The OSHC Network was established to support the work of Directors in SACCS OSHC services. The focus of the OSHC network meetings was to bring together OSHC Directors, facilitate professional learning, demonstrate examples of good practice in our services and offer the opportunity for Directors to build networks and collaborate. In Term 4 an OSHC Planning and Network Day was held with guest speakers from the Education Standards Board to allow services the opportunity to learn how to write effective Quality Improvement Plans (QIP) and showcase our work against the National Quality Standards (NQS).
To continue the CESA priority of working in regions, Regional OSHC Hubs were established. This was managed through the development of a Microsoft Teams site where members could network within their regions. Due to COVID, Hub meetings were not organised. The Regional Hubs will continue to be a focus for 2022.
In 2021 SPiCE continued successfully in our schools, with the establishment of a further two playgroups bringing this to a total of 56 thriving Playgroups. SPiCE Network meetings were held each term and facilitators from 38 different playgroups attended. The focus of these Network meetings was on having the opportunity for SPiCE facilitators to network with one another as well as opportunities to engage in professional learning on playful literacies and play approaches. The final network meeting was hosted by Nature Play SA offering a unique opportunity to engage in professional learning focusing of seasonal play.
All eight preschools were visited in 2021, with support offered on various levels as required. Particular focus was on supporting services in programming and planning in the early years.
Building of the ninth SACCS Preschool has commenced at St Joseph’s Port Lincoln. This service is due to open at the beginning of 2023. The Preschool principals continued to be supported through the Preschool Principals’ Group meetings which were held each term.
Preschool coordinators attended the Preschool and ELC Leaders Network Meetings which were also held each term. In April 2021 Preschool coordinators attended the Preschool/ELC leaders Collaborative Quality Improvement Planning (QIP) Working Day. QIP is an important requirement of all Birth-5 services. QIP is a significant body of work incorporating policies, procedures and pedagogical practices within each specific context. It self-assesses performance in delivering quality education and care and plans for future improvements. Presenters on the day included educators from Nazareth Early Childhood Centre (which recently received a rating of Excellent) and a Senior Authorised Officer from the Education Standards Board.
In 2021 St Joseph’s School Ottoway established a new Occasional Care Service to complement the Preschool offering in their school. In total CESA now has 11 Occasional Care Services. This is likely to be an area of growth in our schools in 2022 with several schools expressing interest in establishing occasional Care Services. In 2022 we will be establishing an Occasional Care Network to support the work of the coordinators in the services.
Professional learning around the First Years of School Literacy Assessment (FYOSLA) was undertaken in Terms 1 and 3 to induct teachers and Leaders of Learning new to FYOSLA. Data was collected from approximately two thirds of the sector from Reception to Year 2.
A FYOSLA Review was undertaken with schools offered the opportunity to inform the review with commentary on existing assessments, assessment schedule, and current literacy practices. A mixed mode session invited feedback from Diocesan and separately Governed schools of a proposed suite of assessments.
The Year 1 Phonics Screening Check was mandated for Diocesan schools in 2021 and strongly encouraged for separately Governed schools. Phonics Screening Check materials were provided through a non-exclusive agreement with the Department for Education. Materials were tailored by the Learning and Curriculum team for CESA and training provided across the whole system for those educators and leaders who had administered the PSC previously, and then all those new to the PSC. The PSC Professional Learning Project was offered via mixed modes and saw a strong uptake by teachers and Leaders of Learning. This professional learning was co-led by Anne Bayetto, Flinders University, System Coaches Literacy and the Early Years Advisor. The professional learning was well-received and positioned phonics as a critical aspect of children’s literacy entitlement and its place within the Big 6.
Networking and professional learning was provided to leaders and educators from Birth - 5 services, including the SACCS preschools and the separately governed ELCs. Professional learning around quality, compliance, emergent literacy, and Catholic Identity was provided as well as the important networking opportunities for leaders and educators across the system.
