News & Events

Dear Friends and families of St Paul’s

School Board – School Advisory Council – Council Chair

Over recent years with a number of changes occurring within Edmund Rice Education Australia and its governance of schools across the country our School Board changed its name and structure to a School Advisory Council (SAC.)

In a specific sense this meant that our school is not a legal identity in itself but rather governed by EREA. This changes the nature and purpose of the Council to that of an advisory nature. This does not demean the Council’s purpose and effectiveness as opposed to removing liability for the College.

Over the last two years the EREA governance structure has changed also and while the Trustees of Edmund Rice Australia (TEREA) have the ultimate responsibility for all EREA entities we as St Paul’s are immediately governed by Edmund Rice Colleges Ltd. This entity includes all the Colleges in SA, Qld, WA, and Tas. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is Mr Christopher Wooley who is based in Queensland.

Recently our school Advisory Council has changed Chairs. Previously we had an old scholar, Mr Chris Edge, as our Chair. The Edge family (4 boys attended St Paul’s) have made an exceptional contribution to the College and Chris himself was an amazing support to both me personally and the College during some difficult and challenging times. I cannot thank Chris enough for his guidance and support over his time as Chair. He stayed on much longer than he was supposed to and saw us through the completion of the MacKillop building and into our new era as a co-educational College.

The new Chair of the SAC is Mrs. Catherine Greenley. Catherine is a former National Director of Governance in EREA and has always been a huge supporter and advocate for St Paul’s. We are delighted she has taken on this responsibility. The official letter of appointment from our CEO Mr Chris Wooley can be found here.

National Referendum

As everyone would be aware Australia is in the middle of a national debate regarding the upcoming Referendum. As a College, we would not normally get involved in politics and represent any particular side of a debate. This referendum is no different in that it is generating much debate and controversy given the extremely sensitive nature of the debate. Our EREA CEO has forwarded a letter to all EREA College Ltd schools and that can be found here.

R U OK Day

This week is the national R U OK Day. This is a tremendous initiative and so especially important not only at St Paul’s but also in the broader community. We pride ourselves here at St Paul’s on our pastoral care for our students, but occasionally we feel that even so, it is never enough. Life becomes more challenging for all of us, staff, students, and families. We do our absolute best work when our three-way partnership (student, family, and school) is not only on the same page but are incredibly open and honest in sharing all relevant information that can help us all support students.

Hence, we do hope that everyone is ok, and that students and families have confidence in the College in its total commitment to supporting each other through any difficulties. Please talk to us.

Take Care, God Bless

Paul Belton