difference in the lives of juniors in their school.

St Thomas of Canterbury, Christchurch: the school was featured in Tukutuku Kōrero | The Education Gazette for their use of gaming mechanics to enhance teaching methods. Read here.

St Bede’s College and Marian College, Christchurch: The combined efforts of students from St Bede’s College and Marian College for Canteen Run for a Life resulted in a $160,000 donation to the Canteen organisation.  This is the highest amount ever raised in the history of this event. More than 200 St Bede’s College and Marian College students participated.