Executive Director’s Update to Principals #12 - 27 March 2024
Principal Announcement
Mr Vince Muscatello has advised that he will not be seeking renewal of his contract as Principal at St Paul's Primary School, Mildura beyond the 2024 school year. Vince commenced as Principal at St Paul's in 2013, after eight years as Deputy Principal at Sacred Heart Primary School, Mildura.
Throughout his time at St Paul's, Vince has been involved in the implementation of Professional Learning Communities (PLC) in collaboration with School Wide Positive Behaviour Supports (SWPBS) and as a pilot school of the Structured Literacy Approach.
There have been major refurbishment projects during his time with a new staff car park, pickup/drive through area, reverse cycle air conditioning, new roof and ceiling refurbishment for the school, junior playground and numerous landscaping projects.
Vince has been a strong advocate for St Paul’s and the wider Sunraysia region throughout his principalship.
St Paul's Primary School has continued to thrive and evolve as a Catholic educational institution, during Vince’s tenure.
We thank Vince for his contribution to the St Paul's community and Catholic education in the Diocese of Ballarat. We wish him the very best in his future endeavours.
Catholic Education Ballarat will now commence the recruitment campaign for a new Principal with an anticipated commencement date of January 2025.
Announcement of Retirement - Murray Macdonald
For those not already aware, Murray Macdonald (Education Consultant – Northern Zone) has advised that he will retire at the end of Term 2.
Murray has had an outstanding career in Catholic education spanning 44 years as a teacher, principal, and Education Consultant, across three dioceses.
While much more will be said later, Murray has left every school community he has been involved with a better place for him being there.
His dedicated service, not to mention his razor-sharp wit, will be greatly missed.
We look forward to formally acknowledging Murray’s career later in the year.
The Education Consultant – Northern Zone position will be advertised on the DOBCEL website early next week.
Term 2 DLG Arrangements
The Term 2 DLG meeting in Horsham will be held on Thursday 9 May only, followed by dinner.
Due to the early Easter this year, Friday 10 May is the opportunity for school communities to celebrate Mothers’ Day, and we recognise this priority for Principals to be present in school communities.
The DLG will be primarily dedicated to strategic planning (led by Pasi and Dave), and as such, is a high impact opportunity for us all.
Dinner will be held as usual on Thursday evening. Please email execdirector@dobcel.catholic.edu.au if you will not be attending.
We note that some Zone meetings will still occur in Horsham via your local arrangements.
Insurance Update
We are please to advise that DOBCEL has successfully secured insurance cover for all DOBCEL schools with a range of providers from 1 April 2024 to replace the previous CCI policies.
While as expected there are premium increases following the departure of CCI from the market, an extensive process was undertaken to ensure we have achieved the best available price and terms.
Further details will be forthcoming early next term, including claims management arrangements for the various policies.
A copy of the Public Liability Certificate of Currency will be loaded into the primary schools “School Finance & Administration Knowledge Bank” tomorrow and a copy will be forwarded to the secondary schools Principal and Business Manager.
Should there be any claims requiring attention over the term break, please refer to Paul Jans, Dean Pidgeon or Matthew Macdonald in the first instance.
School Advisory Council Chair Details
With the commencement of the 2024 school year, some schools may have had a turnover of their SAC Chair. To ensure that DOBCEL has the current details of all SAC Chairs, schools are asked to please advise Kerrie Zammit of the name, phone number and email address of their current SAC Chair.
It would be appreciated if emails can be submitted prior to the end of Term 1.
Government Action on Vaping
The Australian Government has written to all Australian principals about recent action taken to respond to vaping among young people, including resources available for schools.
Strategic Planning: Co-design workshop slides
The presentation by Pasi Sahlberg and Dave Runge at the February DLG have now been uploaded to the Diocesan Principal folder on Google drive. Principals are encouraged to share relevant slides from the presentation with your staff and SACs when discussing the work that DOBCEL and key stakeholders are working towards, in moving our schools to a higher performing system of Catholic schools.
Child Link
Further to information contained in the Executive Directors Update #8 (29 February 2024) please ensure the following:
Action:
- If done not already, the principal can nominate up to 7 school staff as Child Link Users. We recommend nominating individuals in your school who have responsibility for child wellbeing and safety, such as Deputy Principal, Pastoral Wellbeing Leader, Learning Diversity Leader, or Wellbeing Worker.Email your nominations to Jacinta Cook Jcook@dobcel.catholic.edu.au (Child Safe Manager) before the end of Term 1.
- The principal should log onto the Victorian Governments Information Sharing and MARAM online learning system using the same link used to complete your Mandatory Reporting Module.
The link is here.
Select the combined “Information sharing and Child Link training module”. Once the principal has completed training, please send an email Jacinta Cook (Child Safe Manager) at Jcook@dobcel.catholic.edu.au who will authorise you/the principal as a Child Link user. - Once your nominated staff have completed the combined training, you/the principal will be able to authorise them for Child Link in connection to your school.
- Child Link training has been allocated specifically for DOBCEL staff, the session dates are either 19 April or 21 April2024. If you are unable to attend either of these dates, please ensure you register for a session prior to 17 May 2024.
Please Note: It is a requirement of the Victorian State Government that all DOBCEL schools are onboarded to Child Link by the end of Term 2. This will ensure we have access to the resources allocate to training and support.