The CSPWA 2025 Awards of Excellence in Building Positive School Communities,  took place on Friday 1st August at The Guildford Hotel.  Thank you to all of those who nominated someone in their school community, and many congratulations to all of the winners.

In addition to the many parents present at the Awards of Excellence celebration, we also welcomed The Hon Klasey Hirst, MLC representing the Minister for Education the Hon Sabine Winton, our newly appointed Deputy Executive Director Julie Hornby, Director of Religious Education the Reverend Mark Powell, long term friend of CSPWA Mary Retel and Father Stephen Gorddard and Sister Elizabeth Nicholls, who were both nominated for awards. We also welcomed Life Members Helen Anderson and Agnes Weymouth, and our Board Member Sofia Ietto-Conti. We would also like to acknowledge all those Principals and Assistant Principals who came along to support their parents.

Although we had 5 awards to hand out on the evening, we predominantly gathered to celebrate all volunteers, whose selfless dedication strengthens the hearts of our Catholic schools. Whether it’s the willing hands that serve morning tea, the welcoming smiles that greet at the front gate, the steady support in classrooms and on excursions, or the compassionate presence in your school’s pastoral programs—your work is not just helpful, it’s transformational.

We acknowledge the great example you are setting to your children by volunteering. We know today that the percentage of people who volunteer is rapidly declining. We also know that our children are much more likely to do as we do, not necessarily what we say so when they see you in action around the school working positively and respectfully with school staff, they are much more likely to follow in your footsteps. Thank you for your hours, your care, your commitment, and your prayerful support. Our children flourish because of you. 

Although there can only be one winner, the reality is that all who were nominated are winners and your schools in particular are winners by having you all involved and engaged in such positive and innovative ways.

Award Recipients:

Parent Category: Suraya Correia, Christ the King Primary School

Parent Group Category: Padbury Catholic Primary School P&F

Principal Category: Mark Antulov, Ursula Frayne Catholic College

Parish Category: Father Stephen Gorddard, Sacred Heart School Mundaring

Agnes Weymouth Award: Tracey Doglione, St John's School Rangeway

For a summary of all nominations received, please view our Awards of Excellence slideshow here.

Have your Say - Help Shape our Workplan

Catholic School Parents WA is committed to representing the voice of parents in Catholic education. As we begin planning our priorities for 2025 and 2026, we want to hear directly from you.

• What matters most to your family?
• What challenges or opportunities do you see in your child’s learning journey?
• Where can we advocate more strongly on your behalf?

We invite all parents and carers to complete a short survey to share your views. Your feedback will help guide our advocacy, events, and resources in the year ahead.

Whether your focus is on curriculum, wellbeing, parent engagement, or broader education policy, your insights are invaluable. Thank you for helping us shape a stronger future for Catholic education in WA. 

Click here to complete the survey

Thank you to everyone who took the time to submit an Awards of Excellence nomination for someone in their school community. The Awards of Excellence event is a highlight of my year — every year — as I truly enjoy reading through the nominations and celebrating with all the nominees and their supporters. Each year, I discover new ideas for engaging volunteers, showing appreciation, and hear about creative P&F events I hadn’t considered before. The best part is that we get to share these stories and ideas with other P&F groups and parents who reach out to us looking for inspiration.

Whether you were nominated or not, I want to sincerely thank each and every one of you for the incredible work you’re doing in your schools to build community and make them such welcoming and inclusive places.

This term we will start to focus on Annual Community Meetings and directing you to our resources. We have a step by step guide on how to plan and prepare for the ACM, and who needs to write reports/provide overviews. We also have handover guides if your time on the committee is coming to an end and you'd like to support someone to transition into the role. We’re also here to help with specific questions that may arise — for example, if you have multiple nominations for the same role, or no nominations at all.

Please remember, we’re available for school visits or Teams/Zoom meetings if you need tailored support or simply a refresher on what we do at CSPWA. We always welcome suggestions and feedback on how we can best support you, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

The Catholic School Parents WA Grant initiative seeks to support the mission of CSPWA by encouraging inclusive engagement, open and respectful communication and active collaboration within a faith-based environment. It seeks to foster not just involvement, but meaningful connection built on trust, purpose and shared values.

We are excited to invite Catholic Schools who are affiliated with us to apply for our grant, worth $2,000 to support initiatives that reflect these principles. To download the application form, please click here.

Applications open on 1st September, and close on 28th September 2025.

Objectives of the Grant:

• Enhance positive communication between families, school staff, and the parish community
• Increase family participation in school activities and decision-making processes
• Promote a culture of welcome and accompaniment for families from diverse backgrounds
• Support faith-based initiatives that connect families through Catholic values and traditions

Activities could include but are not limited to:

• Faith and community connection events
• Parent Engagement in Learning initiatives
• Projects that build and enhance Respectful Relationships

Anticipated Outcomes of the Grant:

• Higher participation in school events/on school committees
• More frequent and constructive dialogue between families and staff
• Stronger sense of welcome and belonging among families
• Strengthened bonds between families, school and parish community

As shared during our Induction Sessions earlier this year, all Parents & Friends (P&F) Committees in CEWA schools now have access to a CEWA-approved email address for official correspondence.

