Weekly Newsletter #19 - 21 June 2023
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Reflection
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From the Executive Director
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Victorian Payroll Tax Ignores the Reality of School Funding
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CEB Wellbeing Newsletter Term 2, 2023
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Andrew Chinn - Workshop with Students
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DOBCEL Structured Literacy Project 2024
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People and Development Update
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Career Opportunities in the Diocesan Education Community
Reflection
Refugee Week
From the 18th-24th June Australia is celebrating Refugee Week. This week is an opportunity for all Australaians to reflect deeply upon human values such as solidarity, welcome and justice. What does Refugee Week mean from a Catholic Christian perspective? The following reflection by Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv, The Bishop of Parramatta, offers an exploration of Refugee Week from The Catholic Tradition.
It’s in our DNA as Christians to reach out to fellow human beings in need. It’s in our DNA to treat the stranger with dignity and hospitality. The Bible and particularly the example of Jesus is neither silent nor unclear on how we are to welcome the marginalised and the stranger. It’s part of who we are. It’s the texture of Christianity.
Pope Francis in his message marking Migrants and Refugees Sunday makes a passionate appeal for solidarity with those who are forced to flee like Jesus. Against the tide of anti-refugee sentiments across the world, particularly during the pandemic, the Holy Father says that it is not a time of forgetfulness. Rather, he continues, “it is a time to recognise Jesus in those faces, we will be the ones to thank him for having been able to meet, love and serve him in them.”
We are challenged to be an alternative community of mercy, inclusion and human solidarity. Instead of the label of “queue jumpers”, we can help the world see people seeking asylum as our fellow travellers who like us are in search of justice, freedom, dignity and opportunity.
From https://catholicoutlook.org/dear-friends-bishop-vincents-reflection-on-2022-refugee-week/
Let us pray….
Reconciling God, we pray for the day when all Australians stand together
Recognising that we are called as one people to compassion and justice.
Heal the blindness that looks but does not see, the deafness which refuses to listen and so does not hear, the dullness which hears but does not comprehend, and the lack of integrity that knows but does not act.
God, in your love and solidarity you call us to stand with those who are most vulnerable, especially asylum seekers and refugees who risk all to find protection and a secure future for their families.
Hear our prayer and the unuttered cries of our hearts offered in the name of your son, Jesus, who was himself a refugee. Amen.
From Josephite Prayer Vigil in Solidarity With Asylum Seekers
Shine Your Light (Song by Refugees) - Ricky Kej - United National Refugee Agency
From the Executive Director
End of Term Thanks
As the end of the term approaches, I want to express my gratitude for your unwavering dedication and tireless efforts in guiding and shaping the students in our schools as we bring fullness of life to all in our communities. Thank you for your invaluable contributions this term, and may God bless you abundantly during this well-deserved break.
St Brendan’s Primary School, Dunnstown
It is with a deep sense of sadness that Diocese of Ballarat Catholic Education Ltd (DOBCEL) has made the difficult decision to close St Brendan’s Primary School, Dunnstown at the end of the 2023 school year.
Last week I met with staff and parents of St Brendan’s school to discuss the best way to ensure the students of St Brendan’s continue to receive the holistic and high-quality Catholic education they so richly deserve. This was in the context of a forecast 2024 enrolment of 8 students across Years 3 to 5, no new foundation enrolments for three consecutive years and a regulatory requirement for a minimum of 11 students.
Inez French, Principal, her staff and the families of St Brendan’s have been tireless in their efforts to improve enrolments over the past few years.
Families will be supported in their preferred school choice for 2024 with a number of alternative Catholic schools within close proximity, ready to welcome and embrace the St Brendan’s families.
Similarly, the staff of St Brendan’s will be fully supported to understand their options and career opportunities, including redeployment within other Ballarat Catholic schools, if desired.
Catholic education has played a prominent role in the Bungaree Parish and the district of Dunnstown for over one hundred and sixty years.
St Brendan’s had its origins in 1858 in a wooden building known as the Catholic School Shed, situated not far from its present site. Throughout its rich history, the school has been served by a combination of religious orders and lay teachers. A great deal is owed to the Josephite Sisters, who taught there for ten years, the Presentation Sisters for forty four years and the Sisters of Mercy for thirteen years, as well as the many dedicated lay teachers and Principals who have taught in the school under the leadership of successive parish priests.