The Early Childhood Network involved leaders and educators who work with children from Birth - 8. Opportunities to network were offered, alongside professional learning in wellbeing, Early Childhood pedagogies, emergent literacy and the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC).
Cultural and Linguistic Diversity (CAL/D)
CESA Early Years partnered with Dr Amy Farndale to provide in-situ advice and support around bilingualism in preschool. Bespoke professional learning was tailored for participating sites and this work will continue in 2022.
Inclusion Support with Two Way Street
CESA Early Years engaged Dr Amelia Edwards of Two Way Street to meet with leaders and educators in two sites to provide advice and to develop key foci for targeted professional learning in 2022.
In 2021, 100% of schools, both Diocesan and separately Governed participated in the AEDC. Reception teachers responded to 70 items on an instrument about every Reception child. This high level of participation reflects the commitment of all schools to ensuring that every Reception child was reflected in this important collection of young children’s development across five AEDC domains. Preliminary School Profiles were provided to schools and in 2022, the system and schools await the complete AEDC School Profile to look at what the data can tell us at school, region, and system level. The AEDC was threaded into all professional learning and networking days.
Supporting Children’s Development (AEDC)
CESA Early Years partnered with Nature Play SA and Dr Amy Farndale, from UniSA to provide a two-day professional learning informed by each site’s AEDC Preliminary School profiles, around supporting young children’s early development through play and play-based pedagogies. The five AEDC Domains framed this work, with a particular focus on emergent literacy and numeracy.
Saturday Pedagogical Tours
These tours of ‘Exceeding Services’, Flinders University Child Care and Ignatius Early Years were offered to Birth - 5 leaders and educators. They were well-attended and highly valued by participants as a window into the practice of high-quality services. The CESA Early Years Community was clearly apparent in this work with a strong sense of belonging and shared commitment to every child and family.
Trauma-Responsive Practice
Professional learning on Trauma-Responsive Practice was offered to Early Years educators working in Birth – 5 by the CESA Learning and Diversity team together with the Australian Childhood Foundation. This was well-attended and received and met a significant need within services.
Reception Conversations (Connections with Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) to the Australian Curriculum)
This professional learning opportunity drew connections between the EYLF and the Australian Curriculum. Quality transition practices for children entering Reception, both at the start of the year and mid-year, were explored with illustrations of practice provided.
The CESA Early Years Advisors engaged across the system both in metropolitan and regional areas in Early Childhood philosophy, pedagogy, quality, compliance, establishment of new services and emergent literacy. This saw many site visits in the metropolitan area and regionally to Port Lincoln, the Riverland and the South-East, with support provided by phone or online to others. Compass Catholic Community was a significant focus in seeking to provide support where appropriate to the establishment of the Compass Early Years Hub. Other work also saw relationships established or maintained with colleagues in the Department for Education and AISSA and in other contexts (such as Gowrie).
Preschool funding and advocacy, as well as support and guidance to the Preschool principals were key focus areas for the Early Years team.
Initial consultations and framing of the CESA Early Years Strategy took place across 2021, with the focus on the development and implementation of the Strategy in 2022.
CESA partnered with one of the authors and developers of the Pattern and Structure Mathematical Awareness Program (PASMAP) and Pattern and Structure Assessment (PASA), Professor Joanne Mulligan, and with the researchers, Dr Virginia Kinnear (Deakin University) and Dr David Moltow (University of Tasmania). The PASMAP is designed to promote structural thinking, focusing students’ attention on spatial and numerical patterns. The project was due to be completed in three years but was extended to four years due to Covid restrictions.
The schools researched two areas of classroom-based mathematics teaching and learning ‘Teaching and Learning Mathematics Content’ and ‘Developing Children’s Dispositions for Intellectual Engagement with Mathematics’. A research paper for CESA will be available to demonstrate how developing students’ knowledge of mathematics and supporting their dispositions help to support ongoing learning and foster the CESA Key Capabilities.
Designing and facilitating high quality teaching and learning which fosters student agency was a core focus for the Middle Years in 2021.
