This week I want to outline what we are working on with our teachers in terms of their professional development. Last year we appointed Mr Michael Street, who was our Faculty Co-ordinator for HSIE (social sciences) as the Director of Teacher Development K-12.

Michael is an outstanding teacher and a rising academic who is currently working on his PhD through Macquarie University. He is responsible for planning and organising the professional learning program for our teachers. We have set aside Wednesday after school for an hour each week to focus on the on-going equipping of our teachers and their upskilling.

Michael has developed an approach called the Active Professional Development Framework. It is grounded in our Teacher Profile which picks up the same elements as our Graduate Profile but adds in elements such as ‘strong presence’, ‘creating a supportive and safe environment’, ‘uses a range of strategies’, and ‘values real-world learning’. We also connect this framework to the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership’s professional standards for teachers which is the national benchmark for teacher quality.

The Framework requires each teacher to develop a professional learning plan which sets out the goals they will focus on for each year. We have set up several Active Development Channels – Foundations for Christian Education (for teachers new to GPCC), Productive Pedagogies (for all teachers), Curriculum Leadership, Community Leadership and External Workshops and Conferences. While everyone participates in the weekly Productive Pedagogy sessions, new teachers to the school must select the Foundations channel and all others may select another voluntary channel for the year. Any teacher may request or be encouraged to participate in external courses and conferences.

The strength of our school is very dependent on the continued up-skilling of our staff. This framework gives shape to our expectation of this and helps staff take some responsibility for their own growth with our support. We also identify common areas for development so for example, in 2021 Primary staff engaged in a literacy project and this year are engaged in a mathematics project. These are led by an external consultant. The Productive Pedagogies afternoons have focused on differentiation in teaching i.e., providing opportunities for students of differing abilities to learn and demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways in the same class and program.

The NSW Government has launched an entire new set of curricular documents which must be adopted in the next few years so much work will also be done on revising our current units of work to align with the new curriculum.

Teaching is a constantly changing profession with new demands and expectations coming in all the time. Pray for our teachers as they take on the challenge of keeping up their knowledge of current practice and the development of new skills.  Our desire is to offer a quality academic program for your children undergirded by the worldview of our Christian faith that will equip them with the ability to make a positive contribution to the world.

Phillip Nash                                   

It was great to see some of student leaders attend the Sydney Prayer Breakfast this week.  Prayer needs to the base of our lives. Too often I see people trying to do life in their own strength, but it is through prayer that we realise that we need help in life. We need the strength and wisdom of God to cope with all the challenges that we face in our day-to-day world. God calls us to seek after Him and He is faithful never to let us down. It might be time to try it.

Please pray for the boys on our mission trip to Berrawina this week that this trip will be an opportunity to serve others and grow closer to God.

Phone Ban during School Hours

With the prohibition of phone use during school hours there has been an increase in the number of students using computers in class time to contact parents because they wish to go home because of illness or other reasons. Please stress to your children if they are unwell or need to contact home, they should go to the office where they will be allowed to contact their parents for arrangements to be made if they need to go home.

If for any reason you need to remove your child early from school please contact the office so that students can be informed and brought to the office to meet you.

Winter is here…

This week has shown that temperatures are dropping quickly this Winter. Please make sure that your child has the correct uniform for Winter.

Please encourage your girls to wear black opaque tights with their skirts. Many girls have made this choice even though it is not a compulsory requirement rather an option in Secondary School.

Please continue to monitor your students uniform meets the expectation of the uniform policy.

Mr Nash, Mrs McKay and seven of our Year 12 Prefects attended the 2022 Sydney Prayer Breakfast in Darling Harbour, joining with almost 1700 others (mostly from the corporate community) to pray for Sydney, our nation and our leaders. We were reminded that our faith and the gospel message can powerfully shape our choices and impact our workplaces wherever we work, ‘as working for the Lord and not for men’. (Col 2:23) The testimony of Peter Gibbs was deeply moving and inspiring and we were all reminded of the power of prayer.

YEAR 10/11 Drama presents: Oscar Wilde’s - 

'The Importance of Being Earnest'

Our students are hard at work preparing this hilarious Comedy of Manners, for performances in the final week of Term Two.

Tickets will go on sale in the next two weeks, via TryBooking.

Performances are:

Tuesday 28 June, Wednesday 29 June, Thursday 30 June, Friday 1 July - 7:30pm

Matinees on Thursday and Friday – time to be confirmed

We look forward to seeing you there.

Mrs Rochford 

Josie Mitchell Debating Competition

Four of our Year 8 students did remarkably well in the Josie Mitchell debating competition held at St Brigid’s Catholic College, Lake Munmorah. Bella T, Scarlett S and Tuscany C all spoke, preparing thoroughly and speaking confidently on their assigned topics. Felicity R provided invaluable support as the ‘silent speaker’ throughout the day.

They won the first topic but lost the second narrowly to the indomitable St Joseph’s. In addition to their first win, our students also won their impromptu topic “Day is better than night”. Congratulations to these students on their fine efforts.

PCYC Umina Beach - July School Holidays