Let me say, I have been blown away by the amazing effort of our LCCs who have done such an incredible job of raising funds for your chaplains so far this year. You are an inspiration!
Thank you for showing such a great attitude and for all your hard work in what was a challenging start to the year. I also want to inform you that SU QLD has been busily developing a new Peer-to-Peer fundraising tool, “Champion Your Chappy” to help you fundraise.
The great news in all this is that all funds raised through the Champion Your Chappy platform will go directly to your LCC rather than coming back to Corporate. You can learn more about this platform through your local forums.
Another vital piece of news I want to share with you is that the Department of Education and Training (DET) has updated their Chaplaincy and Student Welfare Worker Services guidelines to address previous concerns around advertising local camps in schools.
The positive takeaway for us is that you can continue to advertise camps in schools, but you must ensure that your advertisement meets the following conditions:
- The principal must give consent for the advertisement to appear in the school newsletter or on the website;
- It must NOT contain any evangelising or proselytising; and
- It must clearly state the facts of what the camp is about.
To read the document in full, see http://education.qld.gov.au/schools/healthy/docs/chaplaincy-guidelines-school.doc. You will find the reference to chaplaincy events in the second paragraph on page 3 of that document.
It is encouraging news that DET has made it possible for us to continue advertising our events. Just remember to abide by the above guidelines to ensure we can continue to have favour with Education Queensland.
Also, I want to remind you that SU QLD will now pay for your chaplain’s professional supervision activities. So please keep encouraging them to do that once per term. There is $400 in the budget, so make sure they use that. All we need is for your chaplains to send the invoice through to support@suqld.org.au. Your help in reminding them to do this is highly appreciated. In related news, we have sent out staff conference details to your chaplains. Some have already registered, but please remind them to do so if they still haven’t signed up. Again, their registration and attendance at staff conference comes at no cost to you, the LCC.
Lastly, as you are aware, you can keep up to date with all that is happening throughout the rest of the term through your region’s LCC forums. Please contact your area’s Field Development Manager for dates and locations.
Thank you again for all you do for the school chaplains and the children and young people of Queensland.