The Middles Years PBL Inquiry Network provided metropolitan and regional schools the opportunity to inquire into effective PBL practices. Twenty-five educators across eight schools engaged in this Network. Educators inquired into pedagogical approaches and high-impact strategies which foster quality teaching and learning while meeting the needs of the adolescent learner. Through engaging in professional learning workshops, participants designed and facilitated a PBL inquiry. Each school presented their projects in a final showcase in Term 4 and explored ways of sustainably scaling this work for the future.
Throughout the year experts across Australia in the field of PBL and student agency delivered keynotes to the network participants. Expert consultants included: Nicole Dyson of Future Anything, Adriano Di Prato from A School for Tomorrow and Game Changers Podcast, and Professor David Cropley from the University of South Australia.
CESA’s Education Advisors across Learning and Curriculum, Learning Diversity and Wellbeing, and Catholic Identity and Mission teams collaborated with critical friends A School for Tomorrow to design a system wide model of social entrepreneurial learning called Limitless Possibilities for students in Years 1 to 12.
This model has been informed by research at the global level by the OECD (Lackeus, 2015) and the local context of the Mitchell Institute (Anderson et al., 2017). Underpinned by Catholic Social Teaching and framed through the CESA Key Capabilities, the CESA Limitless Possibilities model equips students to notice, reflect on, and respond to issues of injustice harnessing their empathy, creativity, innovation, and problem solving, thus preparing them to face the challenges of modern society and an indeterminate future.
In 2021 this resource, which will become a digital toolkit, was designed and tested by a reference group made up of CESA students, CESA teachers, and industry experts. The resources include:
St Joseph’s School Peterborough, St Joseph’s School Clare, St Joseph’s School Murray Bridge, St Mary Mackillop School Wallaroo and St Francis of Assis College Renmark engaged in ongoing professional learning with a focus on the identity of the adolescent learner and the implications of designing curriculum and learning to meet their developmental needs. Over a semester each school constructed their middle years' philosophy statements aligned to their specific context. Schools were supported in constructing their yearly curriculum overviews, exploring authentic ways of integrating learning areas, meeting their unique needs and empowering their adolescent leaners.
During 2021 a Senior School Leader of Learning Network was established. Every school secondary was visited in person or online to explore the advantages and expectations of sharing of resources around areas of importance for schools with students from Years 10 - 12.
A feasibility study was conducted focusing on schools providing online subject sharing support across our colleges where students cannot access a subject of choice at their own school. The study showed that we have the capacity to share and work will continue in 2022.
Professional learning on Project-Based Learning (PBL) was delivered to senior secondary teachers in regional schools.
Exploration of the purpose and value of the reflection that leads to evidencing a Learner Profile at a national, state, system and school level was begun with a view to further work being done in our schools in 2022. Avenues of discovery included:
The CESA Education Advisor: Senior Years was appointed as the SACE Thrive liaison to work closely with the SACE Board and network leaders from the AISSA and the DfE. This provided a direct conduit for channeling information and encouraging connection of our schools to the SACE Change Network (SCN). It also afforded the opportunity to work cross-sectorially to support schools engaging with SACE initiatives through pre-emptive problem-solving. Two core groups of schools were involved in the Exploring Identities and Futures / Activating Identities and Futures, and Capabilities / Learner Profile pilots. A SACE Conference was hosted by CESA at the end of 2021 to initiate planning for increased personalisation of the SACE and consequent fulfilment and success for students in line with the NCEC priorities 2021-2023 and SACCS Towards 2027 Strategy Commitments.
CESA’s inaugural STEM MAD Showcase took place on the 22 September 2021, with seven schools participating. Students applied their STEM knowledge and passion to identify a real-world challenge and create a product, service, or solution through designing a working prototype to make a difference for others or the environment. Winning Secondary School, Gleeson College with their project “Bottle Belt Saver” and winning Primary School, St Mary’s College with their project “Digital Twining” represented CESA at STEM MAD National, hosted digitally by the Melbourne Diocese.
