Weekly Newsletter #31 - 13 Oct 2021
Reflection
At the Heart of Mission
On Monday 11 October, the Church celebrated The Feast of St John XXIII. On this day in 1962, Pope John XXIII, opened The Second Vatican Council. Interestingly, October is also Mission Month. What is the connection between Pope John XXIII, (Later St John XXIII, Vatican II and the Mission of Catholic Education?
Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (who became Pope John XXIII) was born into a family of poor farmers in Italy in 1881. He had 12 brothers and sisters. Angelo became a priest in 1904.
At the start of the First World War, he enlisted in the army, first as a field hospital assistant then a military chaplain. Fr Angelo’s time at war encouraged his pursuit of peace and unity for all, throughout his life.
During the Second World War he used his role to save many refugees, mostly Jewish people, from the Nazis across Europe.
He was made a Cardinal in 1952. Despite his successes, Cardinal Angelo continued to live a humble, simple life. He showed great love for all the people in his care, especially those living in poverty.
Just before his 78th birthday, to everyone’s surprise, Cardinal Angelo was elected Pope. He adopted the name John XXIII.
Far from being the ‘caretaker Pope’ many expected, Pope John XXIII will be remembered as the revolutionary Holy Father who called the Second Vatican Council. He was a passionate advocate for equality, stating:
‘We were all made in God’s image, and thus, we are all Godly alike’.
Pope John was instrumental in modernising the Church, and placing pastoral care at the heart of the Church’s mission. He welcomed dialogue and collaboration with leaders of other Christian churches and other Faiths, and was the first Pope to name cardinals from Africa, Japan and the Philippines.
Pope John XXIII died in 1963. He was made a saint by Pope Francis in 2014. His efforts to foster world peace and his love and respect for all people means that he was admired around the world. He painted a new picture of what mission might look like.
As World Mission Sunday approaches on 24 October, the work of Pope John XXIII invites reflection and contemplation that mission is not stagnate or something that happens ‘somewhere else’. It is a call for all, especially Catholic Education, to live this mission every day. (Adapted from Missio UK)
St Teresa of Avila expresses what the mission may look like for followers of Jesus in the following prayer:
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which He looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which He blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are His body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
- St. Teresa of Ávila (attributed)
From the Executive Director
This week is another challenging week in our COVID marathon, especially for schools in lockdown LGAs – Ballarat and Moorabool have experienced this recently and now Mildura. I am no longer surprised in any way of our school community’s ability to adapt and change, I do remain extremely grateful for this adaptability as does our DOBCEL Board. We discussed the particular challenges presenting this month with mandated vaccinations and the return to school schedule at yesterday’s DOBCEL Board meeting. CECV and CEB staff are very busy behind the scenes responding to COVID queries and providing accurate information to our schools, along with feedback to government about the implications of some of their directives. Thank you for all you are doing.
The Design Team, comprising principal representatives and members of the CEB directorate, has planned the agenda for the upcoming Leadership Gathering on Thursday 28 and Wednesday 29 October – once again this will be a virtual meeting. We will provide relevant briefing papers the week prior to our virtual meeting. The agenda can be found here.
As a result of this being a virtual meeting we will not be able to have the scheduled dinner that we would normally have at this time of year. We have made an alternative plan to have an end of year gathering in Horsham on Thursday 25 November – under our ever changing circumstances and the fact it is not in anyone’s calendar, this would not be a compulsory gathering. However, it would be great to gather and celebrate surviving another immensely challenging year, and to have the opportunity to welcome new principals and farewell retiring principals and senior CEB staff. To enable us to plan for this dinner could you please advise if you are able to attend via this google form.
We are advertising the principalships of St Mary’s Primary School, Warracknabeal and St Alipius Primary School, Ballarat East, and I call upon you to encourage suitable candidates to apply for these very important positions.
CEB Staffing Update
CEB Speech Pathologist Sarah Macdonald will conclude her current work with CEB on 25 October in readiness for a second period of Maternity Leave. Sarah’s caseload for the remainder of the year will be managed by an extension of work hours for fellow CEB staff member Ashleigh Freckleton. We offer Sarah our best wishes and prayers for good health as she moves towards this exciting time.
Tom Sexton
Executive Director, Catholic Education Ballarat
Reminder: Schoolzine Website and eNewsletter EOIs Invited
The opportunity to secure a new Schoolzine website and eNewsletter solution at a special Diocesan price of approximately 50% off is currently available. See our information page and FAQ document for more information on increasing your school’s digital engagement with existing and prospective families in 2022.
Expressions of interest for Phase 3 are now open until Friday 5 November. To request a quote and initiate the process for your school, please submit an EOI form or contact Emma Newman via email.
