Sacred Heart College was recently recognised in The Educator’s 5-star Excellence Awards as a national Employer of Choice. The College was the only school recognised from WA and one of only 18 schools from a variety of associations across the nation.
The Educator 5-star Employer of Choice award recognises schools who have developed initiatives to reward, motivate, engage and acknowledge their staff. As a recipients of this award, Sacred Heart College demonstrated how they put the wellbeing of staff first and promoted an inclusive workplace culture.
Our purpose at Sacred Heart College is to “develop our students to respond to Jesus by striving for personal excellence, having the courage of their convictions and being active agents of change”. Our staff and students achieve this through modelling the College values of Compassion, Courage and Respect.
The College employs 180 staff with a 10-year average tenure and a 2.5% annual turnover rate. The success of Sacred Heart College and its students is directly linked to the dedicated, innovative, kind and professional teaching and non-teaching staff. The College has strong staff engagement, achieved through initiatives such as a very active Social Club; focus on health and wellbeing led by a committee; and the recognition of health and wellbeing for all staff by a calendared Wellbeing Day throughout the year. The College is dedicated to fostering an environment of inclusivity for all students and staff and this is supported through a spiritual mission to the Kimberley region of WA and faith formation days.
Mrs Christina Schrader, Human Resources Advisor at Sacred Heart College, said “the College is a workplace that walks the talk and staff really model the College values daily. As an employer, our College has a strong brand reputation and attracts high calibre potential employees who want to work at the College. It’s exciting and rewarding to be part of the Sacred Heart College community”.
Staff regularly recognise and celebrate each other’s achievements by our monthly reward and recognition program: ‘Hunting the Good Stuff’. This is a great way to capture the small things that make a difference everyday.
The College is an advocate of professional development for all staff. Over the years, the College has invested time and money into developing graduate teachers, middle leaders and senior leaders. The College has a weekly time allocation for staff to attend professional development and covers various Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) topics.
The College leads by being inclusive and reciprocal to the new ideas of staff; as a College we are always looking for more innovative ways of working and educating students. Staff will often comment that our College Executive team are readily accessible, supportive and willing to listen. Our College readily seeks feedback from all staff and gain their support to drive many of our College initiatives.
Sacred Heart College Principal Mr Leo Di Gregorio said “we are honoured to receive this award which was only possible because of our outstanding, hardworking and dedicated staff. Congratulations to our amazing teachers and support staff.”
