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Media Releases
2003
Monday 26th May 2003
New K-12 Religion Syllabus for Diocese of
Maitland-Newcastle Schools
A
new K-12 Religion Syllabus that attempts to retell the story of
Jesus and the Church using language intelligible to young people
of the 21st Century will be launched for use in the Diocese of
Maitland-Newcastle's 55 Catholic schools this Wednesday by Catholic
Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle, Michael Malone.
 Over
100 supplementary Resource Units to assist Religion teachers to
implement the new Syllabus will also be launched.
According
to Mr Gerard Sullivan, Head of Religious Education in the Diocese
of Maitland-Newcastle, "the Syllabus will focus on the Catholic
story in the larger context of the wider world. Issues related
to justice, morality and building a better world are explored
in dialogue with the Catholic Christian context. Many students
will obviously be hearing the Christian story for the first time,
not in a church or at home, but in a classroom."
Mr Sullivan
says that a number of recent developments have underlined the
need for a new K-12 Religion Syllabus.
"These
include the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church
(1994), awareness of Kindergarten to Year 12 continuity, the move
towards observable learning outcomes, assessment of learning outcomes,
the need for increased Catholic Christian content and updating
appropriate to young people today.
"The launch concludes a major project which has included
the ongoing contribution and collaboration of numerous teachers,
coordinators and principals over many years. "The
Catholic Schools Office Religious Education Team Newcastle shaped
and edited the final documents assisted by many other people.
"It is
hoped that the process of implementation, which in fact commenced
some years ago will now continue. As the title of the Syllabus
song (written with John Burland) indicates, all this is so that
young people may be capable of Living the Story Day by Day."
Launch of K-12 Religion Syllabus
Wednesday 28th May @ 1:30 pm
Southern Cross Hall, 841 Hunter Street Newcastle West
The K-12 Religion Syllabus is available on the Catholic Schools Office website click here.
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