Strategic Plan 2023
Up until the start of this year, the College had two three-year strategic plans (2017-19 and 2020- 22) that successfully guided us through the planning and development that was required for a new school. Underpinning these two plans were the mission and vision statements which provided an overall guide for our planning. The Mission was a statement of how St Bede’s would look and feel and read, ‘Inspired by Jesus Christ, St Bede’s Catholic College nurtures a vibrant and welcoming community; Seeking knowledge and realising gifts through persistence and collaboration; Living the Gospel in word and action’. The Vision was a statement of how students would leave St Bede’s which read, ‘Students will leave St Bede’s Catholic College as confident, resilient and reflective young adults, embracing learning, searching for truth and living their faith in a contemporary world’. The four domains had clear objectives and strategies as a way of achieving this Mission and Vision. These domains were Catholic Formation and Mission, Learning, Leadership, and Wellbeing and Partnerships.
With St Bede’s now a fully developed Year 7 -12 school, the need for three-year strategic plans are no longer required and have now been replaced by annual plans. Below is the 2022 St Bede’s Annual Plan. Within this plan, there are two main goals that are now being actioned. Goal 1 reads, By the end of 2023, we will redevelop and implement the College Mission and Vision Statement that aligns to the four pillars of Knowledge, Courage, Faith, and Community. Goal 2 reads, By the end of 2023, students will be empowered to be more connected and engaged with their learning, as evidenced in pedagogical practices, student feedback, learning walks and talks, and professional learning activities. The College’s Annual Plan aligns to the Maitland Newcastle’s Diocesan three-year Strategic Plan which is also below.
St Bede’s Strategic Improvement Plan 2023
Central to this Strategic Plan is a clearly stated Mission and Vision Statement. The Mission Statement summarises what St Bede’s will look like as we grow together. It reads, ‘Inspired by Jesus Christ, St Bede’s Catholic College nurtures a vibrant and welcoming community; Seeking knowledge and realising gifts through persistence and collaboration; Living the Gospel in word and action’. The 2023 Vision Statement articulates our goal for our graduating class of 2023 when they depart St Bede’s as exemplary role models to the students who will follow them.
The Vision Statement reads, ‘Students will leave St Bede’s Catholic College as confident, resilient and reflective young adults, embracing learning, searching for truth and living their faith in a contemporary world’.
The four key domains that enable both the Mission and Vision Statements to become a lived reality are Catholic Formation and Mission, Leadership, Learning, and Service. Each of these domains have a list of very clearly stated objectives and adjoining strategies that act as a guide in the effective implementation of the plan. Embedded in all aspects of the Foundation Plan are the four underlying Gospel values of love, truth, compassion, and justice.
As a way of giving expression, meaning and sustainability to this Strategic Plan, a Visual Identity was developed and launched at the start of 2018. Within this diagram, four key pillars - courage, faith, knowledge and community - were identified as being the essence of life at St Bede’s Catholic College. These four pillars had their origins in the four student houses of Benedict, Dominic, Marion and McAuley. The four pillars are all interconnected and linked back to the College’s motto of Shine with Christ’s Glory, which in turn is linked back to the Maitland Newcastle’s Diocesan’s Vision ‘At the heart of everything is always Jesus Christ’.
