Board Director – Whitefriars College

The role of the Board:

The first and primary duty of the Board is to ensure that the Company’s charitable purposes and objects (Clause 4 of the Constitution) are carried out and implemented and to determine the strategic objectives and direction of the Company.

Of primary importance is to govern the College in the Catholic tradition and within the charism of the Carmelite Order. The Board must do all things necessary to protect and promote the teachings and practices of the Catholic Church and to advance the mission and core values of the College derived from the Carmelite tradition and philosophy of education.

Another key responsibility of the Board is to support and resource the Principal and the College Executive to provide a quality education that supports every student to seek and achieve excellence in their learning, their relationships and their participation in the community. Such provision is to be aligned with a rigorous curriculum, exemplary pastoral care, and explicit support of learning, teaching and student wellbeing.

The Board is also responsible for ensuring the Company is compliant with its overarching legal obligations, in particular as these relate to corporations’ law, charity law, and education law.

Additionally, in accordance with the Company’s charitable registration with the Australian Charities and Not-For-Profits Commission, the responsible persons of a charity (being in the case of the Company, the Directors) are responsible for ensuring the Company meets the governance standards imposed by Division 45 of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Act 2012 (Cth) (ACNC Act). These standards require the Company to provide a certain level of confidence to the public that the Company will promote the effective and efficient use of its resources and minimise the risk of mismanagement and misappropriation.

The Board must also ensure the Company complies with the minimum standards for school registration contained in the Education and Training Reform Regulations 2017 (Vic) (ETR Regulations). These minimum standards relate to:

• Governance of the College – democratic principles, governance, not-for-profit status, probity, philosophy.
• Enrolment – student enrolment numbers, enrolment policy, register of enrolments, attendance register.
• Curriculum and student learning – curriculum framework, student learning outcomes, monitoring and reporting on students’ performance, information about school performance.
• Student welfare – care, safety and welfare of students, child safety, anaphylaxis management, emergency bushfire management, student behaviour management, attendance monitoring.
• Staff employment – teachers’ requirements, compliance with the Worker Screening Act 2020 (Vic); and
• School infrastructure – buildings, facilities and grounds, and education facilities.

The Board is responsible for ensuring the Company is compliant with the minimum standards for a child safe environment imposed by legislation, ministerial orders and other legislative instruments from time to time. These include, but are not limited to, ensuring the Company has suitable policies which are enforced, and provide for child safety and strategies to reduce the risk of child abuse. All such policies must be approved and endorsed by the Board.

The Principal has delegated responsibility to report to the Board on the implementation of the policies. The Board will review these policies regularly and will consider how any relevant policy is impacted (and if necessary, review such policy) after any serious or reportable incident is reported to the Board or when recommended by the Principal.