ALL SAINTS' College, Maitland, will take steps toward merging its two campuses following recommendations made by an independent review.
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The review, which provided "a series of impartial recommendations by education experts" was conducted by former executive director of Catholic Schools for the Archdiocese of Sydney Dr Dan White and former government school principal Ms Terry O'Brien.
Currently All Saints' is separated into St Mary's senior campus and St Peter's, a 7-10 campus. Key among the recommendations is for the college "to be situated on a single campus by no later than 2026".
The review recommends using St Peter's, supplemented by land purchases and capital works, as a 7-12 campus. CEO of the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese Sean Scanlon welcomed the findings.
"There is still work to be done, including a master planning study around situating the college on one campus and the establishment of an implementation committee, this planning will happen early next year," Mr Scanlon said.
"We want to ensure the college, and notably its students, are set up for success both short and long-term and to ensure that happens, one of the other key recommendations is a return to a five-day week for senior students."
The current structure of study for years 11-12 at St Mary's sees the students provided with a 'flexible learning day' for exams, excursions, planning, one-on-one support, cultural experiences and off-campus vocational education and training mid-week. This flexible learning day is supplemented by the 8.40am to 3.55pm timetable the other four days.
Recommended in the review is the introduction of a standard five-day school week across the college from 2023. A plan put out by All Saints' outlines the college's intention to implement this change.
An All Saints' staff member told the Newcastle Herald these recommendations "go completely against the wishes of St Mary's students and parents" and the college's decision to "ignore community wishes is arrogant and dismissive".
"This decision is more about keeping St Peter's staff happy rather than what's in the best interest of students," the employee said.
"A positive of the review is the public recognition of changes needed in the approach of college executive and senior CSO staff, in terms of more respectful dialogue and more professional administrative procedures at the college."
Staff wellbeing was one of the areas addressed by the review.
"The lack of opportunities for genuine consultation and collaboration, combined with a professional and pastoral disconnect between the college executive team and the wider staff community, needs to addressed and resolved," the review's key findings state.
The review goes on to outline recommendations such as establishing a "staff wellbeing committee" and broadening the college leadership team's philosophy "to recognise, appreciate, respect and embrace the critical role of middle leadership positions".
While noting that the student body "spoke very highly" of their experience at All Saints', the review also outlined inconsistencies across the college.
"The key challenge however is that, across each campus, staff are committed to differing and sometimes contrasting models of 'service delivery' to their students."
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