CEB Staff Newsletter #33 - 20 October 2023
CEB End of Year Christmas Mass and Dinner – 1 December
This year, our end of year Mass will be held at the Loreto College Chapel and our dinner at Botanica, Delacombe.
As a way to thank our staff for all that you do and your partners for their support of you in your role with CEB, we extend an invitation to your partner to attend this evening also.
All staff are asked to please complete the attached Google form prior to 27 October to ensure that catering and accommodation can be confirmed for the evening.
Article submitted by Kerrie Zammit.
Fr Michael Kelly - Homily
Attached is a homily given last Sunday by Fr Michael Kelly, Redemptorist Priest and Associate Professor of Yarra Theological Union.
In light of the pain and division in our own country and beyond, Fr Michael’s insight into the call of the gospel offers much needed wisdom.
Article submitted by Jo-anne Van der Voort.
Reconciliation Action Plan
All colleagues will recall the Reconciliation Action Plan presentation and discussion from our July meeting at Damascus. While this work was put on hold temporarily, it will now move forward.
The broad aims for the creation of a RAP for CEB are:
- Formalisation of our recognition of First Nations People across the Country on which we work.
- Ongoing examination of our processes and procedures to ensure inclusion of First Nations and culturally diverse colleagues.
- Promotion of reconciliation and justice.
- Creation of opportunities that celebrate and embrace the diversity of all of our colleagues.
Staff colleagues who are interested in being involved in a working group to establish a Level 1 ‘Scoping’ RAP are invited to contact Joe Ewing.
It is anticipated that this group would be made up of a cross section of DOBCEL staff, from different sectors, geographic locations, and levels of responsibility.
Members of the working party will be invited to two meetings before the end of the year that will be held onsite in Ballarat but open to participants from other locations through VC:
- Friday 3 November 9.30 - 11.00am
- Wednesday 29 November 9.30 - 11.00am
A summary of the suggested actions from July is available here.
A definitive summary of RAPs from July is here.
Article submitted by Joe Ewing.
Culture Amp - Reminder to Link Goals to Strategic Directions
As the end of the year approaches, a reminder to ensure that individual goals captured in Culture Amp are linked to DOBCEL strategic priorities.
Ensuring your goals are linked to strategic priorities will assist in completing your 12-month self-reflection, and enable better reporting.
If you are not sure if your goals are linked to a strategic direction click here for instructions on how to check this and click here to access the Culture Amp site.
Article submitted by Fiona Murphy.
National School Improvement Colloquium
A small team of DOBCEL staff attended the National School Improvement Colloquium (NSIC) in Freemantle earlier this week. The foundation of the colloquium was the sharing of Catholic System responses to School Improvement. The Keynote speaker was Tracey Ezard and the Colloquium was facilitated by Brendan Spillane.
Bernadette Tolan presented a workshop titled “Gender Identity in Catholic Schools – A Response”, articulating our diocesan approach and sharing the “Hospitality” resource. Bernie’s typically thorough preparation recognised the team effort in creating the response, particularly Liz McIntyre and Brooke Nestor's essential contributions. There was a national audience engaged and interested in this work, who were keen to share their learnings and draw on DOBCEL in supporting gender-diverse young people.
Lauren Gould also teamed with MACS languages lead Chloe Briand to present on the initiative – “Teachers as Co-Learners: Innovation in Languages Teaching”. Lauren and Chloe’s engaging and innovative content was well received by the states with core languages programs and also generated interest from the North of Australia for the possible application with survival indigenous languages.
Our SIMON team were also one of a small number of sponsors of the conference; Julia Petrov supported Kevin Brodie in bringing our great product to a broader audience.
Article submitted by Matthew Byrne.
Ballarat Office Cutlery
The Ballarat Office cutlery has up and moved across the way so the teaspoons are closer to the tea and coffee.
Change always brings joy and challenges, but thank you to those who facilitated this.
Staff News
We are delighted to announce the appointment of two new staff who will be based in our Ballarat office.
Oakley Sims
Oakley has been appointed as ICT Support Specialist and started on Wednesday 17 October. Oakley has previously worked for Serco as a Customer Contact Officer.
Tamara Mihalec
Tamara will join the Payroll Team in the position of Payroll Administration Support. Tamara comes to us from McCain Foods where she was the Co-manufacturing Intercompany Lead.
Tamara’s first day will be on Monday 23 October.
Article submitted by Sarah Hanley.