Latest News
July 2024:
We were delighted to be able to celebrate this significant milestone together with 150 parents and friends from around the state at the conference opening dinner on Friday 7th June at the Aloft Hotel in Perth. We were also joined on the evening by The Most Reverend Michael Morrissey, Bishop of Geraldton, Very Reverend Fr Vincent Glynn, Vicar General and Episcopal Vicar for Education, Mr Wayne Bull, Executive Director of CEWA, Ms Annette Morey, Deputy Executive Director of CEWA, members of the Catholic Education Commission of WA, CSPWA Life Members - Mrs Shelley Hill, Mrs Agnes Weymouth, Mrs Helen Anderson and Mr Joe Monterosso along with the current council and staff of CSPWA.
Our dinner guest Dr Laura Allison took to the stage to talk about the conference theme ‘Communication for Connection’, and as always injected plenty of humour into what can often be a confronting topic, that of mental health and wellbeing. We then concluded our evening with the very popular Awards of Excellence presentations.
The conference took place on Saturday 8th at Ursula Frayne Catholic College in Victoria Park. The conference proceedings commenced with a Q&A session with some of our local politicians; Minister Tony Buti, Libby Mettam and Donna Faragher. After a short break for some lunch the delegates regrouped to hear from the keynote speaker Andrew Fuller. The final item on the agenda was a panel discussion centred around the conference theme ‘Communication for Connection’ and which was facilitated by Dr Laura Allison. Panelists included Andrew Fuller, Nicole Beresford (parent), Adriana Coniglio (primary principal), Annette Morey (Deputy Executive Director CEWA) and three awesome Year 12 students from Ursula Frayne Catholic College.
For a comprehensive overview of the Awards of Excellence and conference, please see our Conference newsletter here.
The council and staff of CSPWA would like to sincerely thank all those who attended the 70th Anniversary celebrations. We know from experience how tricky it can be sometimes to organise babysitters and commit to activities across two days, so we are very grateful that so many were able to join us, including many parents from our regional schools across WA.
We are also extremely grateful for the support of Lotterywest who supplied a grant to enable us to bring parents from regional areas to the conference once again.
June 2024:
The conference dinner is now sold out, however tickets are still available to the conference until this Wednesday 5th June.
May 2024:
Following on from our agendas for both the conference dinner and conference, we can now provide more information about our sessions at the conference at Ursula Frayne Catholic College. Please click this updated flyer to have a look at the topics we will cover: 70th Anniversary Conference Flyer.
We have been in contact with several organisations who support Parent Groups across Australia, and they will be providing us with resources at the conference for you to take back to your school communities. We will have fundraising guides and resources from Containers for Change, Australian Fundraising, Picture Products, Expressions Tea towels, Multilit and Sockable Fundraising, and information and resources from R U Ok?, Beyond Blue, Volunteering WA, Triple P and Your Move- a free program that helps students get active by increasing walking, scooting and riding to school.
We hope to see you there.
April 2024:
It has been great to see the RSVPs for both the conference dinner and conference coming in, and we have loved reading through the wonderful Awards of Excellence nominations that have been emailed through. A couple of our parents from regional areas have called the office to ask how to access the Lotterywest grant, and we are looking forward to welcoming them to Perth for the conference. Please continue to reach out to us via email support@csp.wa.edu.au or phone 9338 9987 if you have any questions. If you are intending to come to the conference dinner or conference as a group from your school, we can seat you together, as this has also been a question from several P&Fs.
After meeting with various Politicians from the Labour, Liberal and National parties over the last few weeks, and confirming their attendance at our conference, we have finalised the agenda for both the conference dinner at Aloft and conference at Ursula Frayne. To view and download the proceedings, please click below.
Conference Dinner Proceedings.
You will see that our AGM will also take place at the conference. The AGM booklet containing financial information and reports from our President Marina and Executive Director Siobhan will be distributed a week before the conference so our guest have time to read all of the reports. The reports can then be taken as read on the day and we can use the time to answer any questions our members have.
To book tickets to the dinner and conference, please click here.
March 2024:
Our booking link for the conference and dinner is now open: https://events.humanitix.com/70th-anniversary-dinner-and-conference. Please also see our flyer for more information. If you are a regional or remote parent, we have a Lotterywest grant available to assist with the cost of travel and accommodation to attend the conference, please see the fact sheet or contact our Liaison Officer Nicole on 9338 9987 for more information.
It is a prerequisite that all rural delegates accessing Lotterywest funding attend both the dinner on the Friday evening and the conference on Saturday. (The cost of the dinner and the conference is the responsibility of the individual delegate or their school P&F).
February 2024:
Catholic School Parents WA are very happy to announce that we will be welcoming Andrew Fuller to Perth, as our keynote speaker for the Conference celebrating our 70th Anniversary on Saturday 8th June. The theme for this year’s conference is ‘Communication for Connection’ and will look at the vital role that good and positive communication plays in our Catholic school communities. Connecting with others is one of the ways that we can enhance our well-being and that of others. So how do we do it?
Andrew has recently been described as in ‘interesting mixture of Billy Connolly, Tim Winton and Fraser Crane’ and as someone who puts the heart back into psychology. He is a child and adolescent clinical psychologist who works with many schools and communities in Australia and internationally, specialising in the well-being of young people and their families.
Andrew is also a good friend of our national body, Catholic School Parents Australia (CSPA), with whom he has recently collaborated on the development of a suite of resources aimed at increasing the capacity of both parents and teachers in the area of parent engagement in learning and well-being.
Stay tuned as we announce the rest of our speakers in the coming weeks.
January 2024:
We are happy to announce that our application for a Lotterywest grant which will assist parents from our regional and remote schools to travel to Perth to attend the dinner and conference has been approved. We will be utilising Aloft Perth for accommodation on the Friday and Saturday nights. We will start contacting schools who qualify for the grant when we return to the office in term 1.
We are very keen to assist parents from regional and remote areas of our state to attend the conference and therefore access quality speakers in addition to having the opportunity to network with parents from other schools and regions. As a result of being at the conference in person they also have the opportunity to have more authentic input into conversations and panel discussions, and importantly bring an additional perspective that parents from the metro region cannot.
December 2023:
The Catholic School Parents WA 70th Anniversary Dinner and Conference will be held on Friday 7th & Saturday 8th June 2024.
The Conference dinner will include the CSPWA Awards of Excellence in Building Positive School Communities and nominations will open for the five categories of Parent, Parent Group, Principal, Parish and Agnes Weymouth Award in Term 1, 2024. The dinner will be held in the Aloft Rooftop Ballroom; 27 Rowe Avenue, The Springs, Rivervale.
The Conference on Saturday 8th June will be held at Ursula Frayne Catholic College in Victoria Park with access via the basketball courts on Teague Street. The theme of the conference this year is ‘Communication for Connection’, and will focus on how we can all utilise good communication skills in schools to build connections that lead to positive and vibrant communities. The conference will provide speakers who will inspire and encourage parents and emphasise the importance of a collaborative partnership between the student, parent and school.
Please keep an eye on this page for conference updates. Once we have confirmed speakers, we will add the information to this page.