System Improvement Updates
Reminder: Study Sponsorship Applications Open
Applications are now open for the Diocesan Sponsorship for 2022 with applications closing on Monday 1 November. Sponsorship is on the basis of:
- 1/3 CEB contribution;
- 1/3 School contribution and
- 1/3 Participant contribution
except where Accreditation to teach Religious Education is the reason for the study. In these cases, CEB contributes 2/3 of cost and the school contributes 1/3. Sponsorship is for the cost of unit fees and does not include student amenities fees. See further details and the application form.
Learning and Teaching Updates
Co-designing Learner Agency Professional Learning
A webinar with Dr Jayne-Louise Collins will be held on Tuesday 19 October at 3.45pm for schools interested in co-designing professional learning, tailored for their own school and/or network or cluster context, in the area of Learner Agency.
Please join the webinar via this link. The webinar is open to both primary and secondary Principals, Leadership teams and any interested members of staff.
This link provides some information on what may be possible, but Jayne-Louise is very keen to co-design the learning with our schools to ensure it is tailored to meet schools’ individual and/or collective needs. As we will be designing a ‘bespoke’ course, it would be costed on what is actually designed, so the costs may be less than indicated on the link.
Leadership and Stewardship LIVE on The HIVE!
We are excited to launch the latest addition to The HIVE. Click here to access resources for:
- Shared Leadership
- Building Staff Capacity
- A Culture of Continuous Improvement
- Building Staff Capacity
As always, if there are any further resources you would like to see added to this section of the site, please send us an email at hive@ceob.edu.au
2021 Walter Silvester Memorial Lecture: Truth, Treaty and Transformation
This year’s Walter Silvester Memorial Lecture will be co-presented by Jason Kelly, North West Representative of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, and Professor Frank Brennan SJ AO. The online lecture will focus on Truth, Treaty and Transformation and will be held on Tuesday 26 October from 5.30-7pm. See further details here, including the Zoom link.
CEP: Country Education Partnerships
DOBCEL are members of the Country Education Partnerships offering opportunities developed with rural communities: Professional Learning, Advocacy, Learning Programs and more. Access the CEP Bulletin.
Wellbeing Updates
Expressions of Interest in ReLATE model
Currently 15 DOBCEL schools have commenced their engagement with MacKillop Family Services in the ReLATE (Reframing Learning and Teaching Environments) whole school culture change model. CEB Leadership is committed to the engagement of all DOBCEL schools in the ReLATE model (Foundational Concepts and 3-Yr plan linked here). A 4-year roll out of ReLATE has been budgeted for on the understanding that the program cost would be shared by CEB and participating schools with schools to fund $6,000 in each of the three years of their engagement with MacKillop Family Services and CEB to contribute the remaining $22,518 of the total program cost.
Feedback from schools who have commenced their engagement with MacKillop continues to be overwhelmingly positive with benefits to both staff and students being clearly articulated. Schools who initially expressed interest in commencing with ReLATE in 2022 are in the process of confirming their commitment. At this point in time we anticipate an additional 4 places may be available in 2022.
The commitment of 2 whole school closure days in the first year of engagement is a significant one. It has been agreed that the 2 ReLATE school closure days would be seen as viable additions to the prescribed 4 school closure days planned in 2022. We are conscious of the need that schools have to plan for 2022 with attention to budgeting, staffing and professional learning and understand that the current demands on schools have made forward planning difficult. This information is offered in the hope that it will provide some direction for you as you determine whether ReLATE remains a viable option for you in 2022.
Schools who would like to include ReLATE in their 2022 plans are invited to contact Tony Perkins or Liz McIntyre to clarify arrangements.
Speech Pathology update
An additional option for service delivery to schools has recently been adopted by the CEB Speech Pathology team. The team has organised access to the Pearsons Q Global platform, a web-based application for test administration, scoring and reporting.
This will enable our team to administer language assessments online via telepractice, in addition to other assessments that we deliver online currently. This form of service delivery has been endorsed by Speech Pathology Australia (Speech Pathology Australia, 2014) and by the CEB leadership team.
Parent forms for consent to telepractice will now include information re this option. See the following documents for further information:
- Consent form
- Explanation re access to the WebEx platform for parents/schools
- Frequently asked questions regarding Telepractice
Developmental Language Disorder – DLD Awareness Day
15 October 2021
Research shows that many children with trouble learning at school or communicating with others have an undiagnosed condition called Developmental Language Disorder – DLD.
As members of the Wellbeing Team, the Catholic Education Ballarat Speech Pathologists, have joined the campaign to raise awareness of DLD due to the ongoing need for collaboration between teachers, learning support officers, speech pathologists and families, to ensure students with DLD are appropriately supported to thrive in classrooms across our Diocese.
An Online Training (OLT) module to support identification and support to students with ‘Speech, Language and Communication Needs’ is available at no cost to CEB school staff, with tutoring throughout the course from CEB speech pathologists.
