Executive Director’s Update to Principals #25 - 27 June 2024

People and Development Update

The following circulars have been distributed by VCEA:

Annual Wage Review

The Fair Work Commission issued the Annual Wage Review 2023-24 on 3 June 2024.  Although this increase will not impact the majority of employees covered by the CEMEA 2022, it will see an increase in the casual relief teacher rate (CRT) from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2024 (based on the changes in rates on the Educational Services (Teachers) Award 2020.  In addition, the minimum wage increase may affect a small number of school-based employees whose terms and conditions of employment are governed by a modern award, such as the Educational Services (Schools) General Staff Award 2020.

Please note the centralised payroll service (CPS) team will action any changes for CPS schools.

For further information and actions required for non-CPS schools, please see the Annual Wage Review Circular.

Wage and Allowance Increases July 2024

A 1% wage increase will apply to employees covered by the Catholic Education Multi-Enterprise Agreement 2022 (CEMEA 2022) from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2024.  The applicable salaries effective from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2024 are contained in the Schedule of Salaries in the CEMEA 2022.

Please note the centralised payroll service (CPS) team will action any changes for CPS schools.  For further information and actions required for non-CPS schools, please see the Wage and Allowance Increases July 2024 Circular.

Changes to Superannuation Guarantee (SG) Contributions

From 1 July 2024, the minimum amount employers must contribute to employees’ superannuation will rise from 11% to 11.5%. Superannuation is required to be paid on Ordinary Time Earnings (OTE) which is the amount an employee earns for their ordinary hours of work.  SG has to be paid at least every 3 months into an employee’s nominated account, although employers may elect to pay SG more frequently than once every 3 months.

Please note the centralised payroll service (CPS) team will action any changes for CPS schools.  For further information and actions required for non-CPS schools, please see the Changes to Superannuation Guarantee (SG) Contributions Circular.

For any further information, please contact:

Maree Baker on 0436 460 275 or Jo Huntley on 0429 598 163

Child Safe Standards during the recruitment process

As we continually work toward strengthening our recruitment process in line with the Child Safe Standards, we review available resources to support us in this area. As highlighted in the VCEA Compliance Matters Newsletter, school reviews undertaken across the state in 2023 highlighted that Standard 6 had the third highest incidence of non-compliance.

Standard 6 requires us to ensure people working with our students are suitable and supported to reflect child safety and wellbeing values in practice.

To comply with standard 6, schools should ensure they have:

1) Robust recruitment processes

• Obtain a reference from the candidate’s most recent manager or supervisor.
• Ask specific questions about the candidate’s history of working with children and their ongoing suitability to work with children.

2) Induction to staff and volunteers

Induction should include:

• The Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy.
• The Child Safety Code of Conduct.
• Record management, information sharing, and reporting obligations.
• Policy and procedures for managing complaints and concerns related to child safety (where relevant to the role).

3) Ongoing training

• Provide regular training sessions to keep staff and volunteers informed about child safety practices and updates.

4) Supervising and monitoring

• Establish procedures for the ongoing supervision and monitoring of staff and volunteers to ensure compliance with child safety standards.

For a detailed step-by-step process for recruitment, please refer to the Guidelines on the Employment of Staff in Catholic Schools resource.

For further information on recruitment, please contact:

• Sarah Hanley, Talent Acquisition Partner: 0488 148 612
• Jacinta Cook, Manager: Child Safety: 0409 114 268

Federation University students need your feedback!

Survey closes tomorrow – 28 June

The DOBCEL People and Development team is working with students at Federation University who are currently undertaking an industry-based project as part of the Work Integrated Learning Unit.

The work-integrated learning unit allows students to work with organisations on real-life work scenarios, where the students are required to research and deliver suggested outcomes. Fed Uni is working with DOBCEL to help us better understand why people choose to come and work in DOBCEL schools or the office and how we can best ‘attract and compete’ in a competitive job market. By better understanding the reasons people choose to work and stay with DOBCEL, we can focus our efforts on delivering more of the things that are important to our people.

Together with the P&D team, Fed Uni students have devised a short survey to gather your feedback and we encourage as many people as possible to share their thoughts and experiences. Your feedback will help the students devise suggestions and present findings designed to enhance our unique offerings and create an employee experience tailored to what our people want.

The survey has 14 questions and will take around 5 minutes to complete; and can be accessed here. Survey responses are anonymous.

The survey is open now and will remain open until Friday 28 June 2024.

If you have any questions regarding the project please contact Sarah Hanley, Talent Acquisition Partner.

Enrolment Policy and Procedure

Thank you to those principals who have engaged with the 2025 Enrolment Agreement and Code of Conduct (COC) shared in last Thursday's ED update.

It is intended that Principals and Leadership teams would communicate across your school community that there is an updated/new Code of Conduct coming into effect from the commencement of 2025.  This Code of Conduct will apply to existing and future families.

The enrolment agreement as shared is not intended to be applied to those already enrolled, only to new enrolments. One of the features of this agreement is that the contract replaces preceding contracts the family may have with the school. Any family with new enrolments will be contractually bound under the terms of this new agreement.

It has been raised that the documents are only generated in English. We remain open to working with schools to find culturally and linguistically sensitive solutions for your communities where this may present as an issue.

If you have any questions or concerns, please speak with your Ed Con, Matt or Megan.

Structured Literacy 2025 – Expanded Project

In working with the Structured Literacy team and in line with the recent Grattan Report 'The Reading Guarantee', the DOBCEL Structured Literacy Project will be expanded in 2025, into a Diocesan Primary Literacy Strategy. To mark this change, the expanded project will be known as FLARE.  The name honours the fundamental work of the SunLit Project (St Paul's, Mildura and St Joseph's, Red Cliffs) and La Trobe's SOLAR Lab. It builds upon the 'sunlight' theme and connotes a bright future for the students of the Ballarat diocese.

In line with the Grattan Report, the strategy aspires, as a minimum, to achieve 90% of primary school graduates confidently literate by 2035.  

It is intended to span 10 years and will contain the following elements

• Provides all DOBCEL primary educators with ongoing professional development opportunities that can be tailored for each school's particular context.
• Develops a knowledge-rich literacy curriculum with associated resources and assessment tools.
• Supports schools to track student progress and provide effective interventions for students who require support beyond core instruction.
• Fosters high-quality literacy leadership in all schools.
• Monitors and reports systemic improvement in Literacy outcomes

A proposed implementation timeline for the extended strategy is

Implementation Timeline:

In refining the work, there will be a move away from the level structure that has supported the implementation of the project. 

Replacing the level system, there will be two pathways available to support DOBCEL Primary Schools:

• Facilitated Literacy Improvement 
• Self-Guided Literacy Improvement

Existing Level One schools will simply continue through their implementation as planned, as 'Facilitated Literacy Improvement' schools. 

Primary schools that currently participate at Level 2 or Level 3, or who have not engaged with the Structured Literacy Project will have the option to become 'Facilitated Literacy Improvement' schools in 2025, or to be 'Self-Guided Literacy Improvement' schools within the overarching Flare strategy.

Thanks to substantial philanthropic funding and the support of La Trobe University, schools who select the 'Facilitated Literacy Improvement' pathway may be eligible for increased leadership support (additional to that already provided to all L1 schools) and subsidised LaTrobe SOLAR Lab training.  

Early in Term Three, an expression of interest form will be shared with all DOBCEL Primary Schools, which principals are asked to respond to by Wednesday 28th August. Schools can find out more about the two options by:

• Attending the Structured Literacy Level 3 Network Day on 15th July at Halls Gap (register here) – As previously advertised all are welcome but places are limited and registrations must close on Friday 28th June given this occurs at the start of term.
  
  
• Attending a 'Flare Introduction' online information session.
  The session can be accessed via this zoom link. It will be recorded and the recording will be made available. 
  • Tuesday 23rd July 4.30 - 5.00

• Current Level 1A or 1B schools will be updated as part of their upcoming PL Days, and an update will also be provided at the Level 1&2 Literacy Leaders' Network on Wednesday 24th July (L1&2 schools only).

Questions about the Flare Strategy can be addressed to 
Emma Rutherford: erutherford@dobcel.catholic.edu.au, or to Leader of Learning & Teaching, Joe Ewing: jewing@dobcel.catholic.edu.au.

Tom Sexton
Executive Director, Catholic Education Ballarat