70th Anniversary Celebrations

As you are probably all now aware, Catholic School Parents WA this year celebrate 70 years as an independently incorporated organisation.

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 7^th 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.

In celebration of our 70^th Anniversary we were delighted to have written specially for the occasion; a beautiful prayer penned by Mrs Agnes Weymouth. Agnes has been volunteering with CSPWA since 1988 and was in fact the first female president taking on that role in 2001. Agnes continues to stay in touch and although no longer a member of council is always keen to keep abreast of what is happening. Our sincere thanks go to Agnes for the gift of the lovely prayer and you will find a copy of it further down in this newsletter. We were blessed to have Agnes present at the dinner to lead us in the prayer she so thoughtfully wrote.

Following prayer, the conference was officially opened by The Most Reverend Michael Morrissey, Bishop of Geraldton who spoke warmly about the very important role that we parents and families play in the educational journey of our children. He spoke particularly of the role his own mother played in his education whilst growing up in the Diocese of Geraldton, and reminded us all to be aware of the enormous responsibility we have as parents.

One of the more important aspects of gathering together for dinner, is the opportunity it provides to network with other parents from around the state and to share stories and ideas. Indeed, the feedback from the weekend suggests that this is one of the more positive outcomes for parents in attending the event and we hear the same thing every year. For those who were attending the conference the following day there was a lovely sense of camaraderie given that many of us had met the evening before at dinner.

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.  As parents whose children attend Catholic schools in this state, we are very fortunate to have Laura as the Chief Psychologist at CEWA leading the Psychology, Safety and Wellbeing team. We extend our sincere thanks to Laura for being such a constant source of support to our organisation.

The evening ended with the ever-popular Awards of Excellence in Building Positive School Communities.  Celebration is an important part of community, so much so that CSPWA have it identified within our strategic plan as a desired outcome. It was on this basis around the importance of celebration that the Awards of Excellence were initiated 12 years ago. They have gone from strength to strength so m uch so,that even in a non-conference year we continue to host an Awards evening.

You will find a more detailed review of the the Awards later in this wrap up.

The council and staff of CSPWA would like to sincerely thank all those who attended the 70^th Anniversary dinner. We know from experience how tricky it can be sometimes to organise babysitters and get into the city on a Friday evening, so we are very grateful that so many were able to join us on the evening and to provide us with such positive feedback. 

Here’s to the next 70 years!!

Hosted by Ursula Frayne Catholic College

Conference day began as always with coffee and prayer and the opportunity to network as we prepared for an action packed day ahead.

It is often tricky to discern how much time we give to speakers and how much time we leave for networking, but the feedback this year suggests we got the balance right (mostly ?).

The conference proceedings commenced with a Q&A session with some of our local politicians, including: -   

Hon Dr Tony Buti MLA - Minister for Education, Aboriginal Affairs, Citizenships & Multicultural interests.	Libby Mettam MLA – Leader of the Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health, Mental Health, Preventions of Family and Domestic Violence.	Hon Donna Faragher MLC – Shadow Minister for Community Services, Early Childhood Education, Youth, Seniors and Aging.

As we were only able to assign an hour to this part of the program, questions were submitted beforehand to all members of the panel, to enable all to consider the questions and which would be normal practice for this type of forum.

The questions forwarded were around topics which are of significant importance to parents who chose a Catholic education for their children and young people. They were questions which CSPWA often have put to them and so we thought it appropriate to pass them on. The key question, and one which was not answered adequately according to feedback was ‘Can you explain to us why Catholic Schools in WA are the only Catholic schools in Australia who do not receive any capital grants from their state government to assist in building new schools and in maintaining our existing ones?

The Minister explained that his key role as Minister for Education is in supporting the public school system and that monies that are available for capital expenditure need to be spent there. Whilst CSPWA strongly advocate for a strong and rigorous public school system and do not call for a reallocation of funding from the public system into the Catholic one, we are of the assumption that as Minister for Education, Dr Buti has responsibility for all schools, including Catholic schools and as such has an obligation to ensure available funds are appropriately and fairly distributed. This will be communicated to the Minister as a result of a motion passed at the AGM to do so.

Other questions to the panel were around, capital funding to support children with disabilities, parent engagement in learning and how governments would support this, social media and whether the panelists would support a blanket ban on social media access for children under 16. There was a lot of very interesting conversation around these topics however too much to include here. However if anyone would like to discuss these topics further, please do not hesitate to contact the office, we would love to hear from you.

Several years ago Hon Donna Faragher advocated for the establishment of a Select Committee into Child Development Services and which was established in 2022. The statistics around the waiting times that some families are enduring before they can see a speech therapist, occupational therapist, paediatrician or other specialist services are sobering and the Select Committee’s investigation into this was welcomed by CSPWA. We had the opportunity to thank Donna at the conference for her work and commitment to this work and also the Cook government who have subsequently allocated $39m towards reducing the wait times for families.

