Page 24 - Demo1

24 Regional - Cairns
Cairns Catholic Education hosts state and national events
Joyful: Students from Cairns diocese take part in the Queensland Catholic Education Week celebrations.
Sharing the education journey
CAIRNS Catholic Education is punching above its weight as a small regional diocese, hosting state and national events that have never been held outside a capital city.
In July Cairns played host to the of cial launch of Queensland Catholic Education Week attended by Education Minister Kate Jones and Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge.
Cairns Catholic Education also hosted the 4th National Dioc- esan System School Improvement Colloquium, at the Pullman International on August 3 and 4.
As part of the CEW Mass and launch event which has always been held in Brisbane, Spirit of Catholic Education Awards were presented by the minister to seven recipients.
Cairns diocese teacher Ben Smith, from Mount St Bernard College, Herberton, received an award for his focus on making a difference for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in mathematics.
In another rst, the event was live streamed to make the cel- ebration more inclusive of Catholic school communities across the state.
Catholic Education Services executive director Bill Dixon said Cairns was proud to be the rst of the regional dioceses to step up to host the event in a move by Queensland Catholic Education Commission to make the launch less Brisbane-centric.
Months of planning went into the event, which was executed awlessly, Mr Dixon said.
CES deputy executive director Ian Davis, who this year chaired the national organising committee for the colloquium, said record numbers of senior system leaders registered for the event due to its high calibre keynote speakers and extensive workshops.
He said more than 250 delegates from across Australia and New Zealand listened to internationally renowned thought leaders in school improvement and the future of schooling.
“(Jesuit) Fr Frank Brennan; Catherine McCullough, from Canada; Maggie Farrar, from the United Kingdom; and Prof Geoff Masters, from the Australian Council of Educational Research, were the keynote speakers and thought provocateurs over the two days,” he said.
He said their audience was senior leaders from every Catholic education of ce in Australia as well as two Catholic education of ces in New Zealand.
Mr Dixon said the record attendance at the colloquium in Cairns re ected the increasing national and international focus on school improvement and innovation.
The program included 33 workshops where each diocese shared best practice and all participants were challenged to continue to strive for the best possible outcomes for all students in their care, Mr Davis said.
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Light on education: A large crowd of students and educa- tors gather in Cairns for the launch of Queens- land Catholic Education Week 2017; and (left) Queens- land Educa- tion Minister Kate Jones presents Ben Smith with a Spirit of Catholic Education Award.
The Catholic Leader,August 27, 2017