From the Principal

“Things get done only if the data we gather can inform and inspire those in a position to make difference.”  Michel Schmoker 

This week we were able to celebrate as a staff the arrival of our School Review Report. Of the 68 indicators across the 5 spheres of the School Improvement Framework, 31 indicators showed growth of one or more criteria. Whilst all other indicators were maintained. The reviewer shared the following as strengths of the College in this review period: 

• A Catholic community in the Brigidine tradition that welcomes and values each person, with opportunities for personal faith formation and social justice activities that encourage staff and students to express their spirituality in meaningful ways.  
• A cohesive Leadership Team with an intentional and strategic focus on evidence-based College improvement.  
• Staff confident in the direction articulated by the College leaders, committed to supporting, learning from each other and sharing their expertise to enhance student learning, engagement and growth.  
• Pastoral initiatives that create a sense of belonging, a safe learning environment and opportunities for student voice, with well resourced, effective and responsive wellbeing and counselling support for students.  
• Comprehensive curricular and co-curricular opportunities and pathway options. 

The opportunities for improvement in our next School Improvement period included: 

• Empower leaders across the school to realise the strategic intent, providing clear lines of responsibility and more evenly distributed oversight of school initiatives.  
• Optimise the supportive approach to leadership growth and teacher capabilities to implement curriculum and assessment innovations.  
• Leverage the wellbeing structure to enhance learning engagement through active student agency in all classrooms.  
• Embed Positive Behaviour for Learning strategies to support growth in learning disposition and increased student learning engagement.  
• Opportunities for dialogue with parents as partners to support engagement with new initiatives and improvement strategies. 

Overwhelmingly the themes of the review were to continue to embed and develop the work we have already commenced across the College. I am extremely grateful to the work of the Extended Leadership Team and other POL holders who played an integral part in gathering the evidence, working with staff teams to make our criteria judgments and engaging with the reviewers during their time with the College. 

As Mike Schmoker’s quote stated this review report is now data we can use to inform and inspire the development of our 2025-2028 School Improvement Plan. We have engaged Tatu, an external company who have experience in working in the Catholic education sector to support communities developing their strategic plans. Tatu engage through listening to our aspirations, understanding our context, checking in with the community and then distilling some key themes, challenges to consider and a possible framework to develop something that will motivate and energise us to continue our quest to provide the best possible learning environment and opportunities for our students. 

 You can get involved!