Message from the Director of Schools

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to the 2026 school year! A very special welcome to all new staff joining our Catholic professional learning community,  I wish you all the very best for the year ahead. 

Please see my welcome message below here: 

Our theme for this year is ‘Our Hope-Filled Future’ taken from our 5 year strategic plan which begins this year. This new strategy is a celebration of our shared commitment, our collective wisdom, and the tireless work each of you contributes to our system. Our new plan, "Our Hope-Filled Future," is framed around four core imperatives that will guide our collective efforts over the next five years:

1. Our Catholic Identity: 

We commit to being a missionary, welcoming, and faith-filled community. We will continue to ignite the faith in our staff, students, and families, fostering strong partnerships with our parishes and creating opportunities for prayer, liturgy, and social justice. 

2. Our People: 

This plan is centered on our most valuable resource, our people. We are committed to fostering a thriving, faith-filled learning community where our young people, staff, and families all experience a deep sense of belonging. 

3. Our Learning and Teaching: 

We will continue to provide purposeful, future-focused education, ensuring all students, regardless of their background, have access to exceptional learning. We are committed to a systematic approach where literacy and numeracy are at the core, while embracing opportunities to expand options for students in rural and remote centers. 

4. Sustainability and Stewardship: 

We will steward our resources and environment responsibly, ensuring long-term viability and a strong commitment to our rural and remote communities. Through ethical decision making

These four imperatives are all working towards our vision: A Christ-centred inclusive learning community that supports young people to realise a hope-filled future.

Our focus articulated in our mission, is on improving faith, learning and wellbeing outcomes. The work that is done in the classroom is the most important work in this mission. We use a coherent instructional framework so everyone feels safe, valued, respected, and are learners. As we centre our work on supporting our students to become literate and numerate, our work in strong teams is vital. Working together to ensure we know every young person, and what their next steps are with their learning shows our commitment to improving the faith, learning and wellbeing outcomes. As members of Armidale Catholic Schools Professional Learning Community, we need to focus on what we know works. This is clearly articulated in our Non-Negotiables.

I would like to welcome our new Principals: Leanne Herden - Principal of Sacred Heart Boggabri, Nicole Prior - Principal of St Mary’s College Gunnedah, Melita Roache - Principal of St Joseph’s Mungindi, Amanda Sheridan - Principal of St Joseph’s Quirindi and Jacqui Wait - Principal of St Joseph’s Warialda. I wish them all the best in leading their communities. 

It has been a wonderful start to the school year. I have joined our staff from the Tamworth and Armidale clusters in celebrating Mass, had our full staff meeting for office staff, run a workshop on leading well with Year 6 at St Xavier’s Gunnedah, and visited our first Year 11 students at Holy Trinity Inverell. This week, it has been great to join our staff from our western schools for our biannual conference to start the year. 

As we begin 2026, I ask you to ponder this from Pope Leo- 

"look for signs of hope and more than that is to be signs of hope in our communities."

As we start the 2026 school year let's work together to be signs of hope in our communities, collaborating to improve the faith, learning and wellbeing outcomes for our young people and our communities. Together we can ensure our young people are literate and numerate for our hope-filled future.