1. Five Defining Features of Catholic Schools

2. For some teachers who are new to teaching in Catholic schools, the experience might be like travelling in a foreign land...

3. What is ‘foreign’ about a foreign land?

5. “From the first moment that a student sets foot in a Catholic school, he or she ought to have the impression of entering a new environment... having its own unique characteristics.” Congregation for Catholic Education, The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School,1988, n.25

6. I wonder... what are the unique characteristics of a Catholic school? I wonder... what are the unique characteristics of a Catholic school? I wonder... what makes a school ‘Catholic’?

7. The curia - concerned with the management of the Church. Vatican: The Holy See http://www.vatican.va/

8. Congregation for Catholic Education - Significant documents on Catholic schools The Catholic School (1977) Lay Catholics in Schools: Witnesses to Faith (1982) The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School (1988) The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium (1998) Educating Together in Catholic Schools (2007)

9. These Roman documents identify the characteristics of a Catholic School that makes it distinctively ‘Catholic’. Five Essential Marks of Catholic schools

10. A Catholic school should be: 1.inspired by a supernatural vision 2.founded on Christian anthropology 3.animated by communion and community 4.imbued with a Catholic worldview throughout its curriculum 5.sustained by gospel witness. Five Essential Marks of Catholic schools

11. Defining Features of Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Brisbane Queensland Catholic Bishops’ Research Project on Catholic Schooling 1998 – 2001 project looking at literature and consultation. Defining features for Catholic Schools in each of the Dioceses… Defining Features of Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Brisbane

12. 1. Promote the dynamic vision of God’s love manifest in the life and mission of Jesus Christ (Archdiocesan Vision of Jesus Communion Mission)

13. We are earth and breath of God beings (Gen 2: 7) 2. Recognise and nurture the spirituality of each person

14. 3. Be a place of quality learning and teaching

15. 4. Continue to act in partnership with families

16. 5. Provide an authentic experience of Catholic Christian community We are relational beings, ‘people in community’, ‘ beings-for-the-other’

17. 6. Be open to those who support its values

18. 7. Be experienced as a community of care

19. Defining Features of Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Brisbane Promote the dynamic vision of God’s love manifest in the life and mission of Jesus Christ Recognise and nurture the spirituality of each person Be a place of quality learning and teaching Continue to act in partnership with families Provide an authentic experience of Catholic Christian community Be open to those who support its values Be experienced as a community of care

20. Placemat Strategy What does this ‘mark’ look like in my school? What does this ‘mark’ mean for me as ‘teacher’ in a Catholic school?