Welcome to the first issue of Parent Talk for 2021. I hope the first four weeks of the school year have been an enjoyable experience for you and your children.

During 2020, we all faced unprecedented challenges caused by the global pandemic. On behalf of the Council of Catholic School Parents NSW/ACT (CCSP), I would like to again thank principals, teachers and support staff for providing continuity of learning for students while also prioritising the health and wellbeing of students and their families.

The NSW government is continually updating guidelines regarding parents and carers visiting school premises. Our website has links to government guidelines here.  For school specific information, contact your school.

At the beginning of the school year, it may take a few weeks for families to settle into new routines. Included in this newsletter are some links to videos that may be helpful for families to support children commencing Kindergarten.

2021 is the first year of CSSP’s new Strategic Plan  2021-2023. The planning process has enabled us to reflect, discern and prioritise our projects to bring us closer to attaining our vision of Achieving Communities of Hope and Love. More about the strategic plan later in this newsletter.

Our plan aligns with the announcement from Pope Francis for 2021 to be a year to focus on the family. In December, he declared 2021 to be the year of St Joseph the Patriarch of the Universal Church.

I am pleased to introduce our new Chair, Wayne Davie, from the Parents Representative Council, Diocese of Parramatta. Wayne has four children attending schools in the Diocese of Parramatta. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank Narelle Burke, from the Diocese of Armidale, for her leadership and guidance as CCSP Chair for the past 3 years.

We extend a warm welcome to the new representatives joining the Council and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Committee in 2021. Very importantly we thank the existing Council members and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Committee members for their continuing commitment to serve and represent parents and carers of students in NSW Catholic schools.

The first Council meeting for 2021 will take place in Sydney on 5 March. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Committee will meet on 18 March. I will report on these meetings in the March issue of Parent Talk.

2021 marks 200 years of Catholic Education in Australia, a remarkable achievement and well worth celebrating. Different communities will celebrate this in their own way.  More about this later in the newsletter.

We extend our congratulations to Elizabeth O'Carrigan, Director of Catholic Education, Diocese of Wagga Wagga, who received a Medal of the Oder of Australia (OAM) in the 2021 Australia Day honours for service to education in New South Wales.

From the Secretariat

In December, I visited Mother Teresa Primary Westmead to meet with Veronica Ishak, the recipient of the 2020 Council of Catholic School Parents NSW/ACT Pre-service Teacher Scholarship Australian Catholic University. More about this in the newsletter.

In February, we posted a hard copy of the resource, Supporting Diverse Learning Needs in Catholic Schools: A Guide by Parents for Parents, to every Catholic school in NSW and the ACT. The booklet can be viewed and downloaded from the new CCSP website. We included our new one page leaflet about CCSP in the mail out, which briefly explains what CCSP is all about.

We are continually adding content to our new website, which went live in December 2020.  One example is the expanded section on Catholic Social Teaching. We thank the Justice and Peace Office of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney for resources on Catholic Social Teaching. You can view the page here.

If there are additional subject areas you think we should cover or if you have feedback about the site, please contact clare.dunstan@ccsp.catholic.edu.au.

CCSP will be making a submission on the Education Legislation Amendment (Parental Rights) Bill 2020 (The NSW Legislative Council's Portfolio Committee No. 3-Education).

You may have already read some articles on this in the Catholic Weekly on February 4 2021. This is the link to the article.

In conjunction with the Office of the eSafety Commissioner, CCSP will be hosting two webinars on eSafety. More details appear later in this newsletter.

In March, Wayne Davie and I will travel to Hay to attend the Isolated Children’s Parents Association Conference. I look forward to meeting parents and carers from remote areas of NSW.

I hope you and your family have the opportunity to pause, reflect and prepare in this Holy Season of Lent.

Kind regards,

Peter Grace | Executive Director

The new plan encapsulates CCSP's Guiding Principles, Mission and Vision, whilst building on the intent from the most recent Strategic Plan.

