Illawarra Christian Education Board Meeting Summary – April 2023

ICE Strategic Review

The current strategic plan for Illawarra Christian Education has served us well over the past several years as our schools have grown and changed while continuing to remain faithful to who we are. Strategy cannot remain static, however, and it is wise to periodically review, refresh and reshape the strategic plan to ensure it continues to serve our organisation effectively as it connects our vision and mission with our operational plans.

We have engaged Christian Education National to help us with the task of reviewing and updating our strategic plan. This involves surveys of parents, staff and the Board, some workshops (with staff and with the Board) and lots of prayer. We ask you to please partner with us through participation in the survey as well as in prayer for our organisation. 

Upcoming AGM

We have our Annual General Meeting on 25 May, which also includes a dinner beforehand. We encourage you to attend.

An important item on the agenda for the meeting is a discussion about the Educational Creed.

We have one current Director who will be stepping down at the AGM (Steven Rajcany) and we also have two new people standing for election (Stacey Andrews and Lachlan Bryant).  

Christian Education National Annual Conference 

The CEN Annual Conference and AGM was held over the first weekend in April in Sydney. The conference was very well attended, with delegates from all over Australia, and we were provoked to think deeply by some high quality speakers.

The theme of the conference was 'At the Table' and we wrestled with ideas related to who and how we invite others to our 'table', what it means to share life together as a Christian school community (and as a community of Christian schools), how we make our 'table' a place where can raise the next generation to be capable change makers with an authentic Biblical world view and how the challenges we face are always best dealt with through genuine relationships forged over time spent together in fellowship.

A couple of quotes for you to chew on from the conference:

1) Wisdom is a power, work harder for wisdom than for anything else.

2) Define success very carefully - make sure you lean your ladders against the correct wall.

3) Don't try to be relevant to the current culture - be authentic. 

Mr Andrew Spence

Illawarra Christian Education Board Chair