PART 2 GOVERNANCE AND LEADERSHIP

We are very fortunate to have our Peak Bodies which support and/or oversee the many activities of St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School. Each group’s membership is on a voluntary basis and the skills and experience of each member, in collaboration with others, helps St Aidan’s deliver both short and long term goals.

School Council

School Council Chair: Mr Stephen Green BEngCivil

St Aidan’s School Council is the official body overseeing the growth and development of the School. Its role is to ensure the philosophy of the founding Society of the Sacred Advent (SSA) Sisters is maintained, as well as to provide oversight to ensure the financial viability of the School. School Council members, who include representatives of the School and wider community, meet regularly throughout the year to review progress towards strategic goals, consider reports from the Principal and advise on the School’s development through the sub-committees of Finance, Ethos, Remuneration and Nominations, Building and Grounds, and Foundation.

School Council is responsible for forging a strong and productive mutually trusting working relationship with the Principal and other members of the senior leadership team for the benefit of the School.

The School Council provides accountability by ensuring:

• Expenditure of money and use of resources is in the best interests of the School

• Appropriate transparent management reporting systems exist

• Regular effective communication between the Principal and the Council and the School community including key stakeholders such as the St Aidan’s Trust

The School Council is responsible for ensuring that the School pursues appropriate strategy consistent with the ethos of the SSA by:

• Determining an annual cycle for strategic planning with the Principal

• Inclusion in strategic planning of risk management consideration

• Guidance on matters of corporate policy.

There are five Sub-Committees that operate within our School Council framework. These are:

• Finance Audit and Risk Management

• Building and Grounds

• Remuneration and Nominations

• Brand and Reputation

• Ethos Committee – jointly operated with our Sister School, St Margaret’s Anglican Girls’ School.

The School Council Chair and Principal are members of the Sisters’ Trust and routinely report on the progress and developments of St Aidan’s

“It is with great pride that we celebrate and share the achievements of our school Fostering a sense of community at St Aidan’s is, of course, one of the Council’s fundamental goals. When you share your victories and your achievements with your community, the value of that achievement suddenly multiplies. Take the recent ATAR results for the cohort of 2022. These stellar results will open doors for the seniors of 2022, but they also serve as exemplars for the seniors of 2023 and beyond. These senior students are showing their younger peers what’s possible, showing their parents, their siblings, their grandparents, their friends and their teachers that all of the support they’ve received has paid off. Because that’s the purpose of community – to support each other through times of need and congratulate each other during times of success. Our St Aidan’s community is not just the students and staff. It also includes the Council, the Foundation, the P&F, the Old Girls Association and of course our closest neighbours (geographically speaking), our corporate partners, and our friends. Each of these stakeholders contribute in various ways to help St Aidan’s grow. Each student at St Aidan’s is seen. Each individual is counted. Each girl is encouraged to strive to meet their personal goals.

One example of our commitment to connecting community is the integration of the Japanese school into the St Aidan’s campus. In the most literal, physical sense, we’ve introduced an entire group of people to our space, welcomed people from another part of the world into our own, and vice versa. Inviting these students into our school has given them a new vantage point from which to view Australia, and Australian education. And by the same token, sharing our space with them means our access to Japan, its people and its culture, is more accessible.

Likewise, the approval for the construction of our sporting facilities at Ambiwerra presents a new world of possibilities for the St Aidan’s community. By welcoming the wider Ambiwerra community to use those facilities, we will effectively expand the St Aidan’s community in a mutual exchange. We aim to signal that St Aidan’s is not just a physical place, a collection of buildings, or a place purely for academia. We want to make it clear that we are members of the wider community, and that said, the wider community also belongs to the St Aidan’s family. Our accomplishments aren’t possible without the support of the whole community. The great blessing of a strong community is that it builds itself; when the school receives donations, it results in the kinds of facilities and programs that make up the educational excellence and nurturing environment that St Aidan’s is renowned for. As that reputation grows, more young students and their families wish to join this amazing community, more resources become available to further build the St Aidan’s community, and the cycle continues.

St Aidan’s is many things: a pillar of living faith, a benchmark of educational excellence, a hub of inspiring professionals and the epitome of a nurturing environment. But most of all, it is a strong and vibrant community. The vibrance and focus on connecting community is what allows us to fly together.”

Mr Stephen Green – Chair of St Aidan’s School Council School Council Chair Report – Blueprint Volume 4 January 2023

Foundation

Foundation Chair: Mrs Rachel Condos-Fields

GAICD, AdvDip (Japanese), AdvDip (International Business), GradDip Finance

The St Aidan’s Foundation is an independently run philanthropic arm of the School, founded in 1996 under the leadership of two of the school’s most esteemed supporters and benefactors: the late Ron Archer AM and Bob Templeton. Their visionary inspiration still lives through the Foundation’s ongoing operations. St Aidan’s Foundation Ltd acts as a fundraising body to support the capital program of the school and raises funds to support scholarships for students to attend St Aidan’s.

With school fees covering basic yearly operating costs of St Aidan’s, including staff salaries, administration and school maintenance, the Foundation plays a vital role in the ongoing development of St Aidan’s, especially the provision of innovative and quality facilities.

The Foundation’s Vision is to ensure the best quality educational environment possible is provided for all girls seeking a St Aidan’s education. The Foundation’s Mission is to foster a culture of philanthropy in the school community to generate funding for muchneeded capital projects, and to support the educational aspirations of girls who may not otherwise be able to attend St Aidan’s through the provision of a scholarship and bursary program.

Our fundraising efforts in 2022 focused on the following areas:

• Capital Campaigns contribution towards the development of Ambiwerra sports precinct and Ruthven Street campus

• Friends & Futures Lunch (a joint Foundation and Parents & Friends Association hosted event)

• Corporate Golf Day

• Year 12 High Tea

• Giving Day

Since its establishment, the Foundation has raised over $7 million through events, donations, major gifts and bequests, thanks to the support of our committed school community. This funding has made hundreds of scholarships and bursaries possible, and has contributed to a significant, and ongoing, capital works program.

“It’s been another busy year for the St Aidan’s Foundation as we focus on the development of our sporting facilities and holistic education for the future. First of all, a big thank you to the St Aidan’s community for the generosity and spirit shown towards our 2022 Annual Giving Day – together we raised $252,277. An incredible outcome and something we should all take great pride in. I also want to thank the staff, volunteers, families, friends and corporates who participated in our Golf Day – the feedback has been incredibly positive, and it was great to see such strong diversity of backgrounds, gender and age groups on the day representing the vibrant and diverse community of our school.

As a community, we want St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School to have truly sustainable success allowing future generations of young ladies to feel the joy and be part of that success. To do that, we are asking for your help to leave a legacy that will enable the next generation of St Aidan’s student to fly high. The redevelopment of the Ambiwerra campus can only be made possible with your support. The St Aidan’s Corporate Golf Day held on Friday 5 August at St Lucia Golf Club was another huge success with over 112 players in attendance including Kelli Donnelly, Debbie Grylls, Bronwyn Laidlaw (all former Wallaroo and Red’s players), and Dakota Davidson (a current AFLW Lions player), who formed the Principal’s Invitational team. Over $25,000 was raised on the day for the redevelopment of the Ambiwerra Sports Precinct. We greatly appreciate our generous Hole Sponsors, many of whom were joining us for the second year in a row, and we look forward to their support next year and into the future. It was fantastic to see over three all-female teams and we encourage others in our community to join us next year. It is a casual, fun day for all.”

Mrs

Rachel Condos-Fields – Foundation Chair

P&F Association

P&F President: Mr Reuben Saayman

B.Com, Accounting B.Com (Hons), CPA

The St Aidan’s P&F Association Inc. comprises not only current parents and friends of students enrolled at the School but also many past parents and Old Girls of the School. The P&F operate a network of Support Groups to support the many extracurricular activities enjoyed by the students Parent volunteers in each year level of the School (Parent Ambassadors) are a highly effective liaison between the P&F Association and the School. These parents offer their help to act as ‘liaisons’ between parents and staff for communication and community-building purposes.

