70th Anniversary Conference

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!