Spreading the Good News SRE Newsletter - January 2015

No 94 Term 1 2015

Spreading the Good News

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.

When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.�

Matt 28:16-20

5th - 19th October

Dear SRE Teachers, Assistants and Members of the Clergy, Welcome back to everyone to a new year and new classes of bright happy students. Vicki and I pray for each of you and thank you for your generous volunteering in the public schools.

Please pray for more generous volunteers as there will be classes that will not have a Scripture Teacher at the beginning of the year.

At this time I welcome each of you to the New Year and encourage you in your preparation for the year ahead. Some of you will be attending the Basic Training recommended by ICCOREIS, some will be attending Safe Church Workshops training. Some of you will be attending your community SRE meetings. Whatever you attend will help you focus on the term ahead as we go into the review of SRE over the course of the next twelve months.

I also thank the SRE people who retired at the end of 2014. The contribution each of you made to SRE was very valuable. I wish you good health and happiness in whatever you do.

We are moving into change in our Parishes.

Firstly, I wish Most Rev Patrick O’Regan our prayers and wishes as he moves to become the ninth Bishop of Sale, Vic. We also pray for our Priests and thank them, as they take up their duties this week in new parishes. We welcome the Priests who come to be our Parish Priests, and Assistant Priests. We offer them our support, prayers and wish them happy times in the parish.

CATECHIST SUNDAY The scheduled date for Catechist Sunday in the Catholic Diocese of Bathurst will be the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time, the 15th February 2015.

Talk with the Priests to organise someone to speak at all Masses in the Parish to promote this ministry.

We have many Catholic families who send their children to the Public schools. This day is a great opportunity to ask the parishioners for their prayers

on the day that you teach. It is also a great opportunity to ask for volunteers as teachers and assistants in the classrooms.

I know some parishes are not able to have this day as Catechist Sunday. Please follow it up with the Priests to organise the different date and it is in everyone’s diary.

CATECHIST TRAINING Bathurst

4th February Baptist Church 188 Eglinton Rd Eglinton

Canowindra

St Edwards Parish Centre Tilga Street

WORKING WITH CHILDREN CHECK Thank you to the Priests, Religious, SRE Teachers and Assistants for your response to the Working With Children Check and sending your number to the Chancery for verification. This is a requirement from the Department of Education & Communities (DEC) which then allows us to be involved in Special Religious Education(SRE) in the Public Schools in NSW. For those who require assistance please contact me and I’ll help you to complete this.

CODE OF CONDUCT The Code of Conduct document was sent to you late last year. With the document, I sent two sheets; One of the sheets, after you had read the document, was to be signed and returned to me to indicate that you had read the document. I also left space, if you wished, for your comments, queries and if necessary questions. Thank you to the folk who have returned the form. It is important that the form is returned.

SRE RETURNS FORM 2014 Also in the envelope, I put in a form to let me know the number of students you were teaching during the 4th term 2014. If you have not returned that form would you return it to me ASAP, please. I need the numbers for the Diocesan Records.

(Archdiocese of Sydney2010) This term, the students are reminded of the way we share God’s love (grace) and through the life of Jesus we recognise our growing friendship with God. Discuss and share that Lent is a time of change. The Easter Story.

(CEO Christchurch NZ)

The first couple of weeks lessons come from Mark’s Gospel Ch 1-9. The last two weeks of Lent we read John’s Gospel story of the cleansing of the temple and a reminder of God’s love for His people in sending His Son, Jesus and through Him the world will be saved. The Easter story.

(CEP Connect Program Youthworks Cycle B1 2011)

This cycle considers God’s promises and how these can be trusted. This term the curriculum spends time with Jesus and His Ministry. The fulfilling of the Scriptures, The lessons will be from Luke’s Gospel, The Easter Story.

(Burst Christian Resources 2011 Yellow One)

The curriculum begins with introducing the theme of God’s Way. It’s an introduction for the children about God, Jesus and the Bible, an overview of God’s good news, creation, the first peoples and their disobedience, to Jesus loving us, God’s forgiveness and the reward of Heaven.

The Easter Story.

Prayer in the Classroom “A Church Which Goes Forth” Evangelii Gaudium The Joy of the Gospel – Pope Francis 20. The word of God constantly shows us how God challenges those who believe in him, “to go forth”.

Abraham received the call to set out for a new land (cf. Gen 12:1-3). Moses heard God’s call: “Go, I send you”. (Ex 3:10) and led the people towards the promised land (cf. Ex 3:17). To Jeremiah, God says: “To all whom I send you, you shall go” (Jer 1:7). In our day Jesus’ command to “go and make disciples” echoes in the changing scenarios and ever new challenges to the Church’s mission. All of us are called to take part in this new missionary “going forth”. P23 In being prepared for your classroom lessons you start by building on a solid foundation. PRAYER. You are setting the stage for your lesson. Prayer is the beginning of your lesson preparation. Then you can read the lesson from the Teachers Manual. Use prayer to reflect on what you will be teaching, gathering ideas of the best way to present the lesson, the aids you will use, what song you will play when students are doing their book work. And of course what prayer you will say with the students. Do you have a prayer focus, stand, station, where you can place the Bible? If you can have a Bible focus for the students, you are communicating a powerful message. The word of God is alive and present in this gathering, this classroom. You may like to use a candle. Candles with a naked flame are not to be used in the classrooms, but you can use the battery candles, which are very effective. Have prayer at the beginning of your lesson and the while students are working in their books you can pack up the prayer focus. As you leave the classroom don’t forget a prayer of thanks.

Safe Salvos Saturday 7th February

Orange Corps Cnr Kite & McNamara Streets, Orange Time TBA nicole.viles@aue.salvationarmy.org $20 Safe Salvos Saturday 7th February

Dubbo Corps 112 Gipps Street, Dubbo 9:30am – 3:30pm Emily Blackstock: 49260218 $20 BYO LUNCH Saturday 21 February Bathurst Baptist Church 188 Eglinton Road, Bathurst 9.30am –3.30pm

Judy Henderson 02 9868 9221 css@nswactbaptists.org.au Cost $30 Morning tea provided.

Bring your own Lunch

Term One

27th January - 2nd April

Term Two

20th April - 26th June

21st January 24th January 25th January 26th January 28th January 31st January

St Agnes St Francis de Sales 3rd Sunday Ordinary Time Year B Australia Day St Thomas Aquinas St John Bosco

1st February

4th Sunday Ordinary Time Catechist Sunday- DUBBO 2nd February Presentation of the Lord 5th February St Agatha 6th February 8th February 10th February 11th February 15th February

St Paul Miki & Companions 5th Sunday Ordinary Time St Scholastica Our Lady of Lourdes 6th Sunday Ordinary Time Diocesan Catechist Sunday 18th February Ash Wednesday 22nd February 1st Sunday of Lent Catechist Sunday Bathurst 1st March 8th March 15th March 17th March 19th March 22nd March 25th March 29th March

2nd Sunday of Lent 3rd Sunday of Lent 4th Sunday of Lent St Patrick St Joseph 5th Sunday of Lent The Annunciation Palm Sunday

2nd April 3rd April 5th April 12th April 12th April

Holy Thursday Good Friday Easter Sunday 2nd Sunday of Easter Divine Mercy Sunday

Term Three 13th July - 18th September Term Four

6th October – 18th December

DIRECTORY Helen C Ryan P O Box 720 DUBBO NSW 2830 H: 02 6884 5848 Mob: 0407001196 Email: hcryan@nsw.chariot.net.au

See attached sheet

Vicki Mair 73 Freeman Circuit Bathurst NSW 2795 Home: 02 6332 2835

Resourcing SRE Term 1, 2015 Spreading the Good News No. 94 CATHOLIC RESOURCE CENTRE A multi-media lending library operated by the Catholic Education Office, Diocese of Bathurst.

Tel: (02) 6338 3022 - If phone diverts to voicemail, pleases DO leave a message and your call will be returned as soon as possible. Fax: (02) 6338 3001 Email recentre@bth.catholic.edu.au P O Box 725 Bathurst NSW 2795 Gilmour Street Kelso NSW 2795 Term 1 – 2015 Resource Sampler Born into the kingdom [DVD] (25 min.) / From the ‘Brother Francis presents’ series, this episode has 4 parts : ‘In the Garden’ ; ‘I’ve got a family’, ‘Jesus is the Light of the World’ and ‘How we celebrate the Sacrament of Baptism’. ‘In the Garden’ is an animated presentation of the story of Adam and Eve and what led to their disobedience’ and can be used ecumenically. Program devised as Catholic teaching resource for the sacrament of Baptism.

More stories for interactive assemblies : 20 story -based assemblies to get children talking [Book]/ Nigel Bishop / U.K. : Barnabas, 2012.

The ‘Index of Curriculum and Biblical Links’ provides information to identify relevance to scripture stories/passages. Would suit Upper Primary – Lower Secondary grades.

The parables of Jesus [DVD] (32 min.)/ Animated Stories from the New Testament / Suitability: from Kindergarten to Middle Primary / Contents: The parable of the two sons -- The parable of Lazarus and the rich man -- The parable of the talents.

A reminder that many of the BIG BOOK titles from the popular ‘To Know, Worship and Love’ series are relevant to Term 1 SRE programs, available for loan from the Centre.

ON THE NET

Topmarks - Easter http://www.topmarks.co.uk/Easter/ range of free online offerings for teaching about Lent and Easter – e.g. one offering ‘The Easter Story’ which is an “illustrated story of the arrest, trial and crucifixion of Jesus Christ’.

TES Connect – Primary teaching resources https://www.tes.co.uk/primary-teaching-resources/ From this page select ‘Religious Education’ from either age range, then select ‘Christianity’ for access to useful resources.

The King is Coming – Children’s Chapel http://childrenschapel.org/biblestories/palmsunday .html Online text with graphics for Palm Sunday/ Triumphal entry is just one option from the Children’s Chapel site.

HOURS: TERM 1 – 2015: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday: 9 am – 12 noon & 1 pm – 5 pm Tuesdays: 2 pm – 5pm - Outside these hours by appointment.

- There are odd, unscheduled times when the Centre may be closed during standard hours. It is strongly recommended to telephone the Centre in advance to ensure staff availability, especially if coming from a distance.

Hours of opening and advance notice of any changes to standard hours (whenever possible) are advertised on the REgathering web site at http://regathering.weebly.com/ Topical information about resources and web sites for Christian education are discussed in the blog which is searchable by a number of subject tags is located at http://regathering.weebly.com/resources.html

WESTERN INTER-CHURCH COMMITTEE FOR SPECIAL RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN STATE SCHOOLS Affiliated with ICCOREIS Inc NSW

The DEC announced the successful tender for the Independent Review of SRE. The consultant firm’s name is ARTD Consulting.

Below is the website and information for the successful Tender for the SRE Review: The website is as follows: www.artd.com.au . Details of ARTD Consulting work are detailed on the website some of which is below: ARTD is a leading public policy consultancy firm, providing services in evaluation, research and strategy since 1989. We work with government agencies and non-government organisations around Australia in the human services, education, health, disability and environment sectors. 

October

2014 ARTD’s formative evaluation of the Tell Them From Me student survey trial is now available on the NSW Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation website. The survey provides schools with an annual snapshot of their students’ self-reported social and intellectual engagement at school, which can inform annual strategic planning. The Department can also use the data to explore how student engagement and wellbeing is linked to performance.

The evaluation drew on a survey of school principals and staff responsible for implementing the student survey interviews with the principals, survey coordinators, teachers and a sample of junior and senior students from five schools.

ARTD in conjunction with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has won the Australasian Evaluation Society’s Best Public Sector Evaluation Award for 2014. The award recognises public sector evaluations that have been used to effect real and measurable change in policies or programs. In the evaluation of the Australian Volunteers for International Development (AVID) program, ARTD’s Andrew Hawkins, Emily Verstege, Chris Milne and Ofir Thaler worked in partnership with the Department’s Office of Development Effectiveness (ODE) and other stakeholders to deliver a high-quality and useful evaluation with clear and actionable recommendations. 