Executive Director’s Update to Principals #1 - 25 January 2024
Welcome to the 2024 school year.
I trust you have had time for rest and rejuvenation over the holiday period and are re-energised for a successful year ahead.
I offer a special welcome and best wishes to our newly appointed principals - Clare Scanlon (St Mary's Primary School, Clarkes Hill), Tegan McDonald (St Patrick's Primary School, Koroit), Louise Chesterfield (Ss Michael & John's, Horsham) and Bettina Bird (St Patrick's Catholic Primary School, Stawell).
I am particularly pleased to now confirm some details (below) of our upcoming engagement with Professor Pasi Sahlberg with assistance from Dave Runge.
Some further highlights for the year ahead are outlined in my media release: Exciting year ahead as 18,000 students and 2,200 staff return to Ballarat Diocese Catholic schools. This week I have also spoken publicly about our approach to supporting families experiencing genuine financial hardship: Catholic School Fee Relief Available as Cost of Living Pressures Rise.
I look forward to visiting all our schools throughout the year and wish you every success, as together we work to ensure every student in our care can flourish fully in their learning in communities that are safe, caring, committed to excellence, and truly live out their Catholic faith.
Update on DOBCEL partnership with Professor Pasi Sahlberg and Dave Runge
I’m delighted to confirm arrangements for our DOBCEL partnership with Professor Pasi Sahlberg (University of Melbourne) and Dave Runge (Future Schools Australia) over the next 3 to 5 years.
This wonderful opportunity is bound to be inspiring and deeply engaging, as collectively we develop the next chapter for our system of schools. Pasi and Dave are looking forward to partnering with us on this journey and supporting us to enrich the lives of the young people and communities we serve.
Over the coming months we seek to shape the vision and plan that will guide our system into the future - an inspiring strategic plan that is enriching, enabling, and grounded in our rich traditions.
This is an exciting chapter in the history of our Diocese as collectively we look to further ensure all young people, families, and communities are well-educated, cared for, and given the greatest opportunities we can provide.
To shape and inform the plan, Pasi and Dave will conduct school visits, conversations with educators, students and their communities, and discovery workshops to better advise and support our journey. They will also attend our Diocesan Leadership Gatherings, along with regular meetings with the DOBCEL Board and CEB staff.
As we shape this new direction together with you, we are committed to principles of co-design, including genuine engagement and collaboration with Principals, educators, and other key stakeholders. Co-design encourages participation and relationship building so that great ideas and actions that already exist across the system are amplified, honouring the wonderful work already taking place in each school.
Furthermore, the approach encourages new ideas to emerge from those closest to the communities they serve, providing a space for us to learn together and further the impact of our collective focus, to provide every student with the opportunity to realise their gifts and potential.
For their part, Pasi and Dave are energised to be working with us. The opportunity to work with a regional system on school improvement and transforming student learning is relatively unique. While our focus is clearly on pursuing fullness of life for all in our care, Pasi and Dave believe our journey will be of interest to other education systems, nationally and internationally.
I am very excited about this opportunity with all of you! I hope you share my excitement at having the opportunity to work with educators and change leaders of the knowledge, experience, and calibre of Pasi and Dave. It is also fitting we embark on this significant chapter of our development in the year of the 150th anniversary of the formation of our diocese.
I look forward to deep engagement with these opportunities, and achieving practical, measurable outcomes - our students, staff, and communities deserve nothing less.
More details will follow during Term 1 about concrete steps to prepare for this journey.