Further information about DLD can be found here:
- Through CEB’s DLD media release
- In the teacher kits from the RADLD website
- Through the upcoming CEB Learning Diversity Newsletter
- By speaking with your local CEB speech pathologist
Business Services Updates
School Shade Sails Fund – CCG (Vic) Ltd grant applications
Eligible schools can apply for a grant of up to $25,000 per school to provide new shade sails or shade structures to maximise the use of their outdoor learning areas and environments.
It is important that schools note the following:
- Grants are available to eligible Victorian Catholic schools. (this includes all Primary and Secondary schools in the Diocese of Ballarat)
- Applications are now being accepted via the SmartyGrants portal which is now live, and open until Friday 12 November.
- Grants are per school, not per campus.
Further information is included in the Schools Shade Sails Program – Guidelines and the Frequently Asked Questions.
In addition to the information provided above we encourage you to consider a variety of options when considering what shade structure will suit your school as a shade structure to facilitate outdoor learning does not have to be of the typical variety of shade sail that we tend to see predominantly over playgrounds or sports courts etc. In some situations and circumstances a type of park shelter may be considered appropriate and can also come with many advantages such as being low maintenance, have no requirement for future engineering inspections and are quick and easy to install.
To assist you with an understanding of what options are available please see attached list of some manufactures and providers of shade structures in regional Victoria for your further exploration.
Should you have any queries regarding this program, please feel free to contact either Ashley Wiseman or Penelope Irish.
Career Opportunities in the Diocesan Education Community
Principal Vacancies
- St Mary’s Primary School, Warracknabeal – to commence January 2022 (closes 25 October)
- St Alipius Parish School, Ballarat East – to commence January 2022 (closes 27 October)
Catholic Education Ballarat Vacancies
- Payroll Administration Officer – Ongoing position at 1.0 FTE in the Ballarat office (closes 18 October)
School Vacancies
- Classroom Teacher – St Michael & St John’s School, Horsham – fixed-term position at 1.0 FTE (closes 20 October)
- Senior English Teacher – Emmanuel College, Warrnambool – ongoing position at 1.0 FTE (closes 22 October)
- Science/PE Teacher (with Year 9 focus) – Emmanuel College, Warrnambool – fixed-term position at 1.0 FTE (closes 22 October)
- Classroom Teacher – Sacred Heart Primary School, Colac – fixed-term position at 1.0 FTE (closes 22 October)
- Learning Support Officer – Siena Catholic Primary School, Lucas – ongoing position at 0.86 FTE (closes 25 October)
- Casual Relief Teachers – St Francis Xavier Primary School, Ballarat East (closes 10 December)
From Other Dioceses and Beyond
PD Opportunity – NCEC Enrolment Workshops
NCEC are holding two workshops on different approaches to enrolments. These free workshops are for educators and leaders across Catholic schools and education offices. The workshops will be facilitated by Strategy Coordinator Uby Faddoul from Catholic Education South Australia and members of the National Catholic Education Commission Enrolment Working Group.
Workshop 1: A strategic approach to enrolment
18 October 2021
This workshop explores a strategic and sustainable approach to school enrolment including:
- what makes a Catholic school unique
- developing a successful enrolment strategy
- enrolment trends and forecasting
- identifying opportunities and barriers to enrolment
- developing policies, processes and activities to support an effective enrolment strategy
Workshop 2: An evidence-based approach to enrolment and retention
16 November 2021
This workshop explores using evidence and data to inform enrolment and retention strategies including:
- measuring performance and success criteria
- understanding community/parent perceptions
- understanding preventable and non-preventable attrition
- identifying effective feedback tools and mechanisms
- evaluating enrolment and retention strategies
Registrations
Register for the sessions and download the Enrolment Toolkit.
“The Power of Imperfect Leadership” Webinars
Webinars with Steve Munby and Marie Claire Bretherton
There is an exciting opportunity for people to be involved in a series of three professional development webinars with two internationally recognised education presenters – Steve Munby and Marie Claire Bretherton. You can choose to participate in one or all three webinars.
The Webinars begin next Monday 11 October at 4.30pm and provide a great opportunity for individual education leaders, leadership teams, aspiring leaders and interested people to hear from these outstanding education leaders. The sessions will begin at 4.30pm and last for around an hour each time.
Register here and see further information about the series here.
About the webinars and presenters
The webinars, titled “The Power of Imperfect Leadership” have been developed to provide support and information for education leaders, leadership teams and educators – especially as we continue to navigate our way through a range of challenges as a result of remote learning, health and well being and the like.
The webinars will provide a great opportunity for individuals or teams to engage within a number of discussions that will assist in developing a strong leadership approach into the future.
Steve Munby comes with a breadth of experience and knowledge having led the UK Education Leadership Institute, been involved in a range of global leadership initiatives and gained high recognition as an inspirational presenter on education leadership.
Marie Claire comes to the webinars with a high reputation as being one of UKs most outstanding school leaders – having led many education initiatives within Lincolnshire including the highly successful KYRA School Alliance.
Recruitment Opportunities in Other Dioceses
The following recruitment opportunities are currently available in other dioceses: