Principal and CEO

Please use this link to visit the Governance page on our website to access the Strategic Plan Overview. 

Dear Parents and Carers 

Each year at our staff retreat in January, I share with staff our next steps in implementing our shared vision outlined in the College Strategic Plan. In a world characterised by so much disruptive change, it is essential that our strategic plan remains relevant. This document gives direction to our daily work to equip students for a future filled with hope where they have the competence and courage to live purpose filled lives. We are constantly looking at our strategic plan critically through the lens of emerging research and the evidence we see in our daily experiences working with our students. Our strategic plan has moved through two iterations in my time as Principal so far. There was a 2017-2022 version and then our current 2023-2028 version.  

Our educational strategy has remained consistent, and I expect this consistency that lies at the heart of our strategy will remain. At Calvary, we are and have always been committed to the development of the whole child and do not perceive our role as merely to deliver curriculum to students and ensure they meet reporting outcomes! For us, what matters most has always been the development of the whole child. We express this simply as What matters most is the formation of character and faith. What has changed in each iteration of the plan has been the Preamble which outlines WHY we do what we do. It links the strategy to the disruptive change we see in the world around us. 

One of our College values is agility, and this is lived out in the way our College Council works with the Executive team to maintain the currency (and relevance) of the Strategic Plan. Each year since my appointment in 2019, the Strategic Plan has had updates (tweaks) that ensure it maintains our consistent strategic direction while being responsive to changes in education and society. In 2022 the plan was updated with the most significant changes being made in the preamble which outlines the WHY (rationale) that lies behind the plan. This 2022 process gave rise to a refreshed document Strategic Plan 2023-2028, available via Parent Lounge under School Links > Parent Manuals and Policies. 

Over the past few months our team has been looking at potential updates to the plan. The rapid pace of change and its impact on our daily lives invites me to clarify afresh why and how we go about preparing our students for their future. During second semester I will be sharing with you an updated Strategic Plan 2026-2030. This will be an important topic at our Evenings and Mornings with the Principal in August this year. I look forward to the opportunity to share with you on those occasions.  

Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing with you some of my thoughts about what matters most as I lead Calvary in the development and implementation of our updated strategic plan over the coming years. My commitment to you is always to keep you informed as together we work to secure a future that holds intriguing opportunity underpinned by hope. For every Calvary graduate to be fearlessly authentic in their approach to all aspects of their lives is the aspiration I hold. Every day I seek to move us closer to making that dream a reality. 

 Yours sincerely 

Cherylynne Gostelow 

Dear Parents and Carers

I am writing to you today from the Culbert deck on the Carbrook campus. The refreshing sound of moving water, birds and, occasionally wind stirring the leaves of the four magnificently tall gum trees are soothing. I have my coffee and my computer, and I am settling in to write after having spent the past three hours weeding what I think of as our WELCOME gardens.

Today I’d like to share with you WHY I invest my time in our College gardens and how this, like everything else I do, links to the implementation of the College Strategic Plan.

If you are familiar with our Strategic Plan distilled into three sentences, you will know that the third sentence is What matters most is the formation of character and faith. What’s this got to do with gardens?

It’s pretty simple really. We know, and have probably always known instinctively, that being surrounded by and stewarding the natural world well, nurtures human wellbeing. Neuroscience confirms this.

Calvary students who have known no other schools will probably be unaware of the privilege we have with both campuses set in exquisite natural surroundings. The Springwood campus built on naturally sloping grounds, preserving surrounding bushland where possible, has set the standard since 1984 for a Calvary always taking good care of the natural environment – and enjoying it!

On both campuses we look to provide spaces for active play and spaces for peaceful rest. Spaces for social interaction and spaces for quiet reflection.

Recently a Calvary family made it possible for us to acquire a number a mature Little Gem Magnolia trees. These will contribute to the natural beauty that is part of a Calvary experience. Three trees will join the WELCOME gardens at the entrance to the campus. (My intention is to continue the refurbishment of the front entrance extending the low wall near the waterway towards the western boundary. These trees form part of that vision.)

One will provide shade for students gathered on the seating outside the Culbert. Another will set off the entrance to the Junior school precinct and the rest will form an avenue down to the MPC between the CAPA building and the Junior school handball courts. I hope you will enjoy them.

The new playground equipment purchased for the Springwood campus lower playground renewal is available to us BUT sadly, this work is delayed by the urgency of repairs to buildings following the cyclone. Like you, I am looking forward to seeing Springwood with its competition outdoor multipurpose courts on the hill being ready for action (we are close now) and the lower playground refurbished to provide active play space that includes some space for quieter social interaction.

My prayer is that our students will draw strength and hope from the beauty and functionality of the grounds that surrounds them. Each morning as they put on their uniforms and step onto the grounds, I hope that they will find their hearts and minds captivated by a sense of the value that comes with belonging and contributing to the Calvary community.

Please join me in nurturing this awareness in all who call Calvary theirs.

Yours sincerely

Cherylynne Gostelow