Create The Change – Jennifer Oaten
During art school, an artist by the name of Phil Hansen developed a tremor in his hand that kept him from creating the pointillist drawings (drawings made of points) that he loved. Hansen was devastated until a neurologist made a simple suggestion, embrace this limitation. Embrace the shake and see where it takes you. Be open to new and different ways of thinking about art. Create the change.
This was the opening video shared with staff, encouraging them to think differently, to realise they as individuals have many creative ideas which could improve Santa Maria College. I encourage everyone to watch this video; what he has been able to achieve is quite remarkable.
Microsoft’s Satya Nadella saysÂ
"It's time to move away from cultures that promote consistency and conformity, to more flexible cultures that celebrate and draw on employees' signature strengths and quirks. Doing so should help organisations develop the flexibility, processes and innovations required to survive and compete in the coming years".
Santa Maria College is currently a leading girls’ school, and we want this to be the case in 2025 and beyond. We are now venturing into our strategic planning process for our 2021 – 2023 College Strategic Plan with this goal in sight. We started the process of consultation with staff, at our professional learning day on Monday, devoting our first session to sharing ideas about the future of the College.
In our session, called ‘Create the Change’, all members of staff were required to bring their ‘big idea’ to the workshop. Their ideas had no boundaries. Staff firstly shared their ideas with a partner, in order to make it even better. They then heard from their colleagues about their ideas, all of which were aimed at improving the College.
The final stage involved linking these big ideas back to the six components of our current Strategic Plan:
- Ethos
- Learning
- Students
- Staff
- Community
- Resources
In developing the path forward in any organisation, it is vital that all members of the community have a voice and their voice is valued. In a school, that means staff, students and parents. We want all of our Santa Maria community to be a part of this exciting journey; there is no better time than now to #CreateTheChange.
Exploring the Artistic Universe of Isabelle de Kleine (2011)
From childhood, Isabelle de Kleine’s talent flourished, guided by the supportive Art department into the renowned artist she is today.
What A Term! So Many Opportunities – Jennifer Oaten
As I look back on the past nine weeks, I am so grateful for who we are as a community and what we have achieved. Through the dedication of our staff and the enthusiasm of our students, we have established new connections, immersed ourselves in opportunities and worked through challenges.
From the President: April 2024
President Gemma Varone, welcomes you to the April edition of the OGA Blog.
- CreateTheChange, Featured
Author: Santa Maria College
Santa Maria College is a vibrant girls school with a growing local presence and reputation. Our Mission is to educate young Mercy women who act with courage and compassion to enrich our world. Santa Maria College is located in Attadale in Western Australia, 16 km from the Perth CBD. We offer a Catholic education for girls in Years 5 – 12 and have 1300 students, including 152 boarders.
