Religious Education Coordinator

**Introduction**:
St Brigid's Primary School, Raymond Terrace is located in the Hunter Region, a short 30-minute drive from Newcastle CBD and Port Stephens. A school of 386 students catering for K-6, St Brigid’s provides a place where the creative and individual talents of each student and teacher is greatly appreciated, embraced and encouraged. Our school has a strong focus on promoting physical activity and healthy living through all aspects of school life.

**Description**:
POSITION DESCRIPTION

In the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle, Religious Education Co-ordinators (RECs) are recognised and acknowledged as significant religious leaders for our primary school communities. They are members of the school executive team and are tasked with the role of supporting the Principal and Parish Priest in promoting and affirming the Catholic culture, identity and mission of the school.

RECs represent the school and the teaching profession in the community, especially the parish. They are professional, ethical and respected individuals within and outside the school.

RECs develop and shape a shared vision focused on providing quality and educational experiences and learning outcomes for all students.

Teachers in a Catholic school have a unique role to play and are assigned with the task of ensuring each child has the opportunity to grow both academically and spiritually and to live purposeful lives. The teacher will promote the school as a place of learning and excellence in accordance with contemporary evidence-based learning and wellbeing principles (including digital learning) and will ensure the ongoing development and implementation of pedagogical practices that impact on student learning outcomes. The teacher will acknowledge and agree to the requirement to work within the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.

The Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle is committed to safeguarding children and vulnerable adults, preventing those in our care from suffering abuse or neglect, and is committed to being compliant with the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations and the National Catholic Safeguarding Standards. All employees are required to undergo a National Police Check, retain a valid NSW Working with Children Check and ensure compliance with our safeguarding policies, the Diocesan Safeguarding Commitment Statement, and the Codes of Conduct.

**Skills and Experiences**:
EXPERIENCE/CRITERIA
- Practising Catholic who is committed to the life of their Eucharistic community with exemplary values and attitudes appropriate to professional practice
- An implicit and relevant understanding of the philosophy and theology of Catholic Education and be able to articulate this clearly to others
- Capacity to ensure staff incorporate key understandings and appropriate methodologies in the teaching of Religious Education (RE) which will lead to students knowing the core teachings of the Catholic faith and how these are lived in the world today
- Proven capacity to build links between the school and its broader parish community in ways that foster the Mission of the Church and have a capacity to promote faith formation within the community
- Proven ability to work collaboratively as a member of the school’s leadership team with a proven capacity to facilitate improvement in student learning
- Compliance or preparedness to work towards and comply with the CSO Accreditation to Work, Teach and Lead Policy - Accreditation at Category E - Accreditation for Senior Leadership (within a time frame specified at time of appointment)
- An ability to demonstrate high-level knowledge and understanding of the relevant Religious Education Frameworks and the Diocesan (K-6) RE Syllabus (Desirable)
- Proven capacity to lead curriculum innovation (Desirable)
- Proven capacity to mentor colleagues through the PP&D process (Desirable)
- Proven capacity to manage COSI compliance matters in both curriculum and non-curriculum areas (Desirable)
- Proven capacity to foster in students those skills that are required in a contemporary educational setting (Desirable)
- Proven capacity to implement the school’s Behaviour Policy (Desirable)
- Proven capacity to be pastorally present to staff, students and their families and to continue to work with the school’s Pastoral Team in implementing pastoral care initiatives within the school (Desirable)
- Have well developed communication and interpersonal skills (Desirable)
- Proven capacity to lead professional learning across K-6 classes in the area of Religious Education (Desirable)
- Capacity to positively communicate with the Parish and work collaboratively to support their initiatives (Desirable)

QUALIFICATIONS
- Four-year trained teacher classification with at least four years successful teaching experience consistent with the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers
- NESA Teacher Accreditation
- Working with Children Clearance number
- Completion of anaphylaxis training
- AWTL app