Looking forward to 2018: a new strategic plan

At the end of 2014, the Waverley College community completed the first four-year phase of a strategy for improvement, growth and transformation as a Catholic School for Boys in the Edmund Rice tradition. Our intent was to build upon the infrastructural and pastoral achievements of 2004–2009 and create a new understanding of how we viewed ourselves as a learning community.

We are now embarking on Phase 2 of our strategy – a second four-year phase that will take us into 2018. The strategic imperative that brought us into 2014 was ‘Liberating the potential of every learner’. It focused on the student ‘on the way’ – his school journey and approach to learning – and was supported by five Areas of Growth:
Beliefs and Life; Relationships; Leadership; Innovation and Environment; and Resources.

As we move into Phase 2, which will take us through to 2018, our strategic imperative and Areas of Growth remain as constants, but our student ‘on the way’ is now the student ‘at the centre’. Our central understanding of what we are trying to achieve with this strategy is that a Waverley student:

• Appreciates diversity and values inclusion.
• Is a resilient learner who achieves his best academically.
• Builds positive relationships and demonstrates leadership.
• Is challenged to a liberated way of living.

This last point signals a new way of describing our deepest hope for each student: that he will be freed by his learning journey, unconstrained by fear, energised by courage so that he may achieve liberation for himself and others. To help us achieve this vision, we have expanded and built upon the Phase 1 Areas of Growth to form 4 key strategic narratives for Phase 2; Beliefs and life; Relationships and Leadership; Innovation and Environment; and Resources.

Each narrative is focused on helping our graduates bring to life the touchstones of the Edmund Rice Philosophy and has been translated into specific goals and targets. This will help guide the Waverley Community through our Phase 2 strategic mission. You can read more about the narratives, goals and targets in the Phase 2 strategy document, or in our mission statement.

Ultimately, our vision is that a Waverley student shows inclusivity, is a resilient learner and achieves success with learning. He builds relationships and is challenged to a liberated way of living. All of this means that he is able to transform his experiences at the college into a way of life that advocates learning, builds relationships within the community, and that is always inclusive of other people. He is never someone who marginalises others and he exhibits concern for those who are always on the margins: not only by standing with them, but by teaching them how to assert their rights.