News

Children are frequently exposed to distressing news through the 24-hour news cycle and social media. These experiences can provoke anxiety, especially in young minds still forming their worldviews.  Parents and caregivers should be mindful of overexposure to such content as it can lead to symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress disorder. Children’s responses to trauma can vary, from being strong emotional reactions to being indifferent. It can leave an emotional imprint that can affect a child’s behaviour and perception of danger.

Children need reassurance about their safety as they navigate uncertain times. Tailor conversations to your child’s age and emotional maturity. Younger children benefit from simplified explanations focusing on peace, empathy, and cooperation, while older children can delve into historical events, root causes of conflict, and the complexities of international relations.

Before discussing these topics with your child, it is also important to assess your own emotions and comfort level. By staying calm and providing physical comfort will help your child regulate their own emotions. In challenging times, compassionate adults play a crucial role in helping children cope with anxiety and providing hope and understanding in our complex world.

This Special Report provides guidance on how to tackle this difficult topic and helping children understand there is still hope in our complex world. Please take a moment to reflect on the information offered, and as always, we welcome your feedback. If this raises any concerns for you, a loved one or the wellbeing of your child, please consider seeking medical or professional help.

Here is the link to your special report https://sbccdbb.catholic.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-discussing-war-conflict

The Safeguarding Office (Chancery & Parishes), based in the Chancery at Pennant Hills is seeking someone with a passion and drive in child protection, justice, compliance and community engagement to join a welcoming and supportive team in the role of Safeguarding Training Officer. While this is noted as a full-time position, there is flexibility with the working schedule for the right candidate.

This is an exciting role providing a focus on best practice and by building the awareness and competency across the Diocese of Broken Bay.  This role requires strong relationships and connections with clergy, Chancery and parish staff to ensure Catholic Church values and principles are reflected in a safe environment for children and adults at risk.

You will have the opportunity to strengthen a culture of safe practices for children and adults at risk providing education and training, sharing your expertise and contemporary knowledge of research and best practice principles adhering to compliance requirements relevant to the delivery of training while providing support to parishes with safeguarding education and awareness initiatives and commitment to continuous improvement.

Pivotal to this role is the requirement to assist with preparations for internal and external audits, providing advice on processes and offering recommendations for improvements, educating, and supporting clergy and Chancery employees to develop an understanding of, and compliance with NCSS requirements.

The role requires qualifications or relevant industry experience in adult education and training, workplace professional development, safeguarding, child protection or social welfare and a thorough understanding of the requirements for delivering and developing adult education and training in a workplace.

The Chancery is committed to supporting its workforce and strives to create a working environment that allows our people to do their best work. In this role you will be rewarded with flexible working arrangements, ongoing professional development, and a supportive work culture with a passionate and fun team.

The Diocese of Broken Bay is committed to and promotes a culture of safety and care for all people, especially for children and others in the community who are vulnerable. Our Diocese has no tolerance to child abuse and is committed to ensuring our staff and volunteers understand the joint responsibility to safeguard all those within our community.

How to apply

To obtain a copy of the position description or for further details, please contact recruitment@bbcatholic.org.au. To apply submit a CV and brief cover letter addressing the skillsets required via email to recruitment@bbcatholic.org.au.

Applications close Friday, 17 November 2023.

Congratulations to our Stage 5 Drama students who received First place in the Religious Creative Arts Prize for their play ‘Compassion and Forgiveness’.

Students performed their play on Stage to an appreciative audience at the Senior Religious Creative Arts Event in Hornsby on Tuesday evening.

We are so proud of your efforts!

Congratulations to Bridget M. who has received an Onstage nomination for her Outstanding HSC Drama monologue, reflecting her exceptional performance skills.  We are so proud of your achievement.

Onstage is a selection of exemplary HSC Drama projects.  Final selections for Onstage will be announced in December.

I attended a National School Improvement Colloquium earlier this week and I was struck by how many sessions were devoted to explicit instruction and how schools were implementing this approach to fit their context.

I am a huge advocate of explicit instruction and whilst trends in education come and go, it appears clear to me that the evidence supporting explicit instruction stands the test of time.

At St Brigid’s we have moved to delivering much more explicit instruction and outlined below is some information on what this teaching approach is and the benefits of it.

Explicit instruction is a teacher-directed approach to learning that is structured, sequential, and designed to build on previous learning.  It is a purposeful way of overtly teaching students, and it includes both instructional and delivery procedures.  Here are some benefits of explicit instruction:

• Engages students: Explicit instruction engages students, teaches them the process of learning, and helps build decision-making and social skills.
• Clear instructions: Explicit instruction makes learning crystal clear, and it gives kids lots of opportunities to practice skills and get feedback.
• Effective for struggling learners: Explicit instruction is effective for students with exceptionalities, in particular students with learning differences.
• It is also essential for struggling readers and aligns with what we know students need to break the reading code.
• Reduces cognitive load: For students who struggle with working memory, explicit instruction reduces the load on working memory.  By freeing up some of the required working memory, we free up cognitive resources for the learning itself.
• Increases performance: Explicit teaching is effective in fast-tracking student performance.  It aims to move beyond rote learning and to attempt to sequence learning for students.
• Clear expectations: Explicit teaching is a useful teaching strategy for making sure all students are clear about the criteria.  Part of the process is setting the scene for each lesson, recapping previously taught information and stating aims and objectives moving forward.
• Systematic and sequential: Explicit teaching is always systematic and sequential.  By directly supporting guided practice using a series of steps, it’s ideal for teaching.

In summary, explicit instruction is an effective teaching approach that engages students, provides clear instructions, and is especially helpful for struggling learners.  It reduces cognitive load, increases performance, and provides clear expectations.  It is always systematic and sequential, making it ideal for teaching.