Catholic Education Sandhurst Ltd welcomes Ms Kate Fogarty to the role of Executive Director of Catholic Education Sandhurst commencing January 2024.The current Principal of Assumption College Kilmore, Kate will be well known to many in the Diocese of Sandhurst, having previously served as Principal of St Joseph’s College Echuca and Director of Catholic Identity at Catholic College Bendigo (now Catherine McAuley College) from 2006–2008.
Kate’s educational background, personal capabilities, experience, and expertise ensure that she is well placed to lead Catholic education in the Diocese of Sandhurst into the future.
Kate is widely recognised as an outstanding educational leader with a reputation for seeing innovation and possibility, and the capacity and tenacity to drive and guide strategic growth and transformation. Kate’s educational background, personal capabilities, experience and expertise ensure that she is well placed to lead Catholic Education in the Diocese of Sandhurst into the future.
Kate’s commitment to education is evidenced in her own background of ongoing professional learning; her qualifications include Masters studies in Education, Educational Leadership and Arts (Theology), as well as an advanced leadership program at the University of Cambridge. She was the recipient of the select entry Menzies Foundation Fellowship in 2022, and was one of five Australian principals selected to work with the Menzies Foundation, the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and the University of Melbourne, to build skills and knowledge in effective collective efficacy in school personnel.
Kate describes her interest in the position of Executive Director of Catholic Education Sandhurst as reflecting her strong belief “that at the highest levels of leadership, Catholic Education continues to require the voice, experience and passion of experienced educators, formed to serve our young and their communities in increasingly complex times. I believe this is especially true in our rural dioceses, where authenticity of Catholic leadership resides not just in the experience and professionalism of those appointed, but also in their capacity to build trusted, reciprocally respectful relationships that inspire and invite profound engagement with the mission of the Church. This has always been true in Sandhurst, where there has been a proud tradition of appointing smart, warm, courageous and professional educators to lead its educational community.”
Kate will be well known to many in the Diocese of Sandhurst, having previously served as Principal of St Joseph’s College Echuca from 2009 to 2014. This followed earlier senior positions, including Director of Catholic Identity at Catholic College Bendigo (now Catherine McAuley College) from 2006–2008.
Kate has a clear understanding of the challenges and the opportunities of regional life in a constantly changing social and educational landscape. Kate is very clear about the strength of her association with the Diocese: “Sandhurst is where I truly grew into myself as an educational leader, and it is where I was both inspired and formed into a deeper level of authentically Catholic educational leadership. I am profoundly humbled to be charged with the responsibility of building on the legacy of those who have gone before, while simultaneously walking alongside, in a new way, those who carry the flame today.”
Kate’s deep connections with this Diocese, her strong vision for Catholic Education, and her capacity to articulate that vision with clarity and conviction give us great confidence that she will be a passionate advocate and leader for Catholic Education Sandhurst Ltd.
