As Board Chairman, I am privileged to have the opportunity to share a little about the College from the position of the Board. Through these challenging times as we manage our day-to-day lives, while dealing with the continuing lockdowns, I am proud to say that (despite multiple disruptions) we have continued to focus on delivering the highest level of schooling to all Ballarat Christian College students.

This year, we have been blessed with new innovative teaching and administration staff.  This in turn has provided the opportunity to develop new programs, improve College processes and extend grounds works.  This has embodied significant work on developing the creek area into a more useable and attractive area of the College. We have provided more grassed areas, a new bridge, added a chicken coop and chickens, plus redeveloped the vegetable gardens into a more productive resource. In an age where individuals are increasingly more disconnected from the production process, this allows students to have hands on experience which will enrich their learning and provide skills towards a brighter future. 

While building the Neville Hawkins Wing in 2019 required we remove the old flagpole in that area, we were able to replace this with three flagpoles at the front of the College; this has given us the opportunity to fly the Australian, Aboriginal, and College flags together.

It is valuable for all those connected to the College to have an understanding into how the College Board functions. This enhances the College’s transparency. Board meetings are held monthly from February to November.  Pre-COVID-19, these meetings were held at the College, but in line with restrictions and current trends, we have been meeting more recently via video conferencing. The Board currently has seven members but is working towards increasing this number to the permitted nine members. Parents are a crucial part of Board membership, and we currently have three Board members who are parents of students attending the College.

We have a very strong and diverse group of Board members covering a broad range of skills and knowledge. The current Board members are myself as Board Chairman, Randall Dreger-Deputy Chairman, Lorraine Firth, Chris Duke, Jodie Rickard, Amy Lewis, and Pastor Tim Clark.

The College Principal and Business Manager are ex-officio members of the Board, they do not have voting rights but attend meetings, provide updates and input to Board decision making.

Board meetings focus on strategic issues, leaving the operational running of the College to the Principal and his highly skilled team.   Board meetings cover agenda items such as the ‘Principal’s monthly report’, incoming and outgoing correspondence, ‘Finance and Risk Management Committee report’, ‘Child Safety report’, and updates on progress occurring in line with the Strategic Plan. 

There are three committees of the Board. 

   • The Executive Committee (comprised of Board Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Principal, Business Manager) meets quarterly to discuss high level College direction.

   • The Property Committee meets quarterly and is focused on the Property Master Plan, new building works and property improvements.

   • The Finance and Risk Management Committee meets monthly (the week prior to the Board meetings) and reviews budget performance and finance-related issues, as well as risk management.

The 2020 Strategic Plan was developed in 2019 and it covers the period between 2020 – 2022.  The Strategic Plan, although owned by the Board, is developed jointly between the College Executive Team and the Board. The current Strategic Plan has been focused on development of the Property Master Plan, development of the new Year 9 program and the introduction of composite classes in the Primary school. 

A key component of this Strategic Plan is the building of a VCE/Resource Centre designed to replace the old VCE buildings and to be a new home for our Library. It is planned that this will incorporate study spaces for senior secondary students, open areas, a multi-purpose classroom, as well as the new Library. While this building will not be built in the period of the current Strategic Plan, we hope to complete the planning and funding components of the project within that timeframe.

I would like to thank all our parents and students for their hard work, resilience, and support in what can be described as unprecedented times. To the College staff who continue to work tirelessly and show exceptional flexibility through difficult circumstances, I thank them on behalf of the Board.

Ross Coventry - Board Chairman