The two-day event saw more than 100 people from the Sandhurst Diocese gather at St Mel’s Church for a Commissioning Eucharist on Tuesday night which was followed by the conference on Wednesday at Emerald Banks’ Wool Shed in Kialla.
Catholic Education Sandhurst director Paul Desmond said the annual event was a chance to gather the Catholic leaders in a relaxed environment where they were able to reflect on and discuss strategies that would allow them to continue on with their work.
‘‘We get one opportunity in the year to bring all our principals, the priests and importantly the board chairs who are parents within our school community, and we bring them together for some degree of formation and it’s usually around reflecting upon the role that we do — the mission with which we are charged — to work in our schools.’’
Mr Desmond said while some events were aimed more at the principals, he felt it was significant to have parents from the school community in attendance.
‘‘Yes it makes sense to bring the principals together but parents are crucial to successful education, so we try and get them all together so that they can share, get to know each other better and just to be inspired to get on with the year and the business of educating the next generation of young people who are going to be the adults of tomorrow.’’
Also among those in attendance was renowned Australian journalist and ABC presenter Geraldine Doogue, who spoke about leadership with a focus on this year’s conference theme of ‘Listen with the ear of your heart’.
Mr Desmond said throughout the conference Ms Doogue shared experiences and knowledge while speaking in a way that engaged the audience.
‘‘She is a remarkable personality, she is very skilled, she’s very intelligent, she’s entertaining, her background in journalism and being an ABC presenter is evident in the way she’ll stand at the microphone for example and say ‘well what do you think?’ and suddenly you find yourself talking about things that you may not normally have contributed to,’’ he said.
‘‘She has that skill to draw people into a conversation.’’
Ms Doogue said she was delighted to be invited to speak throughout the conference and share some of her life experiences.
‘‘It’s an honour to be invited — I feel quite humbled by the work they do — in many ways these people are the emerging leaders of the church. They’re the front window and they do fantastic on-the-ground work,’’ she said.
Ms Doogue said she felt the conference had been an excellent tool for those around the Goulburn Valley to mix and gain inspiration.
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