2013 Targeted Support Project

Reflection

School Names

Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Primary School, Acacia Ridge
St Stephens Catholic Primary School, Algester
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School, Sunnybank

Project Title Support Project for Implementation of the Religion
Curriculum

Project Leaders
(Please include email address
for contact)

Tara Martin tamartin@bne.catholic.edu.au
Kate Ferguson kjgardner@bne.catholic.edu.au
Veronica Kearney (2013 APRE)
Margaret Connors mconnors@bne.catholic.edu.au

Project Focus Clustering to build confidence, collaboration and
competence in implementing the Religion Curriculum
through professional dialogue.

Project Rationale At the beginning of 2013, school staffs underwent
familiarisation with the new Religion Curriculum. In this
process, it has become evident that teachers require
additional professional development in theological
background and support in inquiry and contemporary
pedagogical practices to implement the new curriculum.

The project will provide opportunities for networking,
clustering and sharing of good practice. This will enhance
teacher confidence and competence to teach Religion which
allows students to be actively engaged in a range of
learning opportunities.

Strategies Used The project involved releasing year level teachers in
each school to work with the APREs, and Education
Officer- Religious Education. Teachers in year level
clusters from the three schools were released for half
a day each in Term 3 and 4.
Teachers were encouraged to collaborate online after
planning sessions through Wikispace.
Resources to assist with planning content were
accessed from ResourceLink and school libraries.

Resources Used Every classroom teacher in each school was given half
day release in Term 3 and Term 4.
Continued support from EO-RE.
ResourceLink

Project Evaluation
How did you evaluate your
project?
What outcomes were
Ongoing evaluation took place at the end of each
planning session, at the end of the project and is
ongoing in 2014. This evaluation occurred through
discussion, completed curriculum plans and the
achieved?
What was the impact on
student learning?
Were there any outcomes
that came as a surprise?
Is there anything you would
do differently next time?

implementation of these.
Teachers gained greater confidence and
understanding to create engaging unit plans.
There was increased collaboration and involvement
amongst staff of the parish primary schools.
Teachers were provided with contemporary
pedagogical practices including digital tools to be
incorporated in their planning.
Teachers completed a checklist of areas in each
Religion Strand which identified strengths and needs.
The curriculum delivered to students was at a high
level which was demonstrated by assessment pieces
and work samples.
The online collaboration tool (Wikispace) which was
initially used was unsuccessful. Teachers found it was
more useful to use email to communicate online.

Do you intend to continue /
extend your project? If so,
how?
The project will be continued through the following
strategies.
During Terms 1, 2 and 3 teachers will meet for a
combined staff meeting. This staff meeting will
include content delivery (as identified by needs on
the checklist) and time for collaboration and
moderation.
Assistant Principals from the schools will meet once a
term to plan for future partnership.

Any further comments? The success of the project was clearly seen amongst all
schools and we look forward to continuing to build upon
this.


It would be appreciated if you could provide 2 photographs to illustrate your project. Even a
photo of your schools will suffice.