Our Guiding Principles are:

• Learning is a partnership with parents, carers and others in the community, all of whom have a role to play in nurturing the love of learning needed for success at school and in life. - Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration (December 2019)
• Parents as education partners - We value and promote the critical role that parents play in the education of their children.
• Collaboration - We draw on the knowledge, skills and experience of volunteers and staff to achieve our goals.
• Authenticity - We ensure we are informed, truly representative, ethical and accountable.
• Catholic Social Teaching - We uphold and promote the principles of human dignity, the common good, subsidiarity and solidarity.

Overview of Strategic Plan 2021-2023

• Articulate and promote an understanding of Catholic beliefs and practices.
• Continue to represent an authentic parent voice to key stakeholders.
• Drive initiatives to support inclusion of all families in their learning communities.
• Upskill parents and schools to increase parent engagement in learning.

 CCSP Strategic Plan 2021-2023

The Office of the eSafety Commissioner has just released new research into the digital life of teenagers. It is a fact of life that the internet is an integral part of the digital lives of Aussie teens. The internet offers many benefits. However, there is a downside – negative online experiences.

• 44% of teens had a negative online experience in the six months to September 2020.
• The top three negative online experiences were:
  • being contacted by a stranger or someone they didn't know (30%)
  • receiving inappropriate or unwanted content (20%)
  • being deliberately excluded from events/social groups (16%).

Three quarters of teens wanted more online safety information delivered through trusted channels.

You can attend a free webinar on 23 March to learn strategies to assist your teen. Register here.

For more detail about the research, read the report here.

In partnership with the Office of the eSafety Commissioner, the Council of Catholic School Parents will be holding a free webinar to provide parents and carers with strategies to establish a safe online environment for their teens.

The session will be presented by Greg Gebhart, one of Australia’s leading online safety presenters. Greg has provided presentations to more than 800,000 participants at state, national and international events.

Tech, teens and time online

7.30 – 8.30 pm Tuesday 23 March 2021

One hour webinar suitable for parents and carers of young people aged 12-18 years old.

 The session will cover: 

• ideas to start the chat about harmful content, relationships and online harassment 
• strategies for addressing common digital parenting challenges 
• online wellbeing strategies for teens  
• how to get help if things go wrong.

7.30 – 8.30 pm Tuesday 23 March 2021

Register here 

In partnership with the Office of the eSafety Commissioner, the Council of Catholic School Parents will be holding a free webinar to provide parents and carers of children aged 5-12 years with strategies to establish a safe online environment for their children.

The session will be presented by Greg Gebhart, one of Australia’s leading online safety presenters. Greg has provided presentations to more than 800,000 participants at state, national and international events.

This session will cover:

• ideas to start the chat about harmful content, contact with strangers and online bullying
• strategies for addressing common digital parenting challenges
• skills that young people need to protect themselves online
• how to get help if things go wrong

 12.30 – 1.30 pm Thursday 25 March 2021 

Register here

To promote and support parent engagement, CCSP has for several years provided a scholarship to a pre-service teacher at Australian Catholic University (ACU).  The scholarship acts as an incentive to further their understanding and subsequent application of parent engagement in their teaching role.

Congratulations to Veronica Ishak, recipient of the 2020 Council of Catholic School Parents Pre-service Teacher Scholarship.

On 4 December 2020, Peter Grace and Dinidu Illangakoon, Donor Relationship Manager, Advancement & Alumni, Australian Catholic University, met with Veronica Ishak and Liz Devlin, Principal, at Mother Teresa Primary Westmead.

Veronica is one of two kindergarten teachers teaching the 60 students. Veronica is delighted she is able to continue as their teacher in 2021 when the students progress to Year One. “They are such a great bunch,” she said.  “So good, I love them.”

Veronica understands the vital link between parents and teachers and students. She explained to us how she interacted with and established relationships with parents when students were required to undertake schooling at home due to Covid-19. Mother Teresa Primary uses an interface called Sea-Saw to communicate with parents. Students' work can be uploaded to Sea-Saw to share with parents. Veronica telephoned the parent/carer of each child to introduce herself. Making the calls enabled her to better understand each child and adjust learning strategies accordingly.

