No greater love …

Last weekend we remembered all those who have been killed in wars. A few years ago I was able to visit

some of the famous Flanders Fields in which so many men and women sacrificed themselves for their countries. The most sobering fact that I remember from that very emotional day was on a sign at the site of the Pozières battles. “The combined death toll from both sides of the conflict between mid-June and November 1916 was 1,300,000.” The selflessness of their sacrifice and the magnitude of the death toll

brought an overwhelming sense of humility and sorrow, and also highlighted the extreme futility of war and conflict.

Days like 11 November make us stop and reflect on our responsibility to work for peace in the world and to pray for our world that it may become a more peaceful place.

Expectations

All students are well aware of our expectation that they will “behave in a way that allows students to learn and teachers to teach”. This is an important expectation year round but takes on an increased importance in these last few weeks of the academic year. There is much to be accomplished in this time and everyone needs to work together in order to make sure that we finish the school year really well.

There is another expectation that I have of staff during these busy times that I would like to share with students and parents too. We can really show how much we care about those around us by deliberately going about our work in a way that minimizes (preferably eliminates) any negative impact on another’s workload. For teachers this means focusing on things like meeting deadlines, not letting their classes distract other classes, etc.

For students it would be to acknowledge that the teachers are under pressure in these last few weeks to get assignments and exams corrected so that final reports can be written. Each piece of work that is not submitted on time initially creates work that a teacher doesn’t need in terms of chasing that work and subsequently upsets that teacher’s time management and ability to meet their own deadlines. Obviously this is but one small example of how students can help to minimize the negative impact that they have on a teacher’s workload. A myriad of things comes to mind in a very short time if we begin to think about other examples:

Was the permission slip returned on time?

Is my uniform correct?

Why am I expecting the teacher to ‘make me’ all the time instead of me just meeting expectations?

Do I care enough about those around me to work to the best of my ability to get my own work done in a way that minimizes the negative impact on those around me?

I think the answers are obvious, especially in light of what we remember on 11 November, aren't they?

Staffing.

There are a number of changes happening to staffing as the 2018 academic year concludes and we prepare for the 2019 academic year. Below is a summary of the staffing situation as it stands at the time of writing. There are a wide range of reasons for those who are leaving; too many to list here.

Last week I announced to staff that Mrs. Kirrilee Westblade has accepted a one-year position as Acting Deputy Principal – Catholic Identity at St. Augustine’s College, Kyabram.

This came about because Brayden Stone has been appointed to the Acting Principal role following the news that Luci Quinn will be moving to Clonard College, Geelong, from the start of 2019. The Director of Catholic Education in the Diocese of Sandhurst, Paul Desmond, approached Kirrilee and myself about the possibility of seconding Kirrilee for the 2019 school year.

Kirrilee is delighted to be offered this opportunity to enhance her capacity as a leader in Catholic Education and it was great for me to be able to give her Leave Without Pay from our College in order for her to accept the offer to step into a different school and role for a year.

We wish her all the very best in her new role and look forward to her return in 2020.

This move now provides our College with the opportunity for interested academic staff members to build their own leadership capacity by stepping up into Kirrilee’s role. We hope to finalise this appointment soon.

The following staff members have indicated that they will not be working at St. Joseph’s College in 2019:

Pat Rankins, Caroline Smith, Ted Ripon, Andrew Cations, Amanda Brady, Jacqui Freeman, Georgia Burns, Ben Taylor-Egan, Anna Gorman, Nick Manley, Bianca Fleming, Ang Bourke, Rachel Whipp, Eesha Clarke, Brady Trotman, Jessie Hancock, Ben Chatfield.

At this stage we will be welcoming the following new staff in 2019:

Isabella Reid (Teaching), Megan Fuller (Teaching), Phillip O’Kelly (Teaching - Wood), Caitlin Bilogrevic (Teaching), Kelly Fenton (Allied Health), Justin Cantwell (continuing on in Teaching), Dion Westblade (Wood – Education Support Officer).

Returning from maternity leave at the start of 2019 will be Elle Molluso and Ellie Armstrong, and Peter Phillips will be returning from study leave.

We have also appointed four of our recent Year 12 students to traineeship roles. The new Trainees for 2019 will be Jordan Frew, Tanner Edwards, Maggie Stewart and Annabel Johnson.

Our thanks go to those on the College Leadership Team who have been very busy in recent months interviewing and appointing new staff.

With best wishes as we enter the critical last weeks of the 2018 academic year.

God bless,

Michael Delaney

Principal.

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