CESA partnered with Optus to host a breakfast for over 300 female students from Catholic schools across SA to celebrate Women in STEM. This opportunity provided the girls with role models who currently work in STEM occupations and the ability to see themselves in STEM related careers.
11 CESA secondary schools participated in the Lumination XR Challenge delivering an exciting opportunity for Years 7-10 students to experience and create solutions to real-world STEM problems, using Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies, collectively known as Extended Reality (ER). Through a STEM Innovation Lab, Lumination provided immersive experiences for students and teachers using these extended reality technologies.
Led through a design process by NoTosh, 22 teachers from eight CESA schools co-designed a STEM Playbook of pedagogical tools which can be utilised when designing STEM learning opportunities. Educators engaged in a two-day intensive workshop to design a STEM unit to implement with their classes using the Design Thinking framework. Participants shared their learning journal in a professional showcase.
Secondary students from 34 schools engaged in Vocational Education and Training (VET) in 2021. Extensive collaboration with the Department for Innovation and Skills, the Department for Education and Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) was undertaken to inform and develop a strategy, procedures, and resources to support Catholic school implementation of the VET for Schools policy. Advocacy for Catholic school students to continue accessing Fee for Service VET learning from Year 10 was a key piece of work during 2021. Enhancing relationships with RTOs and industry to leverage learning opportunities for students was also a focus.
The Workplace Learning Agreement Guidelines were reviewed and redeveloped during 2021, streamlining the requirements for schools in arranging work placement for students. The updated guidelines and resources will be implemented in 2022.
Extensive professional learning was delivered throughout 2021:
In 2021, 19 primary, secondary and R-12 schools committed to deliver the Ready. Set. Future. Career Development Pilot Project for Years 5-9 students with BECOME Education. Career Ambassadors and a team of teachers from each school participating in the pilot, attended professional learning to inform implementation of the program in 2022.
The 2020 student apprenticeship project was extended into 2021. All student apprenticeship contracts were signed between February - May 2021. The project goal was achieved and reported in June 2021.
The Enterprise and Vocational Education Advisory Committee (EVEAC) Terms of Reference were reviewed and updated. The renamed Career Education, VET and Pathways Advisory Committee (CEVPAC) aligns with the new strategic direction for Pathways and Transition for Catholic schools in South Australia from 2021 onwards and revised membership of the committee encompasses the diversity of our schools.
The role of Schools Performance Leader (SPL) commenced in 2021 as a natural successor to the School Quality and Performance Consultant team. The team was established with a specific regional focus and the intent to deliver as many system initiatives as possible through regional partnership.
The regions are largely geographically based attending to North, South, East, West, Central and Regional areas.
Regional cohorts range from 16 - 20 schools encompassing the mosaic of schools that comprise Catholic Education South Australia.
The key change in the roles are summarised below:
At the commencement of the role, the SPLs agreed that the team goals for 2021 were to put aspects of the strategy into action. The following four were identified, and commentary provided on the outcomes.
Regions have been established and priority given in Semester 1 to building networks and individual principal relationships and connections. The Leaders Forums have also supported this but identified the necessity for more regionally based work. As a consequence since Term 2, 2021 SPLs have inverted their work flow, commencing the term with regional meetings to unpack system agenda at the regional level and then work 1:1 with principals at the local level.
All Diocesan schools have a school based QPT. These meet regularly and have a clear improvement focus. They are a support for the Principal as instructional leader. Focus areas in meetings have included data analysis; Students with Disability (SWD); Clarity Learning Suite (CLS) and target setting.
The engagement of Dr Lyn Sharratt as our critical friend to complement and support other initiatives of the Blueprint including the Leader of Learning grants, the appointment of System Coaches, the formation of regions and Quality and Performance teams (QPTs) in Diocesan schools and the changing focus of Schools Performance Leaders. The CLS uptake has seen SPLs and System Coaches support 40 schools in Cohort 1 and Cohort 2 of the CLS adoption. The remaining schools will commence the program in a phased roll-out in 2022.
