Executive Director’s Update to Principals #19 - 21 March 2022

Announcement of Education Consultant Appointments

Our recent recruitment campaign for the position of Education Consultant: Central Zone, and the new position of Education Consultant: Mid-North Zone, attracted strong interest from our own Diocese and beyond. We were blessed to receive an excellent field of applicants.

After much consideration and deliberation, we were pleased to offer these roles to our preferred applicants and receive their enthusiastic acceptance. As such, we are delighted to announce the appointment of Jo-Anne Bond to the position of Education Consultant: Central Zone and Janet Claassen to the position of Education Consultant: Mid-North Zone. Both Jo-Anne and Janet will commence their new roles at the beginning of Term 2.

Jo-Anne Bond will be known to many of us as she is currently Principal of Emmaus Catholic Primary School in Mt Clear, a position she has held since January 2019. Emmaus is a flourishing school community, and under Jo-Anne’s leadership has continued to develop a reputation for excellence and a place where young people can thrive. Prior to arriving at Emmaus, Jo-Anne held the position of Principal at both St Mary’s Primary School in Hamilton and St Malachy’s Primary School in Edenhope. Jo-Anne holds a Postgraduate Diploma of Educational Administration from the University of Melbourne. We are very fortunate to have someone of Jo-Anne’s calibre join our Ed Con team.

With Jo-Anne’s departure, Emmaus will commence the process of appointing a new Principal. We are very pleased to announce that Eileen Rice, recently retired Principal of St Alipius Primary School in Ballarat East, has willingly accepted the position as Interim Principal.

Janet Claassen will come to us from the Diocese of Sandhurst where she is currently Principal Consultant with Catholic Education Sandhurst. Janet has a highly regarded reputation for supporting Principals in schools and developing a culture of collaboration and professionalism at all times.  She has previously held the position of Assistant to the Deputy Head of School and Associate Director of Educational Programs at the Shanghai American School in Shanghai, China, where she mentored a team of 25 Principals, Deputy Principals and F-12 Curriculum Leaders. Janet holds a Master of Education from Plymouth State University in New Hampshire, USA, and may be known to some of you from her time as Literacy Advisor at CEB back in the late 1990s and early 2000s. We look forward to warmly welcoming Janet to the Diocese of Ballarat.