These email addresses must first be set up by the school office. Once created, they are assigned to the P&F Chair, who will manage the account. Instructions for both the school’s IT/Admin contact and the P&F Chair were sent to Principals via a Prime Memo on 31 January. For convenience, we’ve reattached those instructions below for anyone who may have missed them.

The format of the email address is: [school code].pnfchair@cewa.edu.au

When the P&F Chair comes to the end of their tenure on the committee, their access will be removed, and the incoming P&F Chair will be assigned to the email address. This ensures continuity, allowing all correspondence and documents to remain accessible to the P&F Committee over time.

With many schools holding their Annual Community Meetings (ACMs) in Term 4, this is an ideal time to set up the new email addresses and ensure that the ongoing, or incoming Chair is allocated to the email as part of the handover process after the ACM.

Starting in Term 1 2026, CSPWA will use these P&F email addresses to:

• Share important updates and event information
• Seek feedback from parents for our work in advocacy and representation
• Provide correspondence for your next P&F meeting agenda

We encourage all schools to complete setup during Terms 3 and 4 to ensure a smooth transition. If you have any questions please reach out to our office. If we are unable to answer them, we can consult with the CEWA IT Team, who developed the addresses for us. 

P&F Email Address Instructions

Bullying No Way Week will return this year from 11–15 August 2025. The national week of action unites government, Catholic and independent schools and their communities across the country to foster practical approaches to prevent bullying in Australian schools.

The theme for 2025 is 'Be bold. Be kind. Speak up.'

Bullying is everyone's responsibility. It takes a community to be brave and address bullying behaviours, within and beyond the school gate. Students can be bold, kind and take a stand to support others being bullied, while parents and teachers are there to support children and young people learn how to behave in a positive way.

For Families

Understanding the definition of bullying is the first step in talking about how to prevent and respond to bullying with your child. 'Bullying' is a word that is used for behaviours that are not actually bullying. These other behaviours can be just as serious but may require different responses.

If your child reports that bullying is occurring at school, or the bullying is occurring outside school hours and involves students from the school, you should let the school know about the situation.

Schools will work with you to resolve the situation and will also work with the other student's parents. Due to privacy laws, they will not be able to share information about any other students involved.

Tips for contacting the school

Remain calm and focus on being constructive (even if you feel upset).

Prepare by:

• checking your school website for any information regarding their policy or procedures for managing bullying
• making a time to talk with your child's teacher, school counsellor or guidance officer
• writing notes (and any other records) based on what your child has told you so you can be as clear as possible about what happened.

Tips for working with school staff

Continue to be calm and constructive. In the first instance contact your child's teacher if possible.

During meetings with staff:

• refer to your written notes to be as clear as possible about what happened and write notes of the discussions with your child's teacher or other staff
• ask what steps will be taken and if a plan is to be developed with home and school strategies
• recognise that investigating the situation at school will require time
• keep a written record of when you contacted the school, who you have spoken with, and any agreements that were made
• stay in touch with the teacher and let them know if problems continue or something new happens.

If you are unable to achieve a satisfactory solution with the class teacher or counsellor, make an appointment to meet with the Assistant Principal or the Principal.

For more information about the definition of bullying, harrassment, discrimination and violence, signs of bullying and types of bullying, please see the Bullying No Way factsheets.

National Catholic Education Commission is partnering with host diocese, Catholic Education Diocese of Cairns to offer an engaging professional learning experience for an anticipated 1,500 Catholic educators, leaders, clergy, parents and others from the broader Church involved in Catholic education. The conference will take place in Cairns, QLD from Wednesday 20th August - Friday 22nd August.

With the theme ‘hope, anchored in faith’, the conference will focus on the strategic vision and mission of Catholic education across three key areas – Faith, Excellence and Access. We will be featuring a broad range of speakers, presentations and workshops focused on Catholic identity, mission and formation; learning and teaching; leadership and governance; parent engagement; parish and community engagement; resourcing and infrastructure; advocacy and marketing; and more.

If you can’t make it to Cairns for the Conference, you may like to consider purchasing a discounted on-demand ticket. For $499, you’ll gain access to over 70 keynote presentations, panel discussions, masterclasses and workshops – available to watch from anywhere, anytime.

The on-demand ticket provides three months* access to explore a rich library of professional learning content centred around our theme hope, anchored in faith, with streams focused on Faith, Excellence and Access. It also includes access to presentations from headline speakers – Sr Nathalie Becquart xmcj, Prof Dylan Wiliam, Dr Steve Constantino, Dr Simon Breakspear and Dr Jordana Hunter.

The on-demand ticket will be available shortly after the conference concludes – so you can watch, reflect and revisit sessions at your own pace. For more information, please click here.

*Please note: due to speaker agreements, a small number of presentations will only be available for one month’s access and Dylan Wiliam’s full day workshop will not be recorded.