From the Deputy Head of College, Patrick Brennan
Last week I joined over fifty Deputies and Heads of Campus from across Australia and New Zealand in Geelong for the annual Deputies’ Conference. The conference was hosted by St Joseph’s College and the Southern Region Deputies and the theme for this year was ‘Liberating Education through Partnership and Innovation’.
Among the many highlights, on day one we reflected on ten years of EREA and the challenges moving forward, including the need to take time for the inner journey. We then heard from Susan Pascoe AM, Commissioner of the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission who reflected on her leadership journey.
In an entertaining presentation, Father Richard Leonard, Director of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting, explored what the census and surveys tell us about faith and religion in Australia and the positive impact of Catholic ministries in 2017.
We then investigated partnerships and innovation in practice by visiting Northern Bay Secondary College, the Geelong Biolab, Sacred Heart College’s STEAM Building, The Geelong College Research Centre and St Joseph’s College’s Edmund Rice and Westcourt Campuses.
For dinner on the second night, we travelled to Geelong Cats’ home ground, Simonds Stadium, where their long serving CEO Brian Cook took us through his reflections on leading from a values perspective. He was then followed by the inspirational Manager of the Cotton On Foundation, Sarah Spiker, who outlined her business plan to develop 20,000 educational places in Africa.
It was great to spend time with others leaders from our network of schools and sharing practice that will only serve to benefit all schools in the EREA family.
