Welcome from our CