CEB Staff Newsletter #20 - 21 June 2024

Term 2 Staff Meeting Arrangements 10/11 July - face to face

Tuesday 9 July

• Travel - staff to make own dinner arrangements.

Wednesday 10 July

• Team meetings (9.00am-5.00pm) - CET at Damascus Events Centre, Mt Clear; Business Services and Stewardship at CEB, Gillies Street (morning tea and lunch provided).
• All Staff Dinner (6.30pm) - Yacht Club, Wendouree Parade 

Thursday 11 July

• All staff meeting (9.00am to 4.00pm) - Damascus Events Centre, Mt Clear (morning tea and lunch provided).

Note: Previous communications indicated that the All Staff dinner was scheduled for Thursday, 11 July. To better accommodate the meeting schedule and staff travel, the dinner has now been moved to Wednesday, 10 July.

Meeting invitations will be sent for inclusion in your calendars.

Principal changes

Principal Appointment

Melissa Sutherland has been appointed Principal of St Paul’s Primary School, Mildura and will commence in the role at the beginning of the 2025 school year.

Melissa is currently the Deputy Principal of St Paul’s. We congratulate Melissa and look forward to her ongoing contribution to the Diocese of Ballarat.

The letter of announcement to the community is available below.

Principal Resignation

Nerrida Holland has advised of her resignation from the position of Principal of St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Warracknabeal, at the end of the 2024 school year.

We are grateful to Nerrida for her passion and dedication in leading St Mary’s School community and wish her every blessing for the next phase of her journey.

The letter of announcement to the community is available below.

Information regarding the recruitment for the next Principal of St Mary’s will be published next week.

Evacuation Drill next week - Gillies St building

At some point next week an evacuation drill will be conducted at the Gillies St building.

All occupants in the building will be expected to participate and, if you have a guest on the day, please assist and direct them as required.

We encourage all staff to please familiarise yourself with the Evacuation Diagrams located in and around the building as well as knowing where your nearest exit is and the location of the two Assembly Areas as follows:

-    in the carpark (near the main entry)
-    on the corner of Gregory and Chevron Court (near the rear entry).

In the event of an emergency, we remind you of the following actions:

-    Evacuation does not mean panic – remain calm
-    Evacuate the Building when the Fire Alarm sounds
-    Walk calmly to your nearest exit and in an orderly fashion
-    Follow the direction of wardens 
-    Assist others who may need help
-    After exiting the building proceed to the nearest Emergency Assembly Area
-    Once a building is evacuated you should not re-enter the building until given all clear

Thanks in advance for your participation.

Similar Evacuation Drills will follow at our other offices during Term 3.

Staff news

Camelia Prenc, Policy & Governance Administrator, has tendered her resignation and will finish at DOBCEL on Friday 28 June.

Camelia commenced with CEB in March 2023 and we will miss her tremendous contribution to the Assurance & Risk Team, both personally and professionally.  

We wish Camelia all the best in her future endeavours and support her in exploring further opportunities. 

Expression of Interest to be a First Aid Officer

With some recent changes in staffing, we are currently seeking Expressions of Interest from staff to become a First Aid Officer.

Please note that some formal training will be required to fulfill this position.

Please express interest and/or any queries to Leah Crough, OH&S Coordinator on Ph 0419 687 893 or lcrough@dobcel.catholic.edu.au by Friday 28^th June.

Teaching The Australian Wars: A conversation with Rachel Perkins and Culture is Life - webinar

Reconciliation Australia is hosting a webinar on “Teaching The Australian Wars”, with Director Rachel Perkins and Culture is Life General Manager – Programs, Thara Brown, discussing the award-winning documentary series and the accompanying education resources.

In recognition of the documentary’s immense educational value, Blackfella Films and SBS Learn have collaborated with Culture is Life to publish curriculum-aligned education resources about the Frontier Wars. This webinar will make connections between First Nations oral histories as a fundamental part of Australia’s reconciliation journey, and reconciliation in education. During the webinar, you will learn about The Australian Wars education resources and how they are aligned to the Australian Curriculum, as well as explore the learning opportunities the resources provide for students in years 9 to 12.

When: Wednesday 26 June 4.00pm - 5.00pm (AEST)
Where: Online Register here to save your spot

Please note that spots are limited and that when registering, attendees can submit a question about the series. It is recommended that, if possible, participants watch The Australian Wars documentary series before attending.

People and Development Update

Federation University students need your feedback! 

The DOBCEL People and Development team is working with students at Federation University who are currently undertaking an industry-based project as part of the Work Integrated Learning Unit. 

The work-integrated learning unit, allows students to work with organisations on real-life work scenarios, where the students are required to research and deliver suggested outcomes. Fed Uni is working with DOBCEL to help us better understand why people choose to come and work in DOBCEL schools or the office and how we can best ‘attract and compete’ in a competitive job market. By better understanding the reasons people choose to work and stay with DOBCEL, we can focus our efforts on delivering more of the things that are important to our people. 

Together with the P&D team, Fed Uni students have devised a short survey to gather your feedback and we encourage as many people as possible to share their thoughts and experiences. Your feedback will help the students devise suggestions and present findings designed to enhance our unique offerings and create an employee experience tailored to what our people want.  

The survey has 14 questions and will take around 5 minutes to complete; and can be accessed here. Survey responses are anonymous. 

The survey is open now and will remain open until Friday 28 June 2024. 

If you have any questions regarding the project, please contact Sarah Hanley, Talent Acquisition Partner.

Crucial Conversations – Swan Hill 3 & 4 September 2024

• Time - 9:00-4:00 (both days) 
• Location – Swan Hill -   Murray Downs Resort, Swan Hill 
• Cost $500 (inclusive of learning materials (3 x books), morning tea and lunch)  
• Trybooking registration

Crucial Conversations teaches a model for effective communication, that can be applied to any situation, but particularly difficult or high-stakes situations. It focuses on fostering dialogue, managing emotions, and achieving mutual understanding. The model helps to navigate high-stakes discussions with openness, respect, and skill, enhancing relationships and driving positive outcomes. 

This program is designed for anyone who would like to develop skills in providing effective feedback and fostering open dialogue. The skills can be transferred across a range of situations including providing feedback and fostering open dialogue with colleagues, parents/carers and the community. It is relevant for people working in schools as well as the CEB office. 

Future workshop dates -

Crucial Conversations will also be run on the following dates -

• 12 & 13 Nov - Ballarat
• Trybooking links will be supplied for bookings soon.

If you have any queries about the program please contact Fiona Murphy.

6-Month Self-Reflection/Annual Review Process - Now Open

The 6-month self-reflection process for the CEB office is now open.

The self-reflection process aims to ensure an opportunity for conversation to affirm and reflect on your achievements to date in 2024 and provide space to discuss and capture any support or growth and development opportunities for delivering on the goals you set for 2024.

Each person has received an email from Culture Amp (notifications@cultureamp.com) containing a link to complete the self-reflection. You can access your self-reflection via the email or by logging into your Culture Amp account. The link to the self-reflection is located on the home page.

Before completing your self-reflection, you should update the status of your goals. Once you’ve completed the self-reflection, submit it to your team leader; and expect to have a meeting to discuss your reflections.

6-month self-reflections and meetings should be completed by Friday, 14 July 2024.

Instructions for updating the status of goals and completing the self-reflection can be found here.

If you have any questions about Culture Amp please speak with Fiona Murphy.

Testing and Tagging of electrical equipment at Gillies Street office

Please be advised that testing and tagging of electrical equipment will be undertaken on Thursday 4 July during the first week of the school holidays.

Should you have any work items that require testing and tagging such as phone chargers, laptop leads, etc. please leave them on your desk so that they can be tested on this day. 

These works may extend into Friday 5 July if required.

If you happen to be working from the office on these days, interruption whilst testing your personal equipment should only be minimal.

If you have any questions, please contact Penelope Irish on email pirish@dobcel.catholic.edu.au or on 0429 473 351. 

Pool vehicles - log destination in SIMON

From now on, logbooks will no longer be required when you have finished using a pool vehicle.

Please enter the location of the intended use of the pool vehicle in SIMON.

Career Opportunities in the Diocesan Education Community

Catholic Education Ballarat

• Manager: Employee Relations (closes 23 June)