Catholic Schools across the New England and North West celebrated Catholic Schools Week last month.
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This year the Catholic Schools Week theme was 'Our Hope-filled Future'.
"This was a theme which echoes our vision," the director of schools for the Diocese of Armidale Chris Smyth said.
"To be a Christ-centred inclusive learning community that supports young people to realise a hope-filled future."
Mr Smyth said Catholic Schools Week was an important annual celebration of the Catholic Education community.
"My very sincere thanks goes to our extremely hardworking school staff and principals who work tirelessly to support the students entrusted to them every day in our wonderful Catholic schools," Mr Smyth said.
"Without you, our future would certainly not be as hope-filled as it is. Families choose Catholic education because of you and your amazing efforts to educate and nurture their children."
As part of the celebrations masses were held at St Philomena's School in Moree, St Nicholas Church in Tamworth and Sts Mary and Joseph's Cathedral in Armidale.
Mr Smyth said the region's Catholic schools support academic growth and focus on the wellbeing of every child.
"Our system of Catholic schools includes 19 primary, two central and three secondary schools that cater for the needs of over 6,000 students," he said.
In March in the Diocese of Armidale, three schools were identified by by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) for the high gains achieved by students in the latest NAPLAN scores - St Francis Xavier's Narrabri; St Edward's Tamworth; and Holy Trinity Inverell.
While St Joseph's Quirindi was identified as one of the state's top 40 performing schools in New South Wales.
"We are proud of all our schools who have seen improvement in NAPLAN results, and congratulate these three schools for being recognised nationally," Mr Smyth said.
"Our high achieving schools are testimony to the strong learning and unrelenting focus we have on literacy across all schools in our Diocese.
These schools are attaining outstanding results despite the challenges of a regional setting, smaller cohorts compared to metropolitan schools, and the impacts of COVID.
"Thank you to our teaching staff for their consistent laser-like focus on boosting literacy by using evidence-based strategies such as guided reading, explicit instruction and phonics.
"While we celebrate academic achievement we are equally proud of our pastoral care and wellbeing support that has been a strong focus over recent years, with our Living Well Learning Well framework guiding all aspects of student learning and well being."
Mr Smyth said he was supportive of the recent strike action by Catholic school teaching and administrative staff.
"Teachers and support staff deserve a meaningful pay increase and whilst the strike was a huge inconvenience for staff and a disruption for students and parents, I strongly believe we need to stand up for the status of the teaching profession," Mr Smyth said.
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