CEB Staff Newsletter #11 - 19 April 2024

Advertising campaign

Following completion of a recent market research project, we are pleased to deliver an inaugural Diocesan-wide TV and radio advertising campaign to help promote our Catholic schools.

The campaign objectives are to build brand awareness and help drive increased enrolment inquiries, especially over time. The TV/radio advertisements aim to be geographically neutral and will run from 22 April - 19 May.

The campaign invites prospective families, including those from market groups who may not have previously felt they could/would consider a Catholic education, to take a ‘closer look’ and ‘discover affordable, contemporary Catholic education,’ by searching their nearest Catholic school now.

In striving for the best diocesan coverage possible, the advertisements will run across:

FM Radio

• Ballarat (103.1 Power FM)
• Warrnambool (95.3 Coast FM)
• Horsham (Mixx FM)
• Swan Hill (Mixx FM)
• Mildura (99.5 HitFM)
• Hamilton (Mixx FM)
• Colac (Mixx FM)

Listen to the radio advertisement here

Television

• Mildura regional viewing area (Prime7/WIN/CH10)
• Ballarat regional viewing area (Prime7/WIN/CH10)

View the TV advertisement below

Paywise Salary Packaging Representative Visit

CEB offers Salary packaging via Smart Salary and/or Paywise.

On Tuesday 30 April between 9.45 – 10.45am, Paywise Salary Packaging representative Paul Colvin will be onsite and be available to discuss your salary packaging options.

Benefits include Novated Leasing and Living Expenses.

Staff who are currently packaging are welcome to review current arrangements, just contact Tam in Payroll to ensure Paul will have your file available on the day.

If you would like to discuss your options and are unavailable on this day please feel free to reach out to either Daniel Mclean or Paul Colvin, for assistance.

People and Development

CEB Flu Vaccination Clinic - Wednesday, 1 May 2024 

As part of our commitment to supporting employee health and wellbeing, a Flu Vaccination Clinic will run at the CEB Office located on Gillies Street, Wendouree. This initiative aims to provide staff with easy access to flu vaccinations to help protect against seasonal influenza. 

• Where: CEB Office, Gillies Street, Wendouree
• When: Wednesday, 1 May, 2024 
  
• Time: 9:30am to 11:30am 

Bookings for the flu vaccination clinic: 
In order to confirm bookings, please click here indicating your preferred time for attending the Flu Vaccination Clinic. Every effort will be made to ensure you get your preferred timeslot and confirmation of your appointment time will be sent by Monday, 29 April 2024.  

Unfortunately, in 2024 flu vaccinations are unavailable until early April, with vaccination clinics not commencing until after mid-April; meaning we were unable to coordinate a vaccination clinic with the CEB Staff Meeting (11 & 12 April), as we have done in previous years.  

Please note: The flu vaccination clinic will only run if we have more than 20 employees attending. 

For CEB Staff Unable to attend the Clinic  
For staff unable to attend the Ballarat office on 1 May for the vaccination clinic, you have the option of sourcing your own vaccination (via a pharmacy or local vaccination clinic) and will be reimbursed (up to the total of $25).   

Log into the FlexiPurchase portal to submit an expense claim for your reimbursement.  

We encourage everyone to take advantage of this opportunity. 

Flourish Wellbeing e-Magazine – April 2024 

The April 2024 edition of Converge International’s Flourish Health and Wellbeing eMag is now available. 

Featured Articles: 

• The Cost of Living Crisis & Our Mental Health 
• World Immunisation Week 
• Being Financially Well 

Also in this edition: 

• When Is The Best Time to Exercise 
• Sleep Hygiene in the Remote Work Era 
• Work Health & Safety Day at Work 
• Supporting Young People Through Climate Distress 
• And more! 

For more information about the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) visit Converge International website.

