Principal Sacred Heart School, Beagle Bay

Principalship for Sacred Heart School, Beagle Bay

Commencing Term Three 2024

School Profile

Sacred Heart School is a Catholic School located at Beagle Bay Aboriginal Community on the Dampier Peninsula, approximately 130km north of Broome. 98% of students are indigenous and speak Aboriginal English as their home language. Nyul Nyul is the language of the traditional owners of the Beagle Bay area.

The school caters for children from Kindergarten to Year 10 with an enrolment of 70 students. Each class has an Aboriginal Teaching Assistant who works with and alongside the class teacher to provide rich two-way learning with a community driven Aboriginal Studies Program, including Bushrangers and weekly Culture lessons. The school also houses a thriving 0–3-year-old AFaFE program called Moorrool Baab, which operates daily within the school.

The model of schooling offered at Sacred Heart School is underpinned by Gospel values and offers an holistic education, embracing the spiritual, religious, intellectual, physical, social and emotional development of all students. As a futures-oriented school, we are committed to developing independent learning and critical thinking skills amongst students and we strongly encourage the use of learning technologies in the classroom. The school focuses on teaching English as a second language and Literacy and Numeracy is a major part of a comprehensive school curriculum. A broad range of extra-curricular activities in sport, music, drama, dance, along with a wide range of academic competitions and clubs, enhance the pastoral and educational programs offered. Inter-house sporting competitions and broad student leadership experiences through bush cadets and annual circus training, highlight the quality of pastoral care provided to students.

The school has a positive partnership with community to improve student attendance and to promote positive parenting practices. We believe that the improvement of student achievement and learning can fully occur through a positive and supportive partnership with parents, which includes improved school attendance and the safety and wellbeing of our children. All staff are trained in Trauma Informed Practice and Positive Behaviours for learning. We strongly promote these philosophies and strategies to develop and maintain positive and calm learning environments and develop high expectation relationships with staff, students, and community.

In addition to the Duties and Responsibilities of Principals, the community is seeking a principal who:

• is flexible, calm, approachable, and an effective communicator
• has an open-door policy and relates well to secondary and primary school students, staff and families
• leads by example and is willing to be involved in parish and community events
• is child focused and a regular presence in the classrooms 
• understands and models Catholic Social Justice Teachings
• prioritises staff well-being
• will work closely with the Aboriginal staff and community to ensure their values, language and culture are a driving force behind student learning

To be considered for the role of Principal you must meet the following minimum requirements:

• Be a practising Catholic and experienced educator who is committed to the objectives and ethos of Catholic Education.
• Hold Accreditation for Leadership of a Catholic School Community or its equivalent.
• A minimum four-year tertiary qualification although it would be advantageous to demonstrate significant progress towards a masters degree or higher.

• A current Teachers Registration for Western Australia (TRBWA)
• A current WA Working With Children Check (WA WWCC)

To apply for the role:

Applicant’s will need to produce an application which includes a cover letter, a curriculum vitae, professional references and a leadership SAO. All applications are received through the website which will require you to create or log-in to your personal profile.

Curriculum Vitae

• Employment history including specific dates for leadership positions
• Professional qualifications
• Accreditation status, attainment date and number
• TRBWA and WA WWCC numbers and expiry dates

References

• Contact information for three (3) professional referees:
  - a person with whom you are currently working
  - a person with whom you have worked in the past two to five years
  - a current employer or superior
  Send a copy of the Referee Report Template (below) to each of your 3 professional referees and ask them to return the report to principalappointment@cewa.edu.au by the closing date.
• Contact information (preferably mobile phone number) of your parish priest for the purpose of him being contacted for a verbal reference.

Cover Letter

• Write a Cover Letter succinctly addressing the school context as advised through the School Criteria listed in the advertisement. This should be a maximum of three (3) pages.
• All letters should be addressed to Mr Wayne Bull, Executive Director.

Leadership SAO

• Situation: What circumstances prompted the need for you to initiate or implement an improvement strategy?

Action: What specific actions did you take and/or lead?

Outcome: What were the outcomes of your actions? What did you learn?

• Using the SAO model please articulate your philosophy and provide examples of two initiatives you have been involved in at leadership level in each of the pillars:
  - Catholic Identity
  - Education
  - Community
  - Stewardship

• Applicants are asked to limit their SAO responses to two (2) pages per pillar.

Links to the documents for your application:

Principal Duties & Responsibilities

Reference Template

Provision for Principal

To Apply please click on the APPLY NOW button.

All applications should reach The Executive Director of Catholic Education, Catholic Education Office of WA via the Apply now button no later than 12pm on 10 May 2024. For any queries please contact: principalappointment@cewa.edu.au

Catholic Education Western Australia encourages applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people with a disability, people of all ages and people from culturally diverse backgrounds. To be eligible to apply for this role you must be legally permitted to work in Australia.

Applicants must be fully supportive of the objectives and ethos of Catholic education.