After leading Assumption College Kilmore for nine years, principal Kate Fogarty will leave her position at the end of this year to become executive director of Catholic Education Sandhurst.
Catholic Education Sandhurst delivers professional support for 58 schools and early childhood communities throughout central and north-eastern Victoria.
Ms Fogarty said she was ‘certainly excited’ about the new position.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to undertake new professional challenges and also to influence the growth and development of young people,” she said.
“Being a product of country education myself, I strongly believe in the importance and value of a quality rural education and now I get to continue to support, advocate for, and to promote the generous and clever work of rural educators and schools at a state and national level.
“I won’t lie though, this opportunity comes at a cost and that cost will be moving away from the Assumption College community.”
Prior to Assumption College, Ms Fogarty was principal of St Joseph’s College Echuca from 2009 to 2014 and director of Catholic identity at Catherine McAuley College, formerly Catholic College Bendigo, from 2006 to 2008.
Ms Fogarty said there was ‘literally no school in the world like Assumption College’.
“The leadership team and I are constantly on the move to keep up with its busy agenda and to allow it to grow and expand to create program to continue to meeting the emerging needs of our students,” she said.
“We affectionately refer to the college either as a ‘juggernaut’ or ‘the village that never rests’. It’s a big, energetic, complex, fun-loving, caring community of people who love their school and feel privileged to be involved with it. That includes me.
“Leading Assumption College has been one of the biggest privileges of my life.
“The past nine years have thrown everything at our community – fire, flood, winds, pandemic, grief, exhaustion, enormous growth, excitement and joy, and I have been constantly awed and grateful for the spirit and sense of belonging that has been created at Assumption.”
Ms Fogarty said she was most proud helping introduce the MyMAP curriculum to the college.
“It’s unique to Assumption College and is beloved by our students, staff and parents. We saw a need and using the research and our professional expertise, developed something that responded to that need,” she said.
“We now have dozens of schools from around the world coming to visit or doing virtual sessions with our staff and students to try and mimic MyMAP in their own schools – our community can rightly feel proud that we have something world-class and revered, developed and utilised right here on their doorstep.”
Marist Schools Australia have begun the process of seeking a new principal for Assumption College, which will involve a three-step interview process with Australia-wide applicants expected.
“We had some time between my appointment and the announcement for them to get things ready and they have already undertaken a consultation process with the students, staff, council and families about the kind of principal they would like to see appointed,” Ms Fogarty said.
“We’re hopefully that they’ll appoint before the end of the year and it’s possible that a new person will start a little later into the 2024 school year.
“Nobody is too worried about that – there is a great team of leaders at the college and they’ll keep ticking along after I head to Bendigo in mid-January.”
Although the end of her time at Assumption College is approaching, Ms Fogarty said she would not take it easy in her final term.
“There’s still lots of water to go under the bridge before the end of the school year – term four is awlways a very fast paced time,” she said.
“I won’t be taking my foot off the pedal for a number of months yet, but I’m sure the end will come around before I’m really feeling ready.”
