MY TIME AS PRINCIPAL AT GENAZZANO FCJ COLLEGE

Karen Jebb | Principal

As I come to the end of my five years as Principal of Genazzano FCJ College, many memories of my time at this College flood my thoughts and bring a warm sense of gratitude for the opportunity to lead this extraordinary learning community. It has indeed been an absolute privilege and delight; and the experience will remain in my heart forever.

Catholic Education is my passion and I hope that my leadership of the mission of Genazzano FCJ College and the charism of the Faithful Companions of Jesus has given justice to its aspirations. My vision has been to continually ensure the College offers the best inclusive education possible whilst looking ahead to the future via an innovating curriculum that fosters a love of learning. I believe it is important to maximise the potential of all students, ensuring the community continues to believe in and foster the powerful impact that young women can have on our world and the hope they bring to the future. I also believe it is important to maximise the potential of all staff by offering evidence-based professional learning and an avenue for them to share their expertise and work collegially with each other.

I am proud of the development of an FCJ Profile framework to articulate for the school community what is distinctive to all relationships and interactions in an FCJ school. The profile is based upon the Ignatian spirituality to see God in all things and the learning framework draws on the inspiration of the Ignatian Examen. The six key values of an FCJ school are explored in detail and describe how they are enacted/seen in the school on a daily basis. The development of this profile assisted me to articulate the distinctive nature of an FCJ school and to ensure that I led the implementation of the core values within all aspects of the College community. The profile creates a common language and ways of building positive and life-giving relationships with each other. It keeps our faith and FCJ traditions always at the forefront of our thinking, decision making and interactions.

Over the past five years, I have encouraged a collegial approach and focus on the use of data to inform our understanding of each learner in our College. Our teaching approach needs to be purposeful and an indicator of our impact on student learning. This desire has driven our professional learning approach over the past five years. Our objective is to support all teachers to strategically and purposefully adjust their pedagogy to meet the learning needs of all students in all classes; and to utilise the learning data to track the overall improvement and impact.

Together with the Director, we launched the Genazzano Institute of Learning & Brain Sciences and almost all teachers have completed at least three ‘Science of Learning’ modules. Each university level module includes a teacher chosen micro-project to test the effectiveness of the PEN (Psychology Education Neuroscience) Principles in the classroom. Our aim is to have our teachers understand how the latest research about the brain can be translated to best practice pedagogy. The Institute supports teachers to be researchers in their own classroom, with coaching sessions to assist with the micro-projects. We have partnered with Dr Jared Cooney Horvath, Neuroscientist and Educator at the University of Melbourne, who is now a widely sought-after presenter. This ground-breaking professional learning program has been developed exclusively for Genazzano with an aim that our teachers are experts at implementing the Science of Learning understandings in the classroom.

Our Professional Learning Program has been recognised nationally and internationally as innovative and cutting edge and Genazzano received The Educator’s Innovative Schools Award in recognition of our work in the area of learning and brain sciences.

Our VCE results place Genazzano in the top 4% of schools in Victoria. Last year, most excitingly, 50% of students achieved an ATAR greater than 90, which is 14% higher than 2018 and an incredible 10% higher than any record at Genazzano since the introduction of ATAR. We also had 7% girls achieve an ATAR greater than 99. These results affirm the work we have been doing in the last five years in putting learning and teaching at the forefront of what we do at Genazzano.

To support teacher, student and parent collaboration and effective communication and learning, we established an IT strategy plan in 2016 to implement an online Learning Management System and create a platform that provides easy communication avenues and innovative learning opportunities. This implemented ICT strategy led to a very smooth transition to learning at a distance during the COVID-19 pandemic; and feedback we have received from students, teachers and parents has demonstrated the success of our Learning Management System and IT support.

I have enjoyed the implementation of the online presence of the College through social media platforms and the updating of our College website to incorporate online enrolment, video promotion and a cleaner style of information. It has been a critical communication medium this year.

Our pastoral care and wellbeing programs at Genazzano are also leading the way. We have a team overseeing the wellbeing of students at the College. Our Deputy Principals, Performance Psychology Team, Head of Junior School, Head of Senior School, Team Leaders, and/or Curriculum Leaders, work together to support our students' learning and wellbeing. This approach has seen significant improvement in retaining students at the College and, in most cases, successfully responding to their needs and developing better learning and wellbeing outcomes for them.

I am proud of the outstanding improvement of our Sports Program and the continued success of our Music and Co-curricular

Programs. Both these Co-curricular Programs develop the talents and abilities of our girls and enable their individual gifts to flourish in a supportive, team environment. We have been finalists in The Educator’s Best Co-curricular Program for three years in a row.

I have enjoyed attending the Genazzano Mothers’ Association (GMA) and Genazzano Fathers’ Association (GFA) formal events, and through this, having the opportunity to build wonderful relationships with our parents. By actively promoting the College’s desire to have positive and effective relationships with our parent community, together we have enhanced student learning outcomes and created an inclusive and supportive school community.

One of the strategic directions of the College Council was to improve the financial position of the College. The careful management of College finances has led to a renewed College Master Plan and completed capital projects that include the redevelopment of the Arts Studios and Sports and Fitness precinct. We have completed the planning for a new Year 5 and 6 Learning Centre and are currently waiting for Boroondara Council approval. I am proud to say that the College is in a sound financial position despite the ongoing challenges of COVID-19.

I hope that over the past five years, the school community has seen my energy and passion for Genazzano FCJ College, from ELC to Year 12 and Boarding. I love what I do and I think this translates to my work. I hope that I have been viewed as an ethical leader where faith, fairness and integrity are at the center of my decision making. I am passionate about student learning and ensuring that the students’ best interests are constantly on the agenda and at the forefront of our thinking. The College has a responsibility to continue to strive for improvement in learning outcomes for all students and I have worked with many wonderful colleagues who have been instrumental in supporting this vision; which I am eternally grateful for.

Most of all, I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know our students, most of them by name. It is a joy to be at a school where students join us at the age of 3 years old and leave us as young adults at the age of 18. It has been a pleasure to attend and support almost every event and program possible including weekend sport, musical productions, drama performances, debating, social justice, concerts, community events and classroom presentations; all this has been embraced not so much as a task entailed as being principal - but as a joy. I hope that students remember me for being passionate about their learning and their achievements. I leave the College with a somewhat heavy heart but I look forward to my new challenge ahead in continuing my passion for Catholic education. I know that Genazzano will continue to go from strength to strength and I am grateful for being a part of the story.

With every blessing,

Karen Jebb Principal 2016 - 2020

GMA Ball, 2019.