Executive Director’s Update to Principals #18 - 16 May 2024
Advocacy re $400 School Saving Bonus policy
Thank you for your work to date in bringing our serious concerns around the inequity of this policy to the attention of local MPs.
Led by VCEA, advocacy work is continuing at both state and local levels across all dioceses.
If you haven’t engaged your local politician already, we encourage you to take action as soon as possible, utilising the suite of materials/advice provided by the VCEA (included below).
We particularly encourage you to engage parent leaders in this campaign. Parental testimony is powerful and examples of how a $400 bonus per child for uniforms, stationery, learning resources, camps, excursions, and the like would assist families included in correspondence and/or meetings would be great.
The VCEA will contact you to request feedback on your advocacy activities, including any responses received from politicians. This helps inform strategy moving forward and we ask you to support any VCEA requests. Please carbon copy DOBCEL via executivedirector@dobcel.catholic.edu.au
Please also feel free to share the campaign resources with colleagues in low-fee independent schools in your area. It is just and equitable cost-of-living relief for families in need that Catholic education in Victoria is seeking. If you have a neighbouring Christian or Lutheran school, please share resources with them and encourage them to re-badge and use the resources as they see fit. They may not have system support to the extent we do.
The VCEA is meeting with Education Minister Ben Carroll around this issue tomorrow, Friday 17 May.
We will continue to support the work of VCEA and keep you informed.
With thanks again for efforts to date.
Any questions or support, please contact Gerard Delaney on 0413 274 176 or gdelaney@dobcel.catholic.edu.au
Thursday 9 May 2024 Dear principal, Further to our message of 8 May, we are seeking your support to advocate against the unfair $400 School Saving Bonus that is available to all government school students, regardless of income, but only to Health Care Card holders in Catholic schools. This is a departure from the previous position with programs such as the Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund which were means-tested for all students. We believe the payment should be means tested for all students or apply to all students. It should not be based on which school you attend. We have developed materials to assist you in communicating to your school communities and local MPs. We request you consider the following: 1. Identify the local MP for your school A list of all Victorian Catholic schools by electorate with the relevant Legislative Assembly MP details is available for your reference List of Victorian Catholic Schools by electorate with MP details 2. Write to your local MP If your local MP is an ALP member, please use the relevant template to express your concern and ask for the opportunity to meet. Template email from principal to Legislative Assembly MP (ALP MP) If your local MP is not an ALP member, please use the relevant template to express your concern. Template email from principal to Legislative Assembly MP (all other parties) 3. Write to your school community Please consider writing to your school community asking them to express their concern to their local MP. Template email from principal to school community In your message please attach or link to templates to assist your school community to contact their local MP. Two templates (one for parents, one for the broader school community) are available for use. Template email for parents to send to MPs Template email for broader school community to send to MPs Thank you for ensuring we respond strongly. It is important for students, families and Catholic schools that we make our voices heard. |
Small Schools Forum
(Thursday 20th June)
DOBCEL is a financial contributor to the Country Education Project (CEP). The CEP is facilitating the Small Schools Forum, and it is being supported by the Regional Centres for the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership.
The forum is an opportunity to hear from practicing small school principals about the great things happening in their schools and the opportunities available by being ‘small’. The latest research on teacher retention in rural areas will be presented, as well as opportunities for networking with other small schools.
DOBCEL principals are encouraged to consider this opportunity given the size and location of many of our schools and may consider attending with peer principals of small schools.
Attendees can choose from several Academy locations (Ballarat, Geelong, Mildura, or Bendigo) to attend the event.
More information can be found in the attached flyer.
Message Sticks Journey – Schedule and Resources
A schedule for the reception of the Message Sticks into each school community in honour of the 150 years of the Ballarat Diocese has been sketched out for each of the regions/zones. It includes all our school communities within the diocese.
I would appreciate you viewing the timing of the Message Stick arriving at your school and acknowledging that it is workable for you to both receive it and send it forth on its journey onto the next location. If there are problems with the schedule, please notify Kate Lawry (klawry@dobcel.catholic.edu.au) and she will adjust. Please note that except for the Central Zone, each region has a little bit of flexibility with the timetable, but the tyranny of distance means it will be a stretch to manoeuvre too much.
Please see links below to your region’s schedule and a Rite of Reception power point applicable to either primary or secondary settings. The liturgy is also set out in notes. Please adapt to your context.
Susan Crowe and Kate Lawry have not ‘customised’ a script for handing the Message Stick onto the next co-custodian, other than what is expressed in the liturgy. Given the themes of community, remember, revitalise and hope are vital to the narrative of the 150 years of the Diocese, it might be appropriate to offer words that express your community’s connection with and hope for that of the next community.
Given the circumstances of each region, it might be necessary for a member of CEB to be the carriers of the Message Stick in proxy. Please reach out to our staff at CEB to see if they can assist.
We would all appreciate you sending in stories and photos related to the reception of the Message Stick to share.