CSPWA would like to thank the three members of the panel who gave up their time to be with us on the Saturday morning and we look forward to continuing our conversations as we move forward into a State election cycle. Attendees on the day received as part of their conference packs, a flyer on how to access information regarding the importance of building relationships with their own local member and we urge everyone to engage with this.

After the opportunities to speak one on one with the panellists and of course to take photos, the agenda moved forward into the AGM. This part of the day is covered in a separate article in the newsletter.

After a short break for some lunch the delegates regrouped to hear from the keynote speaker Andrew Fuller. Andrew is a child and adolescent clinical psychologist who works with many schools and communities both in Australia and internationally. Andrew specialises in the wellbeing of young people and their families and provided us with much food for thought. His presentation was extremely engaging and there wasn’t a parent there who didn’t see their own children’s attributes discussed as part of Andrew’s presentation.  CSPWA were delighted that Andrew was able to fit in a trip to Perth amidst his very busy schedule and that we were able to provide the opportunity for our parents from across the state to participate in person.

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 from Ursula Frayne Catholic College. I hope I don’t offend any of the other panellists when I say that the students stole the show (at least that’s what the feedback told us!).  They were very honest and were particularly keen for parents to understand the importance of communication between not just students and parents but also between students and their teachers. Good and effective communication is something that we at CSPWA are very passionate about and it was affirming to see that the young people present think the same way.

And so after a jam-packed day we finally had a chance to have a glass of wine and spend time chatting with those parents present. It was particularly lovely to meet and speak with those who flew in from around the state thanks to the support of a Lotterywest Grant. We got to meet wonderful parents from Broome, Karratha, Carnarvon, Geraldton, Bunbury, Waroona, Busselton, Pinjarra and Albany as well as those from the metro area. As an organisation we very much value the perspective that these parents bring to the table, which helps us in turn to advocate more authentically on their behalf.

Finally, CSPWA would like to sincerely thank Ursula Frayne Catholic College for hosting us on the day. The staff, especially Jody Cabalzar and his team could not have been more helpful and supportive and we extend our heartfelt thanks. Also, to Principal Mark Antulov who was present for the day and who was, as always greatly supportive of the work that CSPWA engage in on behalf of Catholic school parents in WA!

Annual General Meetings or AGMS are unfortunately often seen as tedious or dare I say ‘boring’.

However, they play a vital role in ensuring that an organisation’s activities and particularly their finances are open and transparent. They allow communication between the organisation and it’s members and help to build trust and accountability between the two.

Catholic School Parents Western Australia holds it’s AGM before the end of June every year and in a conference year (every second year) the AGM is held during the conference. On alternative years it is held as a separate event and the past couple of years it has been held on line.

The purpose of the CSPWA AGM is to review the organisation’s performance over the previous year and importantly to provide opportunities for members to ask questions and to seek clarity over particular decisions or elements of the workplan. Reports are provided from the President, the Executive Director and the Treasurer. A copy of the audited reports of the organisation are also included.

Any parent from a school which is affiliated with CSPWA is eligible to attend and a notice confirming this was sent to all schools giving 28 days notice of the AGM. Staff and members of CSPWA council were all on hand to answer questions and to ensure that the governance elements of the meeting were conducted appropriately.

One of the key elements of the CSPWA AGM is to take nominations for council for the year ahead. Similar to the process which occurs at your own P&F meeting, all roles on executive are declared vacant and the Chair passes this part of the meeting to the Executive Director to conduct.

The Executive Director receives the new nominations including renominations from the previous year. The two key prerequisites for nomination to CSPWA council are that:-

1. You are a parent of a child currently attending a Catholic school
2. That school is financially affililated with CSPWA

This year we are sadly losing two of our long standing and very committed council members – Marina Hayward and Richard Bone. Both have served CSPWA diligently and with passion and commitment to the work we do. However Marina and Richard have now entered into the next stage of life with their young people and do not have anyone left at school.

Although we all know what the rules are around membership we are nonetheless very sad to be losing these two council members. Marina has in the past three years served as our President as well as serving as a WA representative on the council of Catholic School Parents Australia, the national body which advocates on behalf of parents in Catholic schools across Australia. Marina has been very active in each of these roles and has provided vital input into many of the conversations that call on the perspective of parents being heard.  Richard has served as Treasurer for the past six years and assisted greatly in all matters pertaining not just to finance but also with risk management. His regular scrutiny of the finances and contemporary input has been gratefully acknowledged by the Executive and has assisted in keeping our organisation moving forward in the right direction.

Catholic School Parents WA express our sincere thanks to both Marina and Richard and wish you both all the very best.

However as always when one door closes, another one opens, and we were delighted that all others who were members of council last year have renominated! Added to that we have had several new nominations, and we look forward to introducing you to everybody in the first newsletter next term. As always if anyone is interested in learning more about what it takes to become a CSPWA Councillor, please do not hesitate to contact our office.

For more information on our AGM, please visit our website.

CSPWA 2024 AGM

CSPWA 2024 AGM Booklet