Edmund Rice Education Australia Touchstones

Inclusive Community

As a Catholic school in the Edmund Rice tradition, we acknowledge the traditional ownership and cultural heritage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia, and welcome them into its community.

Reconciliation Week

Reconciliation Week is a time to learn about our shared histories, cultures and achievements and to explore how each of us can contribute in a positive way to achieving reconciliation in Australia. The theme for this year’s Reconciliation Week is “Be a Voice for Generations”. This theme challenges us to take opportunities to speak out about Reconciliation in our everyday lives, in our homes, in our school, in our workplaces and when we socialise. Throughout this week we will encourage all members of our community to continue this conversation beyond Reconciliation Week to ensure that our actions and our words promote a just, equitable and reconciled Australia for all.

Click to View Plan

St Edward’s has made a commitment to reconciliation through the establishment of our first Reconciliation Action Plan which is a formal acknowledgement of this commitment. The plan is aspirational and designed to challenge our community, providing guidance as we walk alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in our nation’s journey towards reconciliation. We strive for a united and respectful understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights, culture and its peoples.

At our College Assembly last Friday, Grant Moloney, the local Aboriginal artist who was engaged to design and paint our mural, spoke to students about the imagery included in the painting and the significance of this imagery to our local Aboriginal history and culture. We are very pleased with the finished product and the video below provides a snapshot of it being painted.

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on Students with Disability

Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019).

Information provided about students to the Australian Government for the NCCD includes:

• year of schooling
• category of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional
• level of adjustment provided: support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial or extensive.

This information assists schools to:

• formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools
• consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools
• develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disability.

The NCCD provides state and federal governments with the information they need to plan more broadly for the support of students with disability.

The NCCD will have no direct impact on your child and your child will not be involved in any testing process. The school will provide data to the Australian Government in such a way that no individual student will be able to be identified – the privacy and confidentiality of all students is ensured. All information is protected by privacy laws that regulate the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information. To find out more about these matters, please refer to the Australian Government’s Privacy Policy (https://www.dese.gov.au/about-us/resources/department-education-skills-and-employment-complete-privacy-policy-0).

Further information about the NCCD can be found on the NCCD Portal (https://www.nccd.edu.au).

You can also find on the College website a fact sheet, information on resources and information on the collection of information via this link: https://www.stedwards.nsw.edu.au/curriculum-learning/diverse-learning/

If you have any questions about the NCCD, please contact our Leader of Diverse Learning, Katie Neilly kneilly@stedwards.nsw.edu.au

Parent Consultation Meetings

We are committed to maintaining a strong relationship with our families and truly value parent and carer input into our ongoing school improvement agenda. In 2022 we introduced the concept of Parent Consultation meetings to provide an additional avenue for parents to provide the College with feedback about operations of the College.

I would like to remind parents and carers that a Parent Consultation Meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday June 7. As per last year we will be conducting daytime and evening sessions for approximately one hour to allow greater access for parents interested in attending. The morning session will be held at 9.00am with the evening session commencing at 7.00pm. The topics to be covered at the meetings this term are related to Learning Conferences and the College Homework Policy.

Any Parents who have not yet registered to attend these sessions can do so via the following link: RSVP Parent Consultation Meetings