I would like to begin by thanking you for your support of our campaign for fair state funding. The CEB leadership has been actively engaging with candidates from the major political parties and I met with the VCEA for further discussion last week. The petition is an important part of our campaign, and every signature helps. If you are comfortable doing so, I encourage you to sign the paper petition at your school or office. The petition will close on Friday, 6 November, with schools and offices asked to return the completed petitions to the Catholic Education Ballarat office the following Monday ready to be shared with the Victorian Labor Party. If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to watch my video explaining the campaign, it’s now available as a podcast too. We want Catholic education to remain an affordable option for every Victorian family. 

Today, I spent time with leaders, teachers and students at Our Lady Help of Christians Primary School Warrnambool, St Joseph’s Primary School Warrnambool and St Patrick’s Primary Koroit. It is always a delight to spend time in our schools and to see firsthand the leadership of students and teachers in driving improvement. I will also be meeting with principals from across our diocese at our termly DLG meeting in Horsham on Thursday. Our focus will be on sharing best practices and innovative approaches across our schools, harnessing the breadth and diversity of our network to learn from one another as we strive to become a leading educational system, the DOBCEL way. 

I leave you with a thought-provoking think piece from Professor Pasi Sahlberg and William Doyle. I recommend taking the time to read it. In it, the authors advocate for the use of a child-focused, rights-based approach to addressing both the benefits and challenges of digital technology in childhood. The article appears in a report jointly developed by UNICEF and EdTech Hub, referenced below.  

With best wishes,

Tom Sexton
Executive Director

Reference: United Nations Children’s Fund and EdTech Hub, Shaping the Future of Digital Education: A global conversation on how to move beyond digital as usual, UNICEF, New York, 2026. 

The Feast of All Saints Day - 1 November

This Sunday the Catholic community celebrates the Feast of All Saints Day. The Gospel reading for the weekend masses was the well-known story of “The Beatitudes” (Matthew 5:1-12).

During Pope Francis’ 2018 All Saints Day address, he stated that we are called "to seek holiness not by accomplishing extraordinary things but by following the path of the Beatitudes in everyday life". He proclaimed that:

"We are united not only with the saints of the calendar but also with our 'next door' saints - our relatives and acquaintances who are now part of that immense multitude. All Saints Day is a family feast, because the saints, our truest brothers and sisters, love us, know what is our true good, help us, await us and want us to be happy with them in heaven."

The Beatitudes challenge us to do better and be better, spurred on by the saints, cheering us on from the sidelines so that we choose to live our lives more humbly, more mercifully and more peacefully. May we be inspired by the saints and those who have gone before us to live our lives as “next door saints” in accordance with the message of the Beatitudes and the words of Pope Francis.

All Saints and All Souls Day prayer

At this time each year, we focus on the great communion of saints:
- On All Saints Day, the wonderful company of saints we know as part of the reality of our Catholic tradition. 
- On All Souls Day, all those who have died – friends, colleagues, relatives, others whom we have known, worked with, laughed with, wept with and walked with.

Many of them are not famous. Their statues are not in churches, but their pictures are in our homes and their stories alive in our community, and in us.  We know of their goodness and their struggles.  We now pray for them, and remember them with love, celebrating in their journey to God, now within the great communion of saints. 

Prayer for World Teacher’s Day - 30 October

Loving God, we thank you for the teachers who are shaping the lives of the students in their care. We value the role they play in our society and hope they feel loved and supported. We thank them for their selfless dedication to the vocation of teaching. 

We pray for their welfare, so they have the strength and courage to stay strong when it may sometimes feel too difficult and challenging. We pray that our teachers continue to find joy in their work so that they can bring the best of themselves to work each day.

God of Justice, help and support teachers in their special calling, wherever they teach and whatever obstacles they must face. 

We pray these things in the name of our great teacher, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Dr Helen Haines (MP)

Fr Frank Brennan SJ AO, Adjunct Professor of Thomas More Law School at ACU and Adjunct Research Professor at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, in his homily last Sunday reflects on the devastating attack on Helen Haines.

Read the homily via this link.

Invitation to Social Justice Statement webinar

The annual Mass honouring priests celebrating a Jubilee of Ordination to the Priesthood will be held at 5pm on Tuesday, 10 November 2026, at St Patrick's Cathedral, Ballarat.

This year's clergy jubilarians are:

• Fr Dan Arundell and Fr Damien Heath - 70 years of priestly ministry
• Fr Denis Ryan - 40 years of priestly ministry
• Fr Marcello Colasante - 25 years of priestly ministry

Bishop Mark Freeman will be the principal celebrant, joined by the jubilarian priests as concelebrants.

All are warmly invited to attend this special celebration and give thanks for the dedicated service of these priests to the Church and the Diocese of Ballarat.

Members of parishes across the Diocese who would like to join the choir for the Mass are welcome to participate. A choir rehearsal will be held at 6.15 pm on Sunday, 8 November 2026, at St Patrick's Cathedral, following the 5pm Mass.

Student Agency: learning together across our system 

Student Agency has long taken different forms across our schools. Our system-wide Student Agency initiative has provided an opportunity to bring those experiences together, explore new possibilities and learn alongside students and colleagues from across DOBCEL. 

Over the past year, schools have been exploring what student agency looks like in their own contexts, learning with students and from one another. The upcoming showcases provide an opportunity to bring that learning together and hear directly from students and educators about their experiences, reflections and emerging practice. 

With Dr Jean Stiles now in Australia, this week’s DLG provides another opportunity for principals to engage with Jean and continue the conversation about student agency as we look ahead to the showcases. 

Registrations for the Student Agency Showcases are open. All event details and registration information are available in Canvas. 

St Alipius Parish School's Art Show

Last week we celebrated our 2026 St Alipius Art Show. The Art Show was a culmination of a year of work within our Visual Arts space. Students have been working on various art pieces, all connected to learning and themes throughout 2026. The Art Show began with a Taiko Drum performance for our community, performed by students in the Taiko Club as part of our Japanese program. Family and friends then made their way through the school to view the galleries. As we encountered each artwork, we took a moment to wonder, to feel inspired and to celebrate the ways art connects us with one another, with creation and with the fullness of life.

Sustainability Day at St Patrick's Primary School

St Patrick's Parish Primary School in Ballarat recently celebrated Sustainability Day with a focus on the theme "Energy". Students explored different forms of energy and learned how to use them responsibly through a range of hands-on activities. Highlights included launching rockets, creating paper helicopters and participating in energetic physical challenges, making for a fun and educational day of discovery.

Catholic Identity & Mission online professional learning for Term 4

This week, Thursday 29 October, we are happy to engage you in another exploration of the Catholic sacramental world view through poetry.  All Religious Education teachers as well as any other teachers would benefit from this session, running from 3:45pm - 4:45pm. The link for the session Poetry & the Sacramental World View is included in the PDF below. 

Next week, on Thursday 5 November, join us for Foundations and Renovations: The Story of the Catholic Church. We will explore the connections between Judaism and the early Christians and look at the development of the Catholic faith and major events of the Church. The session is suited to any member of staff who wishes to be more informed about the Catholic Church and its development over time. It is a repeat of the session run in 2025 and will run from 3:45pm - 4:45pm. The link is included in the PDF below. 

Those who need to maintain accreditation to teach or lead RE will be able to apply for one hour towards this via TAP. 

2027 Professional Learning Guide – new version now available! 

We’re pleased to share a new version of the 2027 Professional Learning and Events Guide, featuring a wide range of professional learning programs, events, and networks for all DOBCEL team members across our schools and offices. 

• New – SZ & CZ Digital Leaders Network 
• New – DOBCEL Artificial Intelligence Webinar Series 
• New – DOBCEL Artificial Intelligence Working Party 

Schools are encouraged to share the guide widely so all team members can explore upcoming opportunities. Updated versions will be released as new programs are added or details change. 

In the coming weeks, events will be added and available on the PL Program and Calendar page on the DOBCEL website for easy registration where events are utilising the TryBooking platform. Please check dates, times, and venues before booking. 

La Trobe University research partnership 

All schools participating in the Flare Guided Literacy Improvement initiative have agreed to take part in the DOBCEL / La Trobe University research partnership. 

It is important that families are informed about the partnership and given the opportunity to opt out of their child’s participation in the study, should they wish to do so. 

Please personalise this letter to reflect your school and ensure it is shared with all families enrolling new students for 2027. The letter will be circulated again early in the new year; however, many schools choose to include it in their enrolment packages or end-of-year correspondence to ensure families receive this information as early as possible. 

2027 Primary Mathematics Leaders Network 

Our upcoming 2027 network dates are available and so you are invited to mark these on your calendars and register to ensure you are included in these valuable professional learning opportunities! Every early registration before Week 8 goes into a prize draw.

Term 1 dates and registration links:

• Ss Michael & John Primary School, Horsham | 12 February 2027 (9.30am-2.30pm) | Register here
• St John's Primary School, Dennington | 12 February 2027 (9.30am-2.30pm) | Register here
• St Mary's Primary School, Robinvale | 26 February 2027 (9.30am-2.30pm) | Register here
• Lumen Christi Primary School, Delacombe | 26 February 2027 (9.30am-2.30pm) | Register here

These are in-person gatherings to foster the trust, relationship-building and deep collaboration necessary to drive real system-wide mathematics outcomes. We appreciate the effort and commitment required to make this possible and for 2027 this will set the network up for success online in future sessions. 

There will be further information closer to each event in the DOBCEL newsletter.

Watch the brief video messages of Lauren Spicer (St Alipius Parish School, Ballarat East) and Thea Hubble (St Patrick's Primary School, Ballarat) for a brief introduction, and click the registration links embedded directly within the PDF at the bottom of the article to secure your place. 

Lauren Spicer | St Alipius Parish School, Ballarat East

Thea Hubble | St Patrick's Primary School, Ballarat

DS2035 – Stay connected to the Strategy

• Listen to the podcast - Towards 2035
• DOBCEL Strategy 2035 – Full Document (PDF)
• Strategy Portal – Resources, videos, and key messages
• CIRP Page – Details and application form
• Canvas for Student Agency - Resources and recordings from the Student Agency sessions
• DS2035 In Practice - Collaborative Cultures

Learning & Teaching

• EAL Professional Learning
• Primary Leaders of Learning Network – Register now for Term 4

People & Development

• Term 4 Professional Learning offers
• Professional Learning Guide 2026
• Staff Wellbeing Guide & Resources
• Leadership Competency Framework
• DOBCEL Professional Learning and Events Guide 2027
• New Learning Management System 2027 resource

Career Opportunities

• Careers at DOBCEL
• Teachers On Net