Above all we must acknowledge the support from local families and the community that have enabled the school to endure and prosper for so many years.
Celebrations to recognise the rich contribution of the school and all who have played a part in its history will be planned during the remainder of the year.
DOBCEL continues to advocate for the important role that small Catholic schools play in rural and remote areas as they provide parental choice in education and make a valuable contribution to supporting vibrant local communities.
I take some comfort in the fact that Catholic education throughout the Diocese of Ballarat continues to grow, now educating more than 18,500 students across 64 schools.
I ask for your prayerful support and understanding as together we navigate this challenging time.
Tom Sexton
Executive Director, Catholic Education Ballarat
Victorian Payroll Tax Ignores the Reality of School Funding
An Important Message from Jacinta Collins, National Catholic Education Commission Executive Director
The school funding model, introduced in 2017 and based on the recommendations of the Gonski review, was meant to put an end to the divisive public versus ‘private’ funding debate and provide certainty for non-government schools.
As I wrote in The Age last week, the school funding debate is too often railroaded by ‘experts’ highlighting a few ‘elite’ school stereotypes when the reality is most non-government schools serve a broad and diverse cross-section of the community.
Recently, we saw this debate being reignited over the Victorian Government's removal of payroll tax exemptions for some non-government schools to help repay the state’s COVID-19 debt. These exemptions are rightly in place to ensure non-government schools aren’t bearing costs their state counterparts do not carry. In some cases, the amount of payroll tax would be greater than the amount of state government funding the school receives.
The argument the Victorian government makes, that the proposed payroll tax exemptions will affect just a handful of ‘high fee’ schools, is also concerning. Once concessions are removed for some schools, what is to stop the threshold changing again and capture more non-government schools in the future?
As someone who has been deeply involved in school funding over two decades, as a former senator and now as head of the National Catholic Education Commission, I attribute policy decisions like these to a general lack of understanding of the complexity of school funding in Australia.
One of the common misconceptions is that non-government schools get 100 per cent of the base funding per student, called the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS), while public schools only get around 90 per cent, in the case of Victoria. This is incorrect. Non-government schools can only receive between 20 and 90 per cent of the SRS based on an assessment of the parents’ capacity to contribute to school funding. The parent contribution varies significantly from school to school. On average, Catholic school families are expected to contribute around 23 per cent of the SRS though school fees.
In dollar figures, government schools received, on average, $20,940 in government funding per student in 2020-21. Non-government schools received $12,442 per student.
School funding is highly complex and is regulated under federal legislation and national agreements between the federal government and states and territories. Any arbitrary decisions outside of these frameworks not only set a precedent for other states and territories, but have the potential to impact significantly on a carefully-calculated and considered needs-based funding formula.
Part of that impact is the financial burden on families who contribute significantly to their child’s schooling in an increasingly challenging financial climate, with the highest interest rates in over a decade, and increasing pressures on the cost of living.
Policy decisions can’t be made in a vacuum, and it’s unhelpful and divisive to pit school sectors against each other and continues to inflame the school funding wars when we should be getting on with the job of improving schooling.
This issue was discussed at the Senior Finance Officers network meeting in Canberra last week. Finance leaders from each state and territory also discussed resource strategies to enhance the accessibility of Catholic schools. The network also met with Department of Education representatives to discuss school funding and data collection within the Catholic sector and received an update on the key education measures outlined in the Federal Budget.
Article submitted by Tom Sexton
CEB Wellbeing Newsletter Term 2, 2023
Please click here for the CEB Wellbeing Newsletter.
Article submitted by Lisa Templar
Andrew Chinn - Workshop with Students
This song (God Has Been So Good To Me) was performed by the students of Our Lady Help of Christians Primary School, Murtoa. The children had a workshop with Andrew Chinn who taught the song and prepared the children for a concert during a half day workshop.
