This week is Catholic Education Week. One of the aspects of this is that our Diocese gives us the opportunity to nominate someone exceptional for the ‘Spirit of Catholic Education’ Award. This goes to someone who embodies what Catholic Education is all about and has done the ‘heavy lifting’ on this over a significant period. There are always a number of nominations across the Diocese with one of those worthy people getting the Award. The Shalom community was very pleased to nominate our Deputy Principal, Elizabeth Austin-Campbell for this Award. Sadly, Elizabeth has decided to conclude her time at Shalom in December this year after a very long career at a number of Catholic Schools. Elizabeth came to Shalom in 2010 as Assistant Principal for Student Well Being. This was a pivotal time in our history as a school, as we had just made the decision to move from having Year Level structured Pastoral Care to a House system. We love what the House system brings to Shalom and I don’t know anyone, in their right mind, would consider going back to what we had. That said, initially, change was not popular. Not only did Elizabeth shepherd in the changes, she led an approach to student well being that was different. She was ready to work with young people and to take into consideration their circumstances and to look at why they made the decisions that they did. She held students, and staff, to higher standards but standards that were rooted in the values of the Gospel rather than a much simpler view of ‘law & order’ issues.

Elizabeth has always worked hard, whenever possible, to find ‘win / win’ solutions. She always tried to bend with young people rather than break them. All of those approaches are part of our daily life at Shalom now, but that was not always the case. There were those who thought Elizabeth was not ‘tough enough’ or being faithful to the ‘traditions’ of Shalom. But she persisted and ensured that Shalom lived out the best of tradition within a school of which Catherine McAuley, Edmund Rice and Jesus would be proud. And she has been a great teacher in her years at Shalom. She has taught English and Religion and done so professionally and well (sometimes finding that the best way to a young person’s mind was through Friday chocolate treats!) At the end of this year, Catholic Education will lose a real champion in Elizabeth Austin-Campbell. She is an absolute legend. She certainly deserves our thanks. She would richly deserve to be awarded the ‘Spirit of Catholic Education’. To my enormous surprise, she was not chosen as the recipient this year by our Diocese but that does not lessen her contribution to Shalom or to St John Fisher College or St Patrick’s College Shorncliffe where she made a really positive difference in the lives of so many young people.

School Fees 2025 & beyond – as has been mentioned previously, the Diocese is significantly reviewing the school fee structure in all of our schools. There will be schools in our Diocese who will see more changes and more significant changes than will Shalom. We already have, largely, an ‘all inclusive fee’. This will take a step forward next year when we include the cost of the school provided laptop. The family rebate for families with children in other Diocesan Catholic schools will also change. The school building fund contribution, which up to now, has been one fee for a family within Catholic Education, will become a levy per student. Overall, we expect that the increase in school fees at Shalom will not rise significantly. The final figure will be confirmed by the Diocese later this year. The payment of school fees is crucial for our survival as a school. We will always work hard to ensure that Shalom is a school, financially accessible, to every family. Please look at the information flyer provided to us by the Diocese:

Shalom College is pleased to partner  with The University of Queensland and Queensland Health to conduct The Queensland Child Oral Health Study (QCOHS) 2021-24. This is an opportunity for a free dental check-up at school while helping dental care research in Queensland.

Students aged 12 to 14 years, in grades 7 to 9, will be randomly selected to participate, and families will be asked to fill out an online questionnaire as a part of the process.  

The invitation emails will be sent to parents shortly. Your participation in this project is voluntary and you are free to withdraw from the research at any time. 

If you would like your child to participate in the study, please follow the links in the invitation email to complete the consent form and online questionnaire. The research team will be in contact with you to confirm when the dental check-ups will occur.

Mr Dan McMahon
Principal
mcmahond@shalomcollege.com