Catholic Identity and Mission

An Easter Reflection

The Resurrection of Christ reminds us that, after darkness, light always comes and that every ending can be the beginning of something wonderful and new. Inspired by Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si', we are invited to reflect on the deep connection between our faith and the care of our common home.

The Easter Gospel showed us Mary Magdalene, Peter and John in front of the empty tomb, facing the mystery of the Resurrection. This encounter with the mystery calls us to be agents of change and hope in the world. In Laudato Si', we are urged to contemplate how "everything is interconnected": our spirituality, our daily actions, and the well-being of our planet and of all our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Laudato Si’ - RESPONSE TO THE CRY OF THE EARTH

The Response to the Cry of the Earth is a call to protect our common home for the wellbeing of all, as we equitably address the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and ecological sustainability. Actions could include the adoption of renewable energies and energy efficiency measures, achieving carbon neutrality, protecting biodiversity, promoting sustainable agriculture, and guaranteeing access to clean water for all.

A Reading from Laudato Si’ 
“The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast”. [Benedict XVI, Homily for the Solemn Inauguration of the Petrine Ministry (24 April 2005): AAS 97 (2005), 710]

For this reason, the ecological crisis is also a summons to profound interior conversion. It must be said that some committed and prayerful Christians, with the excuse of realism and pragmatism, tend to ridicule expressions of concern for the environment. Others are passive; they choose not to change their habits and thus become inconsistent. So what they all need is an “ecological conversion”, whereby the effects of their encounter with Jesus Christ become evident in their relationship with the world around them. Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience. (LS 217)

Jesus invited the Emmaus disciples to see through his eyes. Francis does the same in Laudato Si' as he calls Christians to "an 'ecological conversion,' whereby the effects of their encounter with Jesus Christ become evident in their relationship with the world around them." (LS 217)

Christ's resurrection is, in itself, a cry for life that leads us to overcome the logic of discarding and death in order to open ourselves to the logic of encounter and resurrection. In this context, every effort to care for the environment and human life is a reflection of faith in resurrection, in the triumph of life over death.

May this Easter be a time of spiritual renewal and renewed commitment to our mission as stewards of creation in every corner of the world.

Eco-action
Reflect on our lifestyle: How can we live more sustainably and in harmony with God's creation?

Pray and meditate: So that our spirituality may be the inspiration to love and protect the world that God has entrusted to us.

Other significant Ecological Events this week

Monday 22nd April 2024 🌏 International Mother Earth Day

International Mother Earth Day recognises the Earth and its ecosystems as humanity's common home and the need to protect her to enhance people's livelihoods, counteract climate change, and stop the collapse of biodiversity.

🤔 Why not try to adopt some of the ‘Random Acts of Green’ from the list this April, and do your part to Make Mother Earth feel loved – together!

Prayer to Mother Earth
By Lucy Bunch

We pray to you, Mother Earth, with gratitude
For your holding and sustaining love
For the air, water, and soil that feed us
For the mountains and rivers and oceans that calm our spirits
For loving and supporting all beings and all creation.

We pray to you, Mother Earth, with humility
Help us to remember our place in the great web of life
Help us to remember that we are but a part of this great web,
and that we must do our part for all life.

We pray to you, Mother Earth, for forgiveness
For our ignorance and willful disregard of the damage we have done to you, 
to the air and the waters,
and the soil and the life of this beautiful planet.

We pray to you, Mother Earth, for fortitude
to uphold our part in reversing the damage we have caused,
for fortitude to make and sustain a commitment to do our part to heal the planet.

Mother Earth, in gratitude and humility, we ask that you hold us and sustain us,
as we strive to live in connection with you and all life.
Amen 

Source: https://www.uua.org/people/lucy-bunch

Career Opportunities in the Diocesan Education Community

Catholic Education Ballarat Vacancies

• Executive Assistant to the Executive Director – fixed term position at 1.0 FTE (closes 26 April) 
• Education Consultant- Primary Northern Zone - fixed term position at 1.0 FTE (closes 28 April)