Education

Salesian College Sunbury

Developing a strategic plan for a school with ambitious long-term plans

The challenge

Salesian College Sunbury is an independent Catholic secondary school in Victoria, educating over 1,700 students across Years 7–12. Guided by a commitment to holistic education, spiritual growth, and community care.

With ambitious long-term plans the leadership team sought an evidence-based framework to develop their next strategic plan that would honour their core faith values while keeping the school agile in a fast-changing world.

McCrindle partnered with Salesian College Sunbury to gather inputs and engage with the school community to inform a series of strategic planning workshops.

The process was split into 2 phases.

Stakeholder insights

To capture the experiences of staff, parents and students Salesian College utilised the Thriving Schools Index survey. The College made some customisations to measure school-specific areas such as faith formation, identity, and values. The TSI and additional questions gave those living the day-to-day school experience a direct voice in shaping the College’s strategic pillars.

Strategic planning workshops

McCrindle facilitated a series of strategic planning workshops designed to translate data into strategic direction. Using interactive tools the leaders evaluated risks, explored future scenarios, and built consensus around strategic priorities.

The Deliverables

Insights report: A report showcasing the survey findings across six key school domains with national benchmarks.
One-page strategic vision document: A shareable A4 visual overview showcasing the College’s strategic vision and at a glance, ready-made for stakeholder communication.
Executive presentations & facilitated workshops: Interactive sessions led by McCrindle to guide executive leadership.

Partnering with McCrindle transformed our strategic planning process. From the outset, their team led us through a thoughtful, evidence-informed consultation process that ensured our strategic direction was grounded in both data and the lived experiences of our community. They helped us examine national education trends, demographic information and emerging insights while continually bringing us back to our College mission, values and unique context of our community. The McCrindle team’s facilitation ensured the data became a catalyst for rich conversations rather than simply a collection of statistics. They created spaces where people felt heard, balancing structure with flexibility and responding to our evolving needs while remaining focused on our purpose and outcomes. I would not hesitate to recommend McCrindle to any organisation seeking a genuine partner in strategic planning, community consultation or organisational improvement. Their combination of research expertise, practical facilitation and authentic care for people is exceptional, and the experience has left a lasting impact on our College.

－ Ammie Franklin, Deputy Principal