In this episode, we sit down with staff from St Patrick’s Primary School Bega, a school that has embraced the Catalyst initiative to transform teaching and learning. From instructional programs to leadership strategies, we explore how this school has aligned its practices to create a knowledge-rich, student-centered environment.
School-Wide Impact
Catalyst Learnings
How Catalyst has influenced school-wide practices.
Implementation of instructional programs: Reading Mastery, Spelling Mastery, InitialLit, and CMC supplemented with units developed in partnership with Ochre.
Emphasis on a knowledge-rich curriculum: Teaching deeper, not broader, while meeting outcomes.
Curriculum beyond DI Programs
School Routines & Behaviour
Creating Consistency
Aligning expectations around routines and behaviour.
Tools and strategies: Behaveability (Ian Luscombe), scripted routines
Teaching Practice
Teachers share their experiences and reflections on Catalyst’s impact.
Good Shepherd Primary School serves students from diverse and multicultural backgrounds in Canberra. The school has transitioned from an inquiry-based approach to teaching to Catalyst’s focus on Direct Instruction and Explicit Instruction, and staff are seeing strong results from the change.
At Good Shepherd, Catalyst supports equity in learning
Prior to Catalyst, Good Shepherd adopted a student-led approach where children where taught with an inquiry-based model. Current research suggests that students benefit most from this approach when they have existing content knowledge to draw on. For this reason, Catalyst focuses on a ‘knowledge-rich curriculum’ and ensuring every student is explicitly taught the skills they need.
“We can now see that every student is getting the same thing, and one class isn’t missing out on, for example vocabulary or text level writing.” (Classroom teacher)
The Catalyst approach now taken at Good Shepherd is about giving every student the same opportunity to succeed. A strong message from leadership about equity resonates with teachers, who recognise the importance of this – not just at their school – but for every child in the system.
“The biggest conversation I would have with those new teachers is about equity.“ (School leader)
Teachers work in teams to bring this approach to life. Weekly two-hour meetings are the key mechanism for consistency, with all staff in a given year level planning together to ensure they are delivering the same content. Teachers know when and how to adapt the shared plan, when needed, to best support the children in their particular class.
The new Principal identifies the importance of student assessment
While the school has undergone a leadership change in 2024, the new Principal has maintained a strong focus on Catalyst. Data use across schools is unlocking new possibilities for teaching, and Good Shepherd is keen to be at the forefront.
The Principal identifies, “We’re really evolving a new language around assessment at the school”.
The approach to data use and assessment spans both sophisticated adaptive and diagnostic testing, to systematically using miniature whiteboards with students in classrooms. The latter is a Catalyst strategy that gives teachers instant feedback on how well all students are grasping what is being taught. It means teachers get the information they need, without students constantly doing tests.
“The biggest change is using data to inform our teaching practices. We’re collecting data more consistently. And just even the use of whiteboards we collect more data rather than relying only on formal assessments…And trusting that that is actually a good way of informing our teaching practices.” (Classroom teacher)
Teachers are motivated by the results they are seeing students achieve
Ask any teacher at Good Shepherd about the impact of Catalyst, and they will tell you what they are seeing in their classroom, and how this motivates them to keep getting better and better.
“The results are really what’s driving us, that we can actually see these programs are working… We can see our little people are growing.” (Classroom teacher)
Good Shepherd NAPLAN results – Year 3 and 5 combined
This improvement, and the way the school supports all students can also be observed in NAPLAN.
Empowering students to take the next step in their learning
In reflecting on the next steps for the school in 2025, there is a strong emphasis on how students can feel that they ‘own’ their assessment data (in an age-appropriate way). This aligns with research about the importance of student agency, motivation and wellbeing, and the types of feedback that best help students learn. In practice, this might look like conversations with students after tasks to help them understand the specific next step for them in their learning.
External Analysis delivered by
To measure the outcomes and impact of the Catalyst program, CECG engaged Deloitte Access Economics (DAE) for an external analysis. Starting in January 2022, DAE evaluated Catalyst’s effectiveness on schools. Their final report includes six case studies from diverse schools in the Archdiocese, highlighting academic achievements for students and advocacy impacts for teachers, along with areas for improvement.
In this episode, CECG teachers Zoe Cawdron and Lauren Maher unpack the impact of Catalyst on their teaching practice, discussing:
Implementing effective classroom routines, attention signals, and engagement norms
Leading from the classroom through their Sharing Best Practice vocabulary presentation
Using assessment data to tailor instruction, support struggling readers, and extend learning opportunities
This episode offers practical strategies for educators seeking to enhance student engagement and learning outcomes through evidence-informed approaches.
CECG schools across the ACT have been praised for notable improvement in the latest NAPLAN results released this week on the My School website.
The Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) has identified the Top 20 Schools Making a Difference in each state and territory, comparing year on year data for 2023/24. Of the 20 top schools in ACT identified, 13 Catholic Education Canberra-Goulbourn (CECG) schools were recognised, a milestone widely acknowledged by media sources this week and celebrated as a clear endorsement of the power of High Impact Teaching Practice and explicit teaching.
Following its launch over four years ago, Catalyst has transformed how teaching and learning is approached in CECG schools. By implementing High Impact Teaching Practice, grounded in Science of Learning and the Science of Reading, schools have seen positive growth and improvement in literacy and numeracy outcomes.
CECG Director Ross Fox emphasised the program’s ongoing potential in an interview for RioTact –
“We’re excited by these results, but we know there’s more we can achieve. The advancements in early years learning are encouraging, and we’re confident they’ll lead to sustained higher achievements over time.”
Following the success of CECG schools, Good to Great Schools Founder and Co-Chair, Noel Pearson called for all schools to adopt explicit instruction in their classrooms. In an interview for The Australian, he acknowledges all challenges schools face but emphasised,
“If you don’t get the instruction right, you’re going to fail anyway.”
In this episode we learn about how the leadership team at St Mary Mackillop Catholic College in Canberra successfully implemented the components of Catalyst and scaled up for a two-campus school with over 2000 students. Erin White and Lisa Buckland share with us their insights about how they started their Catalyst journey and the importance of this work in the Secondary context, discussing what worked well and some of the challenges they faced along the way. We learn about where they prioritised, invested their time, supports and resources and how they keep momentum with over 200 staff. Everything shared has relevance for all school contexts, making this an interesting episode for all.
This curated collection of articles, podcasts, and webinars have been designed to deepen your understanding of the 8 Big Ideas and continue to improve education across the system.
In this episode Aimee speaks about her classroom routines and gives tips on using engagement and behaviour norms. During her lessons Aimee uses 6 concepts that she likes to ‘tick off her list’.