Andrew worked as a classroom teacher in Catholic Primary Schools in Sydney for nearly twenty years before moving into his full time music ministry. Andrew has visited more than 1100 Catholic primary schools, performing in 3000 concerts across Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Canada sharing his music and his faith with children, teachers and parents.
Article submitted by Janet Claassen
DOBCEL Structured Literacy Project 2024
We have already received several queries about what the DOBCEL Structured Literacy Project will entail for primary schools next year. We appreciate that strategic planning tends to begin in Term Three, and we want to ensure that all schools are well-placed to make a decision.
At last week's Principal's Forum, we very briefly presented the options, and we asked all principals to complete this form to indicate their early intentions for 2024. Please do so at your earliest convenience.
Your responses to this form will not constitute any form of commitment; they will merely guide our planning and resourcing. You will have a more formal opportunity to commit to the project later in the year, when we've provided more details and dates. Here is a summary of the Levels of Support we'll be offering in 2024.
If you would like further information about what Structured Literacy means, what it looks like in practice and how it differs from Balanced Literacy, and if you have questions about your potential involvement in 2024, please join us online for an informative webinar and Q&A session.
Structured Literacy - Information and Q&A Webinar:
Thursday 13th July (Term 3, Week 1), 3.45pm - 4.45pm.
Use the Zoom Link on the Structured Literacy website homepage.
Article submitted by Joe Ewing
Professional Learning
The Heart of Leadership - A dialogue with colleagues from London and Melbourne
Please click here for futher details of this professional learning being held at Penola Catholic College in July.
People and Development Update
The Passionate Nutritionist - Nutrition Habits.
By - Mel Bald
A little bit about Mel.
“I’ve always been a food lover. When I think about it, it was probably my nanna that instilled this in me, as she loved cooking from scratch, using what came from their farm where possible, and making cooking for large groups look easy. I have many fond and eventful memories of social gatherings around food, bringing family and friends together.
Food for me is about enjoyment, taste sensations, social connections and nourishment, and I hope to instil this in others.
I have a background of working in clinical nutrition, health promotion, corporate health and sports management.”
Attached is the first article that Mel Bald has written especially for our CEB Weekly newsletter.
Nutrition Tips for Winter Health
Highlights of the article include-
- Include the key immune system nutrients through fresh foods.
- Ensure your diet is as “whole” as possible.
- Prioritise your sleep.
- Look after your gut.
- Make sure you are hydrated.
- Reduce alcohol intake.
Article submitted by Tania Lund
Career Opportunities in the Diocesan Education Community
Catholic Education Ballarat.
- Payroll Officer – ongoing position at 1.0 FTE (closes 21 June)
- Social Justice Education Officer – ongoing position at 1.0 FTE (closes 23 June)
Principalship Opportunities.
- Principal – Ss Michael and John’s Primary School, Horsham (closes 3 July)
Principal - St Patrick’s Primary School, Stawell (closes 24 July)
School Vacancies.
- Classroom Teacher – St Mary’s School, Donald – ongoing position at 1.0 FTE (closes 22 June)
- School Services Administration Officer – Learning Innovation Support – St Patrick’s College, Ballarat – ongoing position at 1.0 FTE (closes 23 June)
- English and Humanities Teacher – St Patrick’s College, Ballarat – ongoing position at 1.0 FTE (closes 23 June)
- School Services Administration Officer – Indigenous Support – St Patrick’s College, Ballarat – ongoing position at 1.0 FTE (closes 23 June)
- Casual Relief Teachers – St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Warracknabeal (closes 23 June)
- 2023 & 2024 Teacher Positions – Damascus College, Mt Clear – ongoing positions at 1.0 FTE (closes 26 June)
- Teacher – St Brigid’s School, Ballan – fixed-term at 1.0 FTE (closes 30 June)
- Visual Arts Teacher – St Patrick’s School, Camperdown – fixed-term position at 0.6 FTE (closes 3 July)
- Mathematics Teacher – St Patrick’s College, Ballarat – fixed-term position at 1.0 FTE (closes 10 July)
- Learning Support Officer – Marian College, Ararat – ongoing position at 1.0 or 0.86 FTE (closes 21 July)
- Casual Relief Teachers – St Columba’s School, Ballarat North (closes 2 October)