CEB Staff Newsletter #44 - 14 February 2025
- 2025 Meetings and Events Calendar live link
- Staff News
- Roll-out of new Finance, Payroll and HR Systems continues apace!
- FLARE Literacy Improvement Strategy
- Best Wishes for the David Hopkins Session on Monday!
- Executive Director Delivers Workshop at International Congress
- Universal Speech Screening for DOBCEL Foundation Students
- Host Families Needed for Japanese Exchange Students at St Patrick's College
- People & Development Updates
- Social Justice Update
- Catholic Identity and Mission Updates
- Career Opportunities in the Diocesan Education Community
2025 Meetings and Events Calendar live link
For planning purposes, a live link to the 2025 Meetings and Events Calendar has been added to Knowledge Banks under School Links. This link will have the most current version of the Calendar and will be updated as activities are scheduled/amended.
If you have any additions/amendments to be made please email: execassistant@dobcel.catholic.edu.au.
Staff News
Gerard Delaney (Manager - Marketing & Communications) will conclude his time at DOBCEL on Friday 28 February and retire to Brisbane.
More will be said later, but we thank Gerard for his contribution over the past 14 months, and his work in supporting Ruth Appleyard as she settles into the role.
Roll-out of new Finance, Payroll and HR Systems continues apace!
A big shout out to our Accounts team who have spent the last 10 days at Goldfields Resort, Creswick for user acceptance testing of the new DOBCEL Finance System, as part of the roll out of the NEXUS Project!
The finance component of the new package has been launched this week with Business managers and key finance personnel from DOBCEL schools also gathering.
With useability for schools at the forefront of thinking, the new platforms represent the best technology, people, and ethical standards that align with DOBCEL’s current and future needs and vision.
Project Microsoft Partner ‘Professional Advantage’ is leading the testing.
FLARE Literacy Improvement Strategy
Congrats to the CEB FLARE Executive Team of Holly Southwell, Breeana Wade and Emma Rutherford on their huge week delivering Professional Learning to over 400 teachers (impacting 8,000 students) in Ballarat, Camperdown and Horsham, as part of the FLARE Literacy Improvement Strategy.
Some of the amazing responses from participants included:
"The best PD I’ve been to in years. So informative and so relevant! Gives me great hope for the future of literacy in our schools."
"World class presentation. I am not sure if you three understand the incredible impact you will ultimately have on countless learners (adults and children). So grateful to be in our system and able to access this professional development."
Best Wishes for the David Hopkins Session on Monday!
We have received around 90 registrations for Keynote Presentation - Unleashing Greatness - a strategy for school improvement - by Professor David Hopkins this Monday.
The 90-minute keynote will focus on international best practice in School Improvement. David Hopkins has been Chief Adviser to three Secretaries of State on School Standards in the UK, Dean of Education at the University of Nottingham and consultant to the OECD and WHO, as well as advisor to some 20 Ministries globally and a secondary school teacher.
Executive Director Delivers Workshop at International Congress
On Tuesday 11 February, our DOBCEL Executive Director Tom Sexton joined Dave Runge (Future Schools) and Canadian colleague Jean Claude Couture, to present a workshop at the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement (ICSEI) in Melbourne.
The workshop attracted interest and affirmation from some high profile conference participants.
Universal Speech Screening for DOBCEL Foundation Students
Across term 1, 2025, Foundation students in 47 diocesan primary schools will undergo speech screening as part of an initiative by the Catholic Education Ballarat (CEB) Speech Pathology Team.
This initiative, based on research showing the importance of early speech screening for students, aims to address speech issues identified early in a student's education, as untreated speech problems can lead to long-term difficulties in reading, writing, mental health and employability.
Pictured here: CEB North region Speech Pathologist, Chelsea Harris working with a student at St Mary’s, Swan Hill this week.
Click here to read the full story.
Host Families Needed for Japanese Exchange Students at St Patrick's College
St Patrick’s College is urgently seeking host families in the Ballarat area for Year 10 students from Shibuya High School from March 11 to 23, 2025. There is a $600 payment.
Please contact: Rachael Leighton at rleighton@stpats.vic.edu.au for further information.
People & Development Updates
Leadership Development - Program Offerings for Term 1
Throughout 2025 a number of leadership development opportunities will run to support the implementation of the DOBCEL strategy 2035 and the development of our leaders.
During term one, the following opportunities are offered.
Crucial Conversations - DOBCEL facilitated
| Date, time & location | February 27 & 28 in St Brigid’s College, Horsham (9am – 4pm) |
| Program overview | 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. |
| Target Audience | This program is designed for anyone who would like to develop skills in providing effective feedback and fostering open dialogue. |
| Booking Link | |
| Cost | $500 |
For further information (including additional program dates for 2025) on Crucial Conversations please click here.
Personal Leadership - Facilitated by BTS Sparks
| Date, time & location | March 5, Sovereign Park Motor Inn, Ballarat 9am- 4pm |
| Program overview | Understanding your leadership style is essential for any leader. Regardless of how long you may have been in a leadership role this program enables the leader to -
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| Target Audience | This program is designed for current people leaders – eg: Early Career Principals, Deputy or Assistant Principals, members of school leadership teams and is also suitable for aspiring people leaders and CEB staff. |
| Booking Link | https://www.trybooking.com/CYJLQ |
| Cost | $450 |
For further information please click here.
(Minimum participant numbers apply for the program to run)
Feedback - Facilitated by BTS Sparks
| Date, time & location | March 6, Sovereign Park Motor Inn, Ballarat 9am – 12:30pm |
| Program overview | Feedback plays a crucial role in the development of collaboration skills. The focus of this program is shifting mindsets from –
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| Target Audience | This program is designed for current people leaders – eg: Early Career Principals, Deputy or Assistant Principals, members of school leadership teams and is also suitable for aspiring people leaders and CEB staff. |
| Booking Link | https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1342196 |
| Cost | $275 |
For further information please click here.
(Minimum participant numbers apply for the program to run)
Collaboration - Facilitated by BTS Sparks
| Date, time & location | March 6, Sovereign Park Motor Inn, Ballarat 1:00pm – 4:30pm |
| Program overview | The focus of this program is to deeply understand what collaboration means and how to bring the best version of yourself to collaborate. It focuses on shifting mindsets from –
|
| Target Audience | This program is designed for current people leaders – eg: Early Career Principals, Deputy or Assistant Principals, members of school leadership teams and is also suitable for aspiring people leaders and CEB staff. |
| Booking Link | https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1342190 |
| Cost | $275 |
(Minimum participant numbers apply for the program to run)
For further information please click here.
Click here to view the full list of leadership development opportunities for 2025.
If you have any questions related to Leadership Development opportunities please contact Fiona Murphy.
Culture Amp 2025 Goals
As the year quickly progresses, it is time to ensure individual 2025 goals are captured in Culture Amp by the end of February 2025.
Instructions on how to add goals in Culture Amp can be found here.
Please note that Culture Amp has recently updated the goal-setting section of the platform, providing higher visibility of goals that were submitted as being visible to everyone. Goals that have the visibility setting as private, are still only viewable as private. No settings on existing goals were changed through this update.
If you no longer wish your previous goals to be visible to others, please ensure you change the privacy setting of your goal. Setting your goal to private means that only you and your manager can view it. The default setting for any new goal is private.
Instructions on changing the privacy setting of your goal can be found here.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Fiona Murphy or Emma Baldwin for assistance.
Social Justice Update
In a letter dated 10 February 2025, addressed to his fellow bishops, Pope Francis commends the efforts of American bishops in supporting migrants and refugees. He expresses support for efforts to uphold the fundamental dignity of every human person and emphasises the significance of providing pastoral support to those undergoing displacement.
To read the letter and the full article from Vatican News, please click here.
Catholic Identity and Mission Updates
Aggiornamento [ECSI 101] Registration and Enrolment closes 19 February!
Small bites of theological conversation for people with questions
| Aggiornamento [ECSI 101] Registration and Enrolment | Closes 19 February 2025 |
| Registration steps | Follow the steps to register here |
| Enrolment (via a google form) | Click here to ENROL |
Please make sure both your principal and REL/Team Leader are informed and authorise your participation in Aggiornamento; contact me should you have any questions: gbernasconi@ceoballarat.catholic.edu.au
Career Opportunities in the Diocesan Education Community
CEB Positions
- Education Officer: Student Wellbeing - Mildura, Swan Hill or Horsham Office, ongoing position at 1.0 FTE (closes 16 February)
- Education Officer: Positive Behaviour Specialist – Ballarat or Horsham office – fixed term position at 1.0 FTE (closes 16 February)
- Manager: Risk and Assurance – Ballarat Office, ongoing position at 1.0 FTE (closes 16 February)
Principal Vacancies
No Principal Vacancies.