The P&F is overseen by an Executive Committee, which consists of President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary, plus the School Principal and a representative from the School Council. The P&F employs paid part time staff to provide services and essential administration. It provides a valuable service of contributing resources and amenities to the School that cannot be generated purely from fees. P&F’s main objective is to pursue and develop an effective partnership between the School, parents and friends to enhance the extracurricular educational opportunities for our students by encouraging and assisting parents’ and friends’ involvement with extracurricular sporting and cultural activities that enrich the educational experiences.

Senior Leadership Team

Principal

Deputy Principal

Chaplain

Director of Business & Operations

SSA

Ms Toni Riordan

BEd, MEd (Leadership), FACEL, MACE, GAICD, FIML

Ms Holly O’Sullivan Williams

BA (Drama), BEd (Secondary), MEd (Research), MEd (Leadership & Mgt), MACE, FACEL

Reverend Gillian Moses

BA, LLB (Hons), BTh (Hons)

Mrs Toni Williams (Company Secretary)

BBus (Accounting), BBus (Information Systems), GAICD, CSA (Cert)

Dean of Studies

Dean of Students

Dean of Research and Engagement

Head of Junior School

Mrs Jo Butterworth

BSc (HMS) App

Mrs Meg Bishop

BEd, MEnv Ed Hons

Ms Karen Madden

BTeach, GradDipEd (RE), MEd (Leadership)

Mrs Jennifer Crome

M.Ed. (Leading and Managing Organisations) BA. Grad DipEd (Primary), Grad DipEd (E.C). Cert. IV in Business. MACEL

Assistant Head of Junior School

Chief Information Officer SSA

Guidance Counsellor

Director of Development and Community

Director of Human Resources

Mr Steve Baker

BEd (Primary)

Mr Greg Anderson BComm (Informatics)

Ms Jennie Robinson

DipT, BEd, MEd (Guidance and Counselling)

Ms Julia McKenna

BBus

Mrs Rosalind Humphrey

BBus (Admin)

Student Leadership

Student leadership is often seen as the domain of the senior year group. At St Aidan’s we encourage students in each year level to stretch their boundaries and strive to reflect, problem-solve, negotiate, make decisions and motivate others.

Throughout the year students are encouraged to engage in the life of the school through participation in sport, music, spiritual and service activities

Form Captains and Vice Captains

Form Captains are elected by Form members at the beginning of each semester in the Senior School and each term in the Junior School (Years 4 – 6).

Student Representative Council (SRC)

Each Form class across Year 4 to Year 12, elects a representative for the year. Elected students attend meetings to discuss issues raised by students. Each representative reports back to her peers on the outcomes of the meetings.

Junior School Leadership

Opportunities for leadership are available to all Year 6 girls.

St Aidan’s believes in the leadership potential of all students and the Junior School has a distributed leadership model in which all girls are given the opportunity to experience a position of responsibility. This provides authentic opportunities for the students to develop their leadership skills.

A Leadership Conference (1 day) is held in the second week of Term 1 at the beginning of Year 6.

All girls, including any new students, have the opportunity to learn more about being a successful leader and creating and participating in effective teams. Guest speakers are invited to address the students, provoking further discussion and opportunities for personal reflection.

Senior School Leadership

To prepare students to take their place in society, St Aidan’s offers many opportunities for the students to take on responsible roles. Leadership skills are developed in various ways through Academic and Social/Emotional Learning and Co-curricular Activities at St Aidan’s.

There are many benefits for our students who embrace the challenge of leadership roles. Our leadership program fosters relationships, personal development and the skills necessary to form and maintain teams. Students who are interested in this area are given assistance, mentoring and the opportunity to reflect on their own unique qualities and talents.

Teamwork is fundamental to the workplace of the 21st century, and our students embrace this co- operative learning with enthusiasm. The St Aidan’s school community commends all students who demonstrated the courage and commitment to participate in the program and congratulates the appointed Senior Leaders for 2023