Awards of Excellence Winners

The CSPWA 2023 Awards of Excellence in Building Positive School Communities,  took place on Friday 11th 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.

This year we had over 120 people register for the event, and we thank each and every one of you for your support. In addition to the many parents present, we also welcomed Ms Eva Skira AM - Chair Catholic Education Commission WA, Dr Debra Sayce - Executive Director CEWA, Mr Wayne Bull - Deputy Executive Director CEWA, Dr Glennda Scully - Director Finance, Infrastucture and Digital Techology, Rev Mark Powell - Director Religious Education, and Mr Jonathon Woolfry - Deputy Chair Catholic Education Commission WA. We were particularly delighted to welcome all those principals who came along to support their parents, positive school communities in action right there!

At a time when the word parent is often used within a negative context, the CSPWA Awards of Excellence are a wonderful opportunity for us to showcase and celebrate the amazing and positive work of parents within our school communities. We know there are many more great things happening out there that we don't always hear about in the office so we would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your contributions.

Mary McKillop said "we must teach more by example than by word" and so volunteering in your school community is first and foremost a gift to your children. Through volunteering we are demonstating to our children the power of contributing to the common good. 

The Catholic school community today is often the first real experience of community that families encounter. Of course, it used to be the Parish and for some families it still is. However, for more and more it is the school, so it is incumbant on us to ensure our communities are welcoming, inclusive and aim to accompany one another along the joyful path of our children's educational journey. Community is not a one way street and it is also not about the loudest voices, it includes each and every member of that community and the Agnes Weymouth Award is acknowledgement of that.

Although there can only ever 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.

Below are the winners of our 5 categories, along with a link to a short summary of all of the nominations our office received for that category. We hope you enjoy reading all the nominations.

Parent Category: Sofi Ietto-Conti (St Augustine Primary School)   

Judges Special Mention to Yvette and Matt Bendall (St Luke's College Karratha)

Awards of Excellence Summary Parent Category

Parent Group: The Carer's Collective (Holy Cross College)

Awards of Excellence Summary Parent Group Category

Principal: Angela Hegney (Our Lady of Lourdes Dardanup)

Awards of Excellence Summary Principal Category

Parish: Father Totanes, St Lawrence Parish (St Lawrence's Primary School Bluff Point)

Awards of Excellence Summary Parish Category

Agnes Weymouth: Rachael Langdon (Emmaus Catholic Primary School)

Awards of Excellence Summary Agnes Weymouth Category