We asked Veronica about some of the highlights and challenges of teaching Kindergarten at Mother Teresa Primary. She said that an early challenge was adapting to an enquiry led learning approach, rather than the teacher led learning approach of many of the existing teacher training programmes of study. Collaborating with experienced mentor teachers and the stage coordinator helped Veronica adapt to this form of teaching. Venonica was delighted to see how the students had developed during the year. “It was great to see them develop and gain independence during the year.” 

The government-funded myfuture service continues to provide access to high quality and reliable career information.

At 1 pm on Wednesday 24 March, they are running a webinar on supporting your child’s career development with tips and tools from myfuture.

• For more information, go to myfuture.

Thursday 18 March is the anniversary of the signing of the Close the Gap Statement of Intent on Indigenous health equality.   

In 2008, the Federal Government and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health leaders signed a statement of intent in the Great Hall of Parliament House to work together to achieve equality of health and life expectancy between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous Australians by the year 2030. You can read more about the day on the ANTaR -a non political non government organisation- site here.

It is fitting the CCSP Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Committee will be meeting on this day.   

Applications are open for the NSW Youth Advisory Council 2021. Children and young people between 12-24 years of age living in NSW are encouraged to apply. Council members are sought from diverse locations, backgrounds and life experiences. The 12 member Youth Advisory Council advises the NSW Government on subjects relevant to young people across the state. Applications close 14 March 2021.

More information on the NSW Youth Advisory Council, as well as application forms, are available here.

“Australian Catholic schools have a long and proud tradition of delivering high-quality, faith-based education. Our graduates have made, and continue to make, a significant contribution in business, civic and public life, sport, performing and creative arts, community services, and all facets of society,” said Jacinta Collins, Executive Director of National Catholic Education Commission, prior to the official launch of the celebrations.

Ms Collins continued, “The bicentenary is an opportunity to celebrate those who have served in Catholic education since its earliest days; the contribution of religious institutes, clergy and lay people in the foundation of schools in cities, rural and remote parts of Australia; and the continuity of this mission with the leaders, staff, families and the wider Church community today. We look forward with great hope and faith in the future of Catholic schools by continuing to respond to our mission of meeting the educational and spiritual needs of young people and our communities.”

For further information about the bicentennial celebrations, visit the site. 

Pope Francis has declared a Year of St Joseph in honour of the 150th anniversary of the saint’s proclamation as patron of the Universal Church.

The Pope explained in the Apostolic letter, entitled Patris Corde (With a father’s heart), “Each of us can discover in Joseph – the man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet and hidden presence – an intercessor, a support and a guide in times of trouble.”

As the fifth anniversary of his Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia approaches, Pope Francis announced the Church will dedicate more than a year to focusing on the family. Source: CNS.

“I invite everyone to take part in the initiatives that will be promoted during the year,” he added. “Let us entrust this journey, with families all over the world, to the Holy Family of Nazareth, in particular to St Joseph, the devoted spouse and father.”

The commemoration will conclude on June 26, 2022, “on the occasion of the World Meeting of Families in Rome,” the dicastery said.

Pope announces yearlong reflection on family, 'Amoris Laetitia'

“Like the first disciples some of us are worshippers, some doubters, some a bit of both. Like them, we need to draw close to Jesus if our doubts are to be dispelled. Like them, changed by that encounter and empowered by the Spirit, we can do great things.”

Thought provoking words from Most Rev. Anthony Fisher OP, Archbishop of Sydney, taken from his message introducing the mission plan for the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, entitled Go Make Disciples.

The fruit of some five years of conversation, research and discernment, this vision for the parishes, chaplaincies and other Eucharistic communities of Sydney will set direction and priorities for some years to come.

The Sydney Centre for Evangelisation was established in 2020. The Centre dedicates itself to the support of parishes, migrant chaplaincies and other Eucharistic communities in their fidelity to the person and mission of Jesus Christ. You can read more here. 

Daniel Ang, Director of the Sydney Centre for Evangelisation, examined and discussed some opportunities caused by the COVID-19 global pandemic in this article in the Catholic Weekly. You can read the article here here.

In this video, he shares his vision for Go Make Disciples with the Catholic Weekly's Marilyn Rodrigues. You can watch the video here.