Click for login portal
Our College
Who are we?
Three Villages
One Community
Enrolments
Our Location
50 Separation St, Northcote VIC Australia 3070
Follow Us
Our Members and Governing Council - The heart of Good Samaritan Education and its Members as they carry the responsibility of ensuring that the ecclesial nature of Good Samaritan Education is maintained and nurtured.
The Members have the task of living and modelling the spirituality of communication that derives from being part of the Church communion.
Good Samaritan Education consists of at least 15 Members who are admitted in accordance with the requirements of its Statutes: one nominated by each of the Bishops of the five dioceses in which Good Samaritan schools are situated; three Good Samaritan Sisters nominated by the Superior.
From among this group, a minimum of seven Members are elected by their peers to the Governing Council. The Governing Council is authorised to act in the name of Good Samaritan Education. Each Good Samaritan Education Member is also a Member of the Company for either one or two Good Samaritan schools and, as such, is involved in the life of the school communities.
Each of the ten Good Samaritan Colleges is incorporated as a public company limited by guarantee under the Corporations Act 2001. Each company has been formed for purposes beneficial to the community and is governed according to its Constitution. The Company Members of each College are appointed by the Governing Council. They represent and are accountable to Good Samaritan Education through the Governing Council. They represent and are accountable to Good Samaritan Education through the Governing Council for ensuring that the charism of Good Samaritan Education is central to all of the educational endeavours of the College.
The Board of Directors of each College company provides governance in that College community. Directors are appointed by the Company Members and the Board is accountable to them for the conduct of the ministry of the school. The role of Director in a Good Samaritan school offers an opportunity to work in partnership with others in the ministry of education within the mission of the Church.
The Principal is appointed by the Board with the approval of the Company Members and the Governing Council. S/he is responsible for the leadership and management of the College according to the policies of the Board and is accountable to the Board for her or his performance.
Each College is accountable to Good Samaritan Education for the Catholic ethos and mission of the College, embodied in the Good Samaritan Benedictine tradition, and for the administration of the temporal goods assigned to it for its work.
Each College has due autonomy according to its Constitution and exercises its mission within a particular local community, administering its temporal goods according to local circumstances. All Colleges operate collaboratively and contribute to the common good of Good Samaritan Education.
"Serve one another with love”
Ms Fiona Leahy, Chair of Board
Bachelor of Arts/LLB (Hons), University of Melbourne; Admission as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria.
Chairperson, Santa Maria College (2 years); Board member, Santa Maria College (6years); Manager, Legal, Governance and Policy, Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine (2years); Senior Medico - Legal Adviser, Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine (9 years); Executive Officer, Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine Ethics Committee (12 years); Committee member and President of Committee of Management, Annie Dennis Children’sCentre (4 years); Legal Advisor with the Attorney-General’s Legal Policy Unit, Victorian Department of Justice (7 years); Advisor to State Attorney-General in Fair Trading (1 year); Articles completed at Allan Moore and Co (Banking Finance, 1 year).
Mrs Marian Power, Chair of Governance Committee
Bachelor of Arts (Honours), Melbourne University; Graduate Diploma in Careers Education RMIT, 1998; M.A. Applied Psychology, Melbourne University, 1998.
Registered Organisational Psychologist with more than 40 years’ experience in areas such as public sector recruitment, local government, equal opportunity and training of and support to psychologists. Consultant Psychologist at ACER for over 15 years. Served on anumber of boards including the Victorian Psychologists Registration Board. Currently principal of Marian Power & Associates and a sessional member of VCAT. Author of anumber of publications.
Mr Colman Kenna, Chair of Finance Committee
Bachelor of Business (Accounting), Victoria University; CPA Program, Deakin University; Mt Eliza Senior Leadership program, University of Melbourne Business School; AdvancedManagement Program, Harvard Business School.
Chief Operating Officer/Chief Financial Officer with over 26 years of executive andfinancial management experience in the legal industry. Key areas of expertise include strategic and financial management, transformational change, development and implementation of risk management frameworks. Harvard Alumnus, Fellow of AustralianInstitute of Management, Member of Australian Legal Practice Management Association and Association Member of the Law Institute of Victoria.
Mr Damian Casamento, Chair of Property
Diploma of Teaching – Institute of Catholic Education, Mercy Campus; Bachelor ofEducation – Phillip Institute of Technology, Coburg Campus; Graduate Diploma of Education (Religious Education) – Australian Catholic University, Mercy Campus; Graduate Diploma of Education (Educational Administration) – Hawthorn Institute of Education; Master of Education- Melbourne University; Postgraduate Diploma in Educational Studies (Student Welfare) – Melbourne University; Masters of Business Administration – Executive – Australian Catholic University, St Patrick’s Campus.
34 years in Primary education including classroom teaching, leadership roles (Religious Education Leader and Deputy Principal) and 19 years as a Principal of two Primary Schools. Executive roles on Victorian Association of Catholic Primary School Principals. Member of various school boards and parish committees.
Ms Laura Meese, Board Director
Bachelor of Social Work, Latrobe University; Master of Social Policy, University of Melbourne.
Worked for over a decade within various child safety portfolios. With a background as an operational social worker in child protection and youth justice. The last five years supporting the implementation of a number of government reforms including the Reportable Conduct Scheme, Child Information Sharing Scheme, the response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Federal) and Royal Commission into Family Violence (Victoria). Also teaches the Social Policy and Advocacy subject in the Social Work Program at Latrobe University.
Mrs Michelle Fischetto, Board Director
Master of Project Management, RMIT (2003); Bachelor of Business with Distinction (Property Valuations), RMIT (1993); Management: Leader as Coach, Performance Management, Strategic Thinking; Property: Certificate in Access Appraisal – Buildings, Property Risk and Compliance Management; Safety: OHS for Supervisors and Managers, Safety Leader, The Victorian Track Safety Awareness – Level 1.
Michelle is a qualified Property Valuer and Project Manager with 30 years+ in the field. Her career has spanned various industries, local and state government including Department of Education, the private sector and the not-for-profit sector including the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne. As a past student of Santa Maria Michelle is eager to ‘give back’ to the school that encouraged and gave her the confidence to develop her career. Michelle has an adult son, her two sisters attended Santa and her niece is a current student.
Julianne Brandon, Board Director
Bachelor of Music (Honours), University of Melbourne; Graduate Diploma of Education, RMIT; Post Graduate Diploma of Arts (Communications and Editing), University of Melbourne; Master of Education, University of Melbourne.
Julianne commenced her career as an educator and went on to complete a Master of Education by research and postgraduate qualifications in Communications at the University of Melbourne. Her professional experience includes roles in education, educational publishing, and healthcare. For the past 17 years, she has worked in the area of school development, overseeing the areas of fundraising, enrolments, marketing and communications, alumni, and community engagement. Julianne has demonstrated experience in school leadership, management, and working at executive level in professional environments. She is currently the Director of Community Engagement at Carey Baptist Grammar School in Melbourne.
Dr Liz Dowling, Board Director
Doctor of Education, Australian Catholic University; Master of Religious Education, Australian Catholic University; Master of Educational Leadership, Australian Catholic University; Bachelor of Education, Australian Catholic University; Diploma of Teaching, Institute of Catholic Education.
Liz has made a sustained contribution to Catholic education over a range of sectors including primary, secondary and tertiary education. Her extensive teaching, research, leadership and service roles within the higher education sector follows substantial leadership and curriculum development in educational settings, including primary, P-12 as well as a Curriculum adviser for MACS. In the tertiary context, Liz was awarded the ACU recipient of the Catherine Moran Prize, awarded to the author of the PhD thesis which makes the most significant contribution to research, scholarship and ethical practice in Education.