As comfort has grown with the BSC user maturity, understanding of its effectiveness has also grown. The soft launch in Term 1, had some initial impact with schools/colleges accessing the online forms. The workshop as part of the Term 2 Leaders’ Forum brought about a renewed emphasis and usage. This has resulted in refinements and BSC v2.0 being prepared for 2022 which attended to some of the user interface issues.
However, there are aspects of previous roles that have continued to fall into the remit of the team.In addition to the agreed system priorities the SPLs have undertaken various duties including:
The continued interruptions and upheaval caused by the global pandemic saw the SPLs again called to demonstrate a level of responsivity and agility to adapt within a largely uncertain and dynamic context. This was by necessity focused on the professional supervision and pastoral support for principals in a time of challenge and uncertainty.
Working alongside and through principals, the SPL team maintained a student-centred focus that prioritised relationships, identity, learning and belonging.
SPLs have been active participants in significant system initiatives:
SPLs worked alongside Jarrod Carter, Educational Data Analyst, to deliver NAPLAN analysis training to the regions. These workshops assisted school leaders in unpacking the NAPLAN results and benchmarking their individual school’s results against National, CESA (System) and regional averages.
Professor Jill Aldridge, Curtin University, has worked alongside the SPL team in the preparation and delivery of regional workshops for leaders to support the analysis and interpretation of the data presented from the three survey instruments. Aggregated regional and system reports have been developed to assist in the identification and remediation of cross sector trends. Schools are beginning to use the data from the surveys to inform their annual and strategic planning cycles.
SPLs have supported the development of nine PiP projects across all regions. These projects involve 34 schools, approximately one third of our schools.
55 schools engaged in the system requirements of EALD data collection process: professional learning, school improvement planning, and data analysis for equitable system funding. The data indicated that the greatest proportion of schools that have EALD learners are in the regions: West, Central and North. Just over two-thirds of EALD learners are in primary schools. Conversely, the majority of students with refugee experience are in secondary schools.
The Learning English: Achievement and Proficiency (LEAP) Levels were introduced as the main assessment tool for EALD learners, and a range of targeted professional learning was accessed by 110 educators. Assessment moderation sessions, in a flexible mode, were attended by teams of teachers from 55 schools. Additionally, the EALD Network of Lead teachers engaged with Associate Professor Misty Adoniou throughout the year to develop their pedagogical knowledge. In Semester 2, online mini grammar sessions, Grammar Bites were offered.
The CESA EALD Learner website was moved onto CESA SharePoint during 2021. The site is a comprehensive resource (‘one stop shop’) for information, advice and professional learning for educators in CESA schools who work with learners of EALD.
International Education encompasses The Australian Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS) registered schools as well as all overseas students who enrol in our non-CRICOS schools.
The continued international border closure presented a significant challenge for CESA’s ten (in 2021) CRICOS registered schools and their international students. The Education Advisor: EALD and International Education liaised closely with the Department for Education and AISSA to navigate the continuing changes to travel conditions imposed by both levels of government.
The Catholic Education Office provided a service to schools that enrol overseas students on a visa by conducting a Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) check with the Department of Home Affairs to ensure school compliance with visa conditions. During 2021, VEVO checks were conducted on behalf of 501 families. The annual number of VEVO checks has steadily increased in recent years; due mainly to increased awareness of schools.
The 2021 Engage with Asia Network comprised 14 inter-school partnerships with schools in China (11), Indonesia (2) and Japan (1). The Network had four main foci:
The technology-based network includes schools that normally would not be able to access this learning with schools that are physically distant. There are seven remote CESA schools involved in the Network.
The Languages reviewed in 2021 were Chinese, French, Italian and Japanese. Auslan, German, Indonesian, Korean and Modern Greek. Spanish will be reviewed in the next phase.
Having taken part in the Australian Curriculum and Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) Languages Reference Group review of the Australian Curriculum: Languages, CESA has commenced work on writing Performance Standards for Italian and Indonesian. It is envisaged that this work will be finalised in 2022.
