Staff Expectations

Our values

Sophia College is called to walk gently with creation through wisdom and love. See Our College for the full mission, vision and Four Living Stones. This page focuses on what those values look like in staff conduct specifically.

What we expect of each other

All staff are expected to:

Support the strategic decisions of the College

• Model exemplary ethical behaviour and exercise good judgement in all professional dealings
• Accept decisions made by the CLT and Strategic Team
• Maintain confidentiality regarding conversations, decisions and planning
• Define challenges clearly and seek positive solutions collaboratively
• Take responsibility for your own actions, and be willing to compromise for the College vision

Support a culture of high expectations and high standards

• Work collaboratively with all staff to achieve both team and College goals
• Give honest feedback to colleagues about practices/behaviours
• Be proactive and responsive on behaviour issues while holding our Franciscan charism of seeing goodness in everyone, including all students

Create and maintain a safe, positive work culture

• Engage parents/carers in their student's learning and the College's priorities
• Be an active, open listener, and manage your own emotions (and support others with theirs)
• Build strong collegial relationships, and respond to low morale by reinforcing a positive environment
• Follow processes and procedures for transparency and accountability, and respond to correspondence in a timely manner

Code of Conduct & Student Protection

All staff must adhere to the BCE Code of Conduct. Everyone needs to be familiar with the College's Student Protection Policy and their responsibilities under it — see FAQs & Contacts for the Student Protection Contacts.

Professional standards

• Blue Card: required for all non-teaching staff — notify the College of your number and any changes ASAP; you're responsible for keeping it current (details on Spire)
• QCT registration: required for all teaching staff. Moving from provisional to full registration goes through the Deputy Principal — notify the CLT of any registration changes
• Accreditation to Teach (AT): automatically allocated to teaching staff from your start date; needs 5 hours of PD annually to maintain
• Accreditation to Teach Religion (AR): needed to teach RE — requires progress toward 4 semester units, plus 10 hours AR PD annually (or 5 AT + 5 AR)
• Track your accreditation hours via Spire → About Me; upload external PD completions to iLearn

Dress, presentation & professionalism

The staff Dress Code policy sets out professional dress expectations — see the portal for the current version. You're also expected to carry your laptop in its case while walking around campus, and to model appropriate technology use to students.

Raising a concern