President’s message
Good Gracious Me, Would You Look at the Calendar.
How is it July?
How is it that we are halfway through a school year without the government mandated interruptions of lockdowns and remote learning?
How is it that the COVID years we, as Victorians (sorry Tassie brethren, but you’ll never quite understand) experienced have made way to an even more frantic scrap for time and resources than what we experienced in our months and years spent at home?
How is it that this is the first full newsletter of the year?
Maybe it’s got something to do with that last point about the time and resources…
Thank you Vic/Tas members of Educate Plus for your continued engagement and support of our organisation and its mission to bring us together to collaborate, share and ride a rising tide together. Personally, I’ve found the return to a ‘normal’ school year to be pretty taxing, as the three campuses of my school, Woodleigh, on the beautiful Mornington Peninsula play catch up with our community. Press the flesh, bring them in, build them up and show them all the love they missed over the past two years.
But I find energy, insight, inspiration and camaraderie in all of you; my friends and colleagues from across Victoria and Tasmania, who, driving that rising tide, produce and share their wonderful work, their creative solutions to common problems, and the understandings that they have toiled hard to make, in the same manner they would share photos of a newborn babe. Proudly, openly, and with joy.
New Beginnings, With a Familiar Face
We began the year with the appointment of a new CEO, Mandy McFarland – and it was a great beginning. In a sector where nice people are the norm, and superhuman work ethics are almost a prerequisite, Mandy has always still managed to stand out. An incredible networker and impeccably organised and strategic thinker, Mandy will be well known to many in the Vic/Tas community for her tireless service to the WA chapter and organisational board over the years. Having worked with Mandy for the past 6 months, all I can say is that the Educate Plus organisation and name are well held in the present, with tremendous scope for growth, innovation, and well-researched development in the coming years. Congratulations Mandy on an incredibly busy, successful, and purposeful first six months in the role!
Chapter Times
As a Chapter, we began the year back at our Networking Drinks event on March 17 at the Garden State Hotel in Melbourne. Thank you to our event sponsors, Spectrum Analysis for supporting this wonderful catch up for us Melbournite’s. The CBD was bustling, the company spectacular, and we look forward to our end of year drinks event to catch up again and share war stories with old friends and new.
And whilst it’s poor grammatical form to start a sentence, and even worse, a paragraph with ‘and’, the talk of friends old and new, has me thinking back to the thrice postponed International Conference in Adelaide which we were finally able to go ahead with in May.
A Celebration!
Adelaide’s Reignite Conference felt like a celebration. A celebration of the Advancement community, its people, the work it does and the impact of that work on the communities we serve. Former Educate Plus CEO Neil McWhannell used to proselytise about EdPlus Conferences along the lines that, if you took home two, three, maybe four good ideas, that you could implement at your home ground, then it was time and money well spent. My count from Adelaide far exceeded that – and I again return to the pride, joy and freedom with which our Vic/Tas speakers, leaders and award winners shared their work with the rest of the gathered crowd. Not only were our chapter members incredibly well-represented on the ground, but our State and Territory colleagues were very well represented in the awards category, both as winners and highly commended submissions.
Congratulations to the following schools whose work was judged as elite amongst our international membership.
Category – Marketing Online – WINNER: Old Scotch Collegians
Category – Fundraising Capital Campaigns/Major Gifts – WINNER: The Hutchins School
Category – Fundraising Annual Giving – WINNERS: Geelong Grammar School and Scotch Oakburn College
Category – Alumni Campaign – WINNER: Caulfield Grammar School
Category – Admissions Publication – WINNER: Strathcona Girls Grammar
Category – Admissions Publication – WINNER: Strathcona Girls Grammar
Category – Admissions Campaign – WINNER: Scotch Oakburn College
The Adelaide conference’s chief award winner, and the Big Kahuna of all who share and lead a rising tide, was our friend, mentor, colleague and stalwart of the Brighton Grammar community, John Phillips.
John was recognised for his role in ‘advancing advancement’ across the Australian education sector with Educate Plus’ most significant individual honour, the Trevor Wigney Award.
When Ann Badger says things about you like: At all times (John) is focused on building fundraising expertise and best practice around Australia and helping to lift educational philanthropy. Then an award such as this shouldn’t come as a surprise.
However, this “enthusiastic learner and innovator, (who has) successfully tried fresh approaches and new ideas including giving days and sponsorship, (who is) is a passionate advocate for philanthropy, education, giving days, Indigenous Scholarships and focusing on people”, couldn’t have been more humbled by this recognition. Thank you, Ann for your erudite appraisal, and thank you, John. We commend you on this most well-earned recognition of your work at Brighton and beyond.
As I mentioned earlier, the Vic/Tas representation in Adelaide was high and hearty, with Victorians and Tasmanians enthusiastically supporting the sectors biggest PD opportunity in almost four years. Our Chapter Drinks event at The Lady Burra Brewhouse was a huge success. Special thanks to Vic/Tas Chapter Secretary and Head of Foundation at St Leonards College, Roz Holloway, for doing so much of the organising. I and the 70+ guests other we had on the night missed you and Chapter Vice President Maria Mercuri too!
As those of us who were fortunate enough head back to work with our heads full of new ideas and added zeal to advocate our ideas, campaigns and proposals, we shouldn’t sit on our PD laurels. Among the many activities planned for the remainder of 2022 is our upcoming Regional PD Event on Thursday 11 August. The keynote speaker at this event is former SAS Troop Commander, Mark Wales, speaking on ‘The power of entrepreneurial spirit, leadership & performance’. I hope you can make it down the highway to The Geelong College to hear Mark use examples from his experience in Special Operations, startups, and McKinsey & Company to pass on tactical tips you can use to improve your leadership and drive results.
Enjoy your work,
Adam Liddiard F.EdPlus
VIC/TAS Chapter President
VIC/TAS Chapter Dinner – REIGNITE Conference
