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Executive Director’s Update to Principals #29 - 1 August 2024

Diocesan Leadership Gathering 7/8 August - Agenda

A reminder that the next Diocesan Leadership Gathering will take place in Horsham next Wednesday 7 August and Thursday 8 August.

Pasi Sahlberg and Dave Runge (Future Schools) will facilitate the next phase of our Strategic Planning co-design process, underpinning the day on Wednesday.

A further update will be provided with pre-reading material next Tuesday. Principals are encouraged to read this information prior to Wednesday's session.

The attached agenda details the two days.

If you have any concerns about your attendance, please communicate directly with Tom Sexton.

Acting Education Consultant -Secondary

Tim O’Farrell will be on leave from 5 August – 2 October. We wish him well for his travels, and also some rest during this well-earned break.

Stepping in to cover the Education Consultant: Secondary role during Tim’s absence will be Terry Blizzard.

Terry is known to some of you from his time at St Patrick’s College. He has also worked as a secondary principal in Tasmania and Melbourne.

Terry brings a wealth of professional experience to the role through his caring and people-centred leadership.

Terry commences on Tuesday 6 August and will work Tuesdays to Fridays until 20 September.

He can be contacted on: tblizzard@dobcel.catholic.edu.au

Please make Terry feel welcome.

Manager Employee Relations

It is with pleasure that we welcome Tina Phillips to the position of Manager: Employee Relations.

Tina has had extensive experience in Human Resources across a range of industries in WA including HR Manager at Presbyterian Ladies College, WA Divisional HR Manager at the Salvation Army and Manager People and Projects & Acting Manager Corporate Service at the Shire of Toodyay.

In 2022 Tina moved to Victoria where she worked at the Hepburn Shire Council as Acting Manager People & Culture.

Tina begins her role on Monday 5 August. There will be a four-week handover period with Maree Baker whose last day is on 30 August.

Website/newsletter uplift opportunity

DOBCEL has recently negotiated a new agreement with Schoolzine to deliver cost-effective website development support and/or digital newsletter solutions for our schools.

It is vital schools present a clear, contemporary and engaging 'shopfront' to families and communities and you are strongly encouraged to consider if your school might benefit from a refreshed or new web presence and/or the digital newsletter platform.

Schoolzine website solution

A new website, including migration of content from existing site, layout of text/images etc on pages = $2,500
Website hosting fee = $550 per annum
Ongoing maintenance/content upload support/advice = no charge.

Exemplar sites: Catholic Education, Diocese of Lismore has recently completed a website uplift project across all its schools, in partnership with Schoolzine. Check out the Lismore diocese school websites here.

If there is a site that you feel would have impact for your school community, it can easily be replicated by Schoolzine.

Here are 9 Template Options from Schoolzine.

Photography solution:

Kev Cummins (Modular Media) can deliver 100 professionally shot and fully edited photos to use for various purposes, including at least 10 Drone shots and a 2-minute video montage of drone video footage of the school = $650

Contact Kev to discuss your needs on kev@modularmedia.com.au or Ph 0400 885 534

Content development support:

DOBCEL can provide exemplar key messaging, text structure and editing support.

We are also investigating external copywriting services and AI to support content development.

Schoolzine digital newsletter

The Schoolzine digital newsletter platform is a professional looking and easy to use tool for your weekly school newsletter and/or special publications. This Update along with DOBCEL weekly newsletters are produced using the Schoolzine template. The cost = $1,390 per annum.

Small schools <30 students = no charge (part of Schoolzine’s commitment to equity)

[NB DOBCEL can support costs for web upgrades and newsletters being deferred until the 2025 School Budget].

To discuss your needs and/or to get projects underway ASAP, please contact Gerard Delaney, Manager Communications and Marketing gdelaney@dobcel.catholic.edu.au Ph 0413 274 176. Gerard will also be available in Horsham next week at DLG.

Additional child safe standard workshops - August 26 and 27

Following on from the Child Safe Standards Workshops delivered in Term 2, Sarah Morgante – Director of One Red Apple – will deliver 2 additional workshops in Term 3.

The focus of the workshops will again be the 11 Child Safe Standards, Mandatory Reporting requirements and the Reportable Conduct Scheme. Sarah will connect the Child Safe Standards and the legislation in place to support their ongoing development. Staff will have the opportunity to consider their schools policies and procedures in relation to Child Safety and areas that require continual review and strengthening.

The Agenda is available here.

58% of DOBCEL schools were represented at the previous workshops and feedback indicated Sarah’s intricate knowledge of the standards and practical application provided an opportunity for staff to think through areas for future focus.

Actions:

Consider registering yourselves or relevant staff members to attend. Schools who attended in Term 2 are encouraged to register other staff members if possible. Whilst the target audience is leadership staff, the content is relevant to all staff working in our schools.
There is no limit on numbers and the training is only offered face to face.
Registrations are open on Try booking for principals and your nominated staff.

Workshop One:

August 26^th, 2024.

8.45am to 3.30pm

St Brigid’s College, Horsham

EMBEDDING CHILD SAFE STANDARDS WORKSHOP: https://www.trybooking.com/CTWCW

Workshop two:

August 27^th, 2024.