Executive Director’s Update to Principals #14 - 2 May 2024
Anniversary Formation
Annual Report to School Community 2023 Further Advice/Action
It has been identified that some principals have not been completing the “Attestation date” field and therefore the report remains as being “In progress with principal” and cannot therefore be verified by the Consultant/Diocesan personnel.
Once the "Principal Completed" flag has been checked for all sections (i.e. the "% Complete (Principal)" = 100), the blue notice will appear. Principals should follow the instruction and update the Status of the ARSC (on the 'Main' tab) to 'Submitted to Consultant' and save the record to continue. Once the Status is changed to 'Submitted to Consultant', the "Attestation date" becomes visible and mandatory and must be filled before saving again.
As many principals may not remember the actual date of attestation completion, it has been decided that for the ARSC 2023, the “Attestation date” can be the date the principal completes their ARSC in SmarterSoft.
You may notice that the principal name cannot be seen on the front page or attestation page again for the ARSC 2023, principal names will be bulk uploaded by SmarterSoft. SmarterSoft is waiting for all principal users to log in so that they can complete this action.
The ARSC 2023 must be completed and submitted by 10th May. To ensure that the software will not be overwhelmed by too many principals attempting to access in the last few days, please try to access and complete your report as soon as possible.
It is worth carefully reading the guidelines on the welcome page before trying to complete your report. Some Principals have kept the report open without saving and have then been timed out and lost sections of their report. As any concerns have been submitted, the guidelines have been updated to assist overcoming the different issues.
Please be aware that we have been advised by the Department (DET), that they are experiencing delays with the provision of post-school destination data as it requires testing and that we should have this data in the next couple of weeks. We will keep Secondary schools informed as to how we will solve this issue.
If you have further questions, please contact Susan Crowe (scrowe@ceoballarat.catholic.edu.au)
Diocesan Leadership Gathering – May 9
A reminder that the next Diocesan Leadership Gathering will take place on May 9th only, as many schools have Mother’s Day commitments on May 10th.
On this day, Dave Runge of Future Schools will facilitate this next phase of our Strategic Planning process. Pasi Sahlberg will join remotely throughout the day, and Dave will facilitate other input as the day progresses.
The principles of Co-Design will underpin the day, and this will be a day of principal input leading into the Board’s Strategic Planning workshop days scheduled for July.
This term, we will move from the why we need to aspire to become a high-performing Catholic system of schools to the what and the how we will become a high-performing Catholic system of schools.
GM Sponsors are scheduled to attend this meeting. GM sponsors provide valuable income to primary school principal networks, and they have generously amended their program to reflect the single-day program. They are keen to maximise exposure for sponsors, and we hope that Principals will get in and generously give of their time to sponsors at the gathering. This is reflected in the attached agenda.
The day will conclude at 4:15pm, allowing principals with Mother’s Day commitments on Friday, to return home by early evening.
Dinner will still proceed on Thursday evening, commencing at 6:30 p.m., but with reduced numbers given, many will travel home.
A reminder that the day starts slightly earlier (9:00am). If there are concerns about your attendance, please communicate directly with Tom Sexton.
High Performing System of Catholic Schools - Resources now available
As we work through the process of the next Strategic Plan with Pasi Sahlberg and Dave Runge, a number of resources have been shared through newsletters over the year.
These resources have now been collated and a document entitled ‘High Performing System of Catholic Schools Resources’ has been uploaded to the Diocesan Principals Google folder, with links to these resources for your engagement.
Urgent reminder re Graduate and Early Career Teacher Program
A reminder that the program days for the Early Career Teacher Program are approaching for Term 2, and we encourage all early career teachers to attend.
1st Year Graduate/Early Career Teacher:
(both venues cover the same content)
- Ballarat – Glowery Room, St Patrick’s Cathedral
Monday 20 May (9:00am to 3:00pm)
Click here to register.
2. Robinvale – St Mary’s School
Wednesday 22 May (9:00am to 3:00pm)
Click here to register.
2nd/3rd Year Early Career Teacher:
Via video conference
Thursday 13 June (3:30pm to 4:30pm)
Click here to register.
Term 3 dates for Years 1, 2 and 3:
Two-day retreat, Halls Gap
Wednesday and Thursday 14 and 15 August
Bookings opening soon
Reminder: Primary schools with Graduate and Early Career Teachers will receive $2000 funding per graduate, paid directly to your school from VCEA, towards the end of 2024.