In response to an urgent call out for teacher support from schools, during Term 2, 2022, more than 40 Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong (CEDoW) Education and Professional Officers volunteered their time in both teaching and leadership support roles across the diocese. 

More than a century of rich Marist tradition and commitment is set to continue in the Diocese of Wollongong thanks to a Statement of Shared Understanding between the Bishop of Wollongong and the Provincial of the Marist Brothers, formally launched at John Therry Catholic College, Rosemeadow on Tuesday 19 July 2022.

Students of one of the fastest growing Catholic schools in one of South West Sydney’s fastest growing regions will benefit from more than $30 million worth of new facilities, after the Bishop of Wollongong, Most Rev Brian Mascord, officially celebrated the blessing and opening of the facilities at St Francis Catholic College, Edmondson Park, on Friday 1 July 2022.

Recognised for her love of history, Molly Simpson of Corpus Christi Catholic High School, Oak Flats has secured a prestigious 2022 Premier’s Anzac Memorial Scholarship (PAMS). 

As demands on energy supplies grow in Australia, budding scientists, engineers and mathematicians at Corpus Christi Catholic High School, Oak Flats joined some of Australia’s most innovative designers and educators to build a ‘SolarBuddy’—a small solar light designed specifically for children—to help students in Papua New Guinea study after dark. 

A cry for help was answered by Macarthur school communities who joined together with St John the Evangelist Parish, Campbelltown and the local Tongan community to support the people of the small Pacific island, devastated by the recent volcanic eruption, through the generous donation of school furniture, food and household items to be assembled as “Care Packages”.

On one of the coldest nights experienced by NSW this winter, students and teachers from Ss Peter and Paul Kiama, swapped the comfort of their warm homes for cardboard boxes, raising more than $1700 for the St Vincent de Paul Vinnies Winter Appeal.

Following hot on the heels of the celebrations for Laudato Si' Week our schools celebrated World Environment Day through prayer and action, exploring the theme ONLY ONE EARTH.

Two rising tennis players, Liana Meta and Alani Tanevski, Year 6 students at St Patrick's Catholic Parish Primary School, Port Kembla showed their talent on the court at the NSW Primary Schools Sports Association (NSWPSSA) Tennis Championships in Rockdale.

Over 100 students from the Diocese of Wollongong performed exceptionally well at the recent NSW Catholic Primary Schools and NSW Combined Catholic Colleges state swimming championships held at Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Homebush. 

Despite floods and the chaos of road closures it was wonderful to have the WEN Teacher Contact group still able to gather together face-to-face for their annual professional development day. This day is always a valued opportunity for formation and collaboration, sharing ideas and experiences in the ecological space for the WEN group of teachers.

Sport is both a passion and vocation for CEDoW Professional Officer – Diocesan Sport, John Sparks, who has recently been honoured with Life Membership by New South Wales Combined Catholic Colleges (NSWCCC) in recognition of his exemplary contribution to Catholic school sport.

Budding young author, Anya Ellerington, a Year 8 student at St John the Evangelist Catholic High School, Nowra, was recently awarded the Shoalhaven Australia Day Award 2022 in the ‘Outstanding Emerging Artist’ category for her work titled The Beauty of the Eternal Soul, which was accompanied by a beautiful piece of symbolic artwork. 

With the pandemic we continue to witness the generation of an enormous amount of waste that goes to landfill or collects in waterways and bushland. One culprit is the disposable mask.

Like many of our CEDoW schools, the staff and students at Holy Spirit College Bellambi continue to seek ways of lessening their environmental footprint and are utilising TerraCycle to collect and recycle some of the masks used across the school community.

Inspired by their own teachers and knowing what a difference a good teacher can make to the lives of their students, five top performing students from CEDoW Catholic secondary schools in the Illawarra and Macarthur have been awared a $20,000 scholarship towards the cost of their tertiary studies in primary or secondary education.