The Diocese of Armidale's 24 New England schools are celebrating Catholic Schools Week this week in the most Catholic way possible: with workshops and Mass.
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The week of celebration officially launched at St Edward's Primary Tamworth on Monday morning, with staff from all four Tamworth schools and McCarthy College undertaking a day of professional learning on strategies for teaching literacy and numeracy.
The annual event honours the achievements of the diocese's school communities and recognises members of staff dedicated to providing a nurturing environment for every student.
"One in five students across Australia go to Catholic schools so it's an opportunity to promote our students, look at what we do well, and make sure our students know they're part of something bigger," Diocese of Armidale Catholic Schools Office School Performance Leader John O'Connor said.
After re-imagining the week's festivities during COVID, the theme for this year's celebrations is 'Renew with Hope,' inviting students and staff to consider to the future of Catholic education both within the diocese and across the country.
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"Every school will celebrate what's great about them and their own local context. Our schools are so diverse, ranging from 800 kids at McCarthy to 24 students at Warialda," Mr O'Connor said.
The main highlight of Catholic Schools Week is the Spirit of Catholic Education Awards which will commence after Mass on Thursday, May 25, at St Mary's School Armidale.
The awards recognise outstanding contributions from teachers and students across the diocese.
"You've gotta remember our diocese is the size of Portugal, so it'll be quite the event bringing leaders of both students and staff from all 24 schools together for the award ceremony," Mr O'Connor said.
The diocese's Acting Director of Catholic Schools David Condon said the week also gives their schools a chance to reach out to parents who may not be aware that religious schools are an option.
While children from Catholic families are offered priority, kids from any background are allowed to enrol.
"It's also important for the community to understand we're about, we're relevant, and we're proud of what we are," Mr Condon said.
Mr Condon said continuing to improve their educational standards is a major focus for their schools, particularly as the diocese has achieved a three per cent increase in enrolments in the past year.
"We provide a really strong educational presence in terms of results. If you look at our NAPLAN results they're rising all the time," Mr Condon said.
Both Mr O'Connor and Mr Condon said they attribute the Diocese's success to a mix of the high performance of its students and the values it promotes.
"A lot of professional development goes into our teaching staff and we do represent values. We represent what Christ was and what Jesus is. As a result of that, even people who don't identify as Catholic want those values, they want the Christian values we proudly teach and espouse," Mr Condon said.
He also said the rise in enrolments means its "always difficult to get staff," but the cost of taking on new students isn't much of an issue thanks to funding from the state government, funding which divided New England communities in 2018.
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