Community and stakeholder engagement
We help schools build strong relationships with their community and stakeholders, grounded in a deeper understanding of their wants and needs.
Engagement with your school community and stakeholders is a critical part of strategic planning. SenateSHJ can work with you to design and implement focus groups, interviews and innovative consultation approaches that deliver meaningful insights.
Engagement is an opportunity to shape your school’s future, you might want to
Uncover insights from your school community that you need to shape the school’s Strategic Plan
Engagement is an opportunity to shape your school’s future, you might want to
Create meaningful and inclusive engagement to build on the learnings and successes of the previous strategic planning cycle
Engagement is an opportunity to shape your school’s future, you might want to
Engage and energise your staff and broader school community in shaping the vision for your school’s future
Engagement is an opportunity to shape your school’s future, you might want to
Explore a particular issue or opportunity as a one-off project
1. Diagnose
SenateSHJ will meet with the principal and school leadership to understand current engagement practices, the insights that have come from them and any gaps or new areas to explore. Additional meetings may be proposed to shape the engagement process design.
2. Design
From the diagnose phase, we craft a program that can include one-on-one discussions, focus groups and surveys to gain the insights you need. The design of this phase is critical to ensuring that your community can participate in ways that are meaningful to them and that can help you achieve your purpose. In school settings, we find stories and personas are particularly powerful at helping to capture the priorities for the future. They also help to bring content alive for your target audiences. For example, a chat with a parent and their early years child could help to tell the story of the family’s aspirations for the school and inform the Strategic Plan
3. Deliver
We capture both qualitative and quantitative data as we deliver the agreed program of engagement and report it back in ways that can be readily incorporated into strategic planning and engaging staff and the school community.
Have a question? We are here to help
Angela has 20 years’ experience working with schools and stakeholders across the education system. She sees a school’s culture and reputation as intrinsically linked, and therefore works across change, culture, leadership and reputation.
Angela has worked with government, faith-based and independent schools in all corners of Victoria. This includes guiding the merger of a regional school, helping leaders work better together, strengthening school cultures, engaging communities and re-designing operating models.
She has led projects across education systems, regions and networks, such as the Victorian Department of Education, Mercy Education, Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools and Broadmeadows Schools Network.
She is a skilled facilitator who has led conversations with groups ranging from 10 students to hundreds of school stakeholders. In 2019, Angela was asked to host the Bastow Institute (now Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership) educational leadership podcast series.
Angela is a co-chair of the advisory board of secondary college OLMC Heidelberg.
Jill has worked with schools spanning more than 30 years, with a particular emphasis on community and stakeholder engagement, strategic planning and reputation management.
She has worked with the Victorian Department of Education and public schools throughout Victoria. She has also worked in the private education sector and on educational projects funded by the not-for-profit sector.
Jill has led community and stakeholder engagement initiatives that have received Australian and international awards. She is energised by the impact education has on the lives of young people and by the role of educators in making this happen.
Jill has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) from the University of Melbourne and is a Fellow of both Leadership Victoria and Communications and Public Relations Australia. She is also an alumni of the Williamson Community Leadership Program, which she describes as one of the most significant opportunities she has been given.
Elisa is a communication and change professional with over 15 years of experience in education and government. She brings a deep understanding of school environments, having worked across all levels from national program management to on-the-ground support in schools.
Elisa has worked closely with government, faith-based, and independent schools to support organisational and culture change, strategic planning, and better ways of working. She understands the real pressures school leaders and educators face, and the deep passion that drives them.
Her career includes strategic roles within the Department of Education and delivery of a national school-community partnerships program, championing student voice and leading stakeholder engagement across every state and territory.
Accredited in The Four Rooms of Change®, Elisa brings practical tools and proven frameworks to help individuals and teams navigate change with clarity and purpose.
On a personal note, Elisa has an enthusiastic five-year-old who has started Foundation Year, giving her a fresh perspective and even greater respect for the incredible work done in schools each day.
Molly is a change and communication consultant with a decade of experience. She supports schools to strengthen their culture, ways of working and how they operate. She applies her deep communication expertise to help school leaders engage their communities effectively throughout periods of change.
Molly has partnered with government schools, the Victorian Department of Education and Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools. She has experience delivering change projects for not-for-profit and private organisations, offering fresh perspectives and a pragmatic approach to solving the right problems.
Kate’s experience spans a broad range of educational and government settings where she has built expertise in school leadership, policy, professional learning and improvement.
As principal at Northcote High School, Kate worked with her leadership team and community to shape and implement a bold future vision.
Her work alongside leading academics, education consultants and schools has equipped her to support others in navigating leadership challenges. She is particularly focused on sustainable solutions that enable individuals and teams to work more effectively.
Kate’s recent work includes serving as the School Lead for the Independent Review into administrative and compliance activities in Victorian government schools. Prior to this, she held executive roles across multiple government agencies, including the school leadership portfolio at the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership and previously at Bastow Institute of Education Leadership. She has also held senior roles at the Victorian School Building Authority and Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority.
Kate began her career as a teacher in secondary schools in Ballarat. Alongside her undergraduate education diploma and degree, she also has an MBA from RMIT.