Millmerran Leadership Forum

It has been a wonderful week working with my fellow Principals and the leadership team from Toowoomba Catholic Schools, including our new Bishop, Bishop Ken Howell. We have been working through a myriad of challenges that face the education sector, particularly regarding the change in our funding model from 2024, and our strategic direction into the future.  Dr Pat Coughlan, Executive Director of Toowoomba Catholic Schools, spoke to us regarding “Taking Control of the Agenda”, being especially considerate of what qualities, practices and understandings make us better and more durable leaders.  He challenged us to maintain a focus of servant leadership, though especially drilling down into our work as principals into how we focus all our decisions on our noble purpose as educators.  The intent is to collectively maximise the impact on student learning and wellbeing through our strong leadership of Toowoomba Catholic Schools.

Bishop Ken Howell led a feedback session to hear what was working well in the Diocese, what the challenges are, and the direction to address the challenges that are currently arising in the Catholic Education sector.  I am excited by a fresh perspective and an open dialogue with the new Bishop, and greatly look forward to his leadership of our Diocese into the future. 

The principals have also worked very practically on new developments across the Diocese as we finalise our preparations for 2024. We have worked on finance, staffing, our 2024 annual action plan as well as shining a light on school behaviour policy and processes.  Although these weeks at leadership forums take away from my time at the College, the impact of the work we do creates better education for all students across the Diocese.  I look forward to being back at the College tomorrow.

By the way, Miss Twidale (3T) is rather famous around Milmerran and it was great to see her primary school on the school tour Tuesday night!

NAPLAN Reports

Last Friday NAPLAN reports were sent home with students or mailed home to parents.  The reports have changed quite significantly this year, though we are again very proud of the results of our students.  I encourage all parents of students in Years 3, 5, 7 & 9 to carefully read the information that accompanied the report as it very clearly explains how the new reports work.  We have already met as a college group of secondary principals to share our data and determine which schools are performing highly, and which schools are making considerable impact and adding value between Years 7 and 9.  We are taking learnings from this gathering to establish professional learning teams in 2024 to implement consistency of high impact practice across the diocese, especially in Mathematics and for High Potential Learners.

Shaping Our Future

Thank you to all the staff, parents and students who took the time to provide feedback regarding OLSCC in the recent Shaping Our Future survey. This feedback will be discerned and used to inform future planning for our College.   Although I acknowledge the time and effort required to complete these surveys, there are still some additional surveys forthcoming to parents in the next few weeks.  And this is purposeful.

In the past we have created committees and groups to consult around issues such as facilities, though this mode means that only few get to have their voices heard.  Throughout the rest of this year we are creating an updated Master Plan for OLSCC and as such require as much voice from our community as possible regarding the future of our infrastructure at OLSCC.  In addition, we are also going to be seeking more information about Report Cards.  Our current mode of reporting is very intense for teaching staff and we receive varied feedback about the impact of this effort through the report cards. 

As these surveys come to your inbox, please find a little time to have your say so all members of our community can have input into the future of OLSCC.

Mr Peter Cuskelly
Principal