Consultation Q&A

Yes. Given the review of both schools, including extensive community consultation, SCS is not pursuing an amalgamation strategy.

The schools will be separate with their own individual and important identities overseen by one Executive Principal, supported by shared senior leaders, and supercharged AP responsibilities but with one noticeably significant difference.

Collaboration will be a central tenant to the operation of both schools. The model respects the individual nature of Sacred Heart and Blessed Sacrament but leverages the resources and expertise of both to the advantage of all the students.  

What we are doing with Sacred Heart and Blessed Sacrament is introducing a new and innovative approach to running both schools including their leadership structure.

Given their proximity, there is an opportunity to share best practice, resources and student enrichment programs for both schools to benefit from the other.  

As an Executive Principal, Leanne is in the best position to steward the resources across both schools for the benefit of every student. Whether this is through the extension of extracurricular activities, teacher development and training, recruitment, student enrichment programs or a myriad of other collaboration opportunities.

Leanne is a highly experienced professional who has the needs of her students and staff as her one priority. 

SCS trusts her to allocate her time, resources, energy, and attention to those areas that best need her expertise and experience at any given time. She will spend time at both campuses as she does now.

To ensure that she has the support to do this, we have boosted the leadership with the appointment of a Leader of Teaching and Learning and Leader of Wellbeing and Engagement.  These roles will be shared across both schools and together with the respective AP and the REC, will form the executive for each school.

The Executive Principal is still leading the school and will be accessible to parents, staff and students but she will have additional support through a new, bolstered leadership model. Under this structure, the AP has higher duties which means that they have much greater operational responsibilities than typical AP roles. In other words, they are charged with responsibility normally associated with Principals. The AP will be relieved of classroom duties entirely. 

Day-to-day questions should go to the AP in the first instance and matters will be escalated to the Executive Principal if required or referred to the new Leader of Teaching and Learning or Leader of Wellbeing and Engagement where relevant.

Our role at SCS is to continually assess the performance of our 148 schools and ensure that we are constantly improving and delivering quality education to our 70,000 students.

The consultation was always about understanding what both schools needed so that they are positioned well not just for today, but well into the future. As a system, we are constantly looking at innovative ways to improve and we were keen to engage our school communities in this process.  

The change in school leadership at Sacred Heart last year, provided SCS with an opportunity to review what was working well in each school and how the schools might work more closely together to support your children’s education and school experience. 

We wanted the process to be ambitious and we wanted all ideas – big and small – on the table. 

More than 200 parent and family voices, across 4 forums and portal submissions were received. The sentiments and ideas shared were an important input into the planning for both schools.

Collaboration ensures a smarter use of resources and gives us the opportunity to leverage the strengths and expertise of each school. For example, reducing inefficiency and duplication in planning helps us to ensure that teachers spend more time in the classroom teaching. 

A collaborative approach will deliver benefits in building the capacity of our teachers; broadening student enrichment programs and delivering greater access to extracurricular activities.

Different models of collaboration are working across the entire SCS system. Recently De La Salle Cronulla, OLMC Burraneer, and De La Salle Catholic College at Caringbah underwent significant transformation with collaboration as a driving principle.

These changes included transitioning from Years 11-12 to Years 7-12 and introducing co-ed elements. The vision behind these changes was the desire to provide parents and families with a top-tier, character-building education featuring cutting-edge facilities, diverse co-curricular opportunities, and meaningful partnerships with local industries and universities.

As a result, teachers have been exchanging expertise across schools, enriching the learning experience for students by offering a wider range of subjects and co-curricular activities such as sports, creative arts, and performing arts. Now, students now have access to an array of courses, programs, and initiatives available across all participating schools.

To facilitate this collaborative approach, new roles like the joint VET Coordinator were established to coordinate Vocational Education & Training responsibilities across the schools. These changes have revolutionised the educational landscape and empowered students with a comprehensive and innovative learning experience.