Building schools we can all be proud of, the Victorian Catholic Primary Principal Association (VACPSP) celebrate principal leadership by supporting the Australian John Laing Awards.

Catholic primary principals in Victoria, as with all principals across Australia accept the daily challenge of supporting all students to flourish and thrive. In 2018 and 2017, a principal from a regional city (Geelong 2018), and three principals of small Catholic primary schools (Grampians Region of Western Victoria 2017) broke through their own glass ceilings of specific entrenched disadvantage to achieve substantial student learning outcomes.

The achievements of the schools, students and the community have been recognised and celebrated by the principal education community at the annual John Laing Awards. The national John Laing Awards were set up in 2004 in honour of John Laing, a former Tasmanian school principal who worked for Principal Australian Institute (then the Australian Principals Association Professional Development Council) in 1993. He was the driving force behind the first cross-sectoral professional learning projects for all principals in Australia and was a pioneer in recognising excellence in educational learning for school leaders. The John Laing Awards are now coordinated by each State principal association to continue to celebrate learning and leadership.

Christ the King Newcombe, from a low socio-economic area in Geelong, embraced a STEM environment with a focus on Lego. The trinity of principals in the Grampians Region of Western Victoria focused on breaking down isolation and the tyranny of distance by embracing the digital world with staff, including shared google drive planning folders for staff meetings, teachers working in individual schools on team planning and collaborating via live video streaming.

Each of the three Catholic schools in Casterton, Coleraine and Edenhope are small rural schools with often only one or two teachers working together. The initiative brings together on a regular basis working, planning and learning together. This team utilized video conferencing technology, shared planning process and a strategy of professional learning communities to bring about change of culture, learning and student outcomes. This work has been celebrated for innovation, diversity in learning and bridging the tyranny of distance in regional Victoria.

In Geelong, the focus was on encouraging young students from a disadvantaged community to take to the world. Christ the King school has recently taken out two international awards at the International First Lego League Competition in Debrecen, Hungary in 2018. These awards included first place for Core Values Teamwork category and the Adult Coach Mentor Award. This international recognition for the school’s work in the area of STEM, specifically Lego Robotics, comes on top of a National Award in Sydney in 2017, taking out the Inspiration Award and a State Award in Melbourne for the Research award in 2016. The principal’s passion for personalising learning and teaching and her belief that students should not be defined by their circumstances has been the driving force behind her vision for Christ the King.

Christ the King 'Cre8te the Future' team (left to right) William Scott, Joshua Walpole, James Sells and Makaira Le calibrating the robot in preparation for the competition. Picture: Alison Wynd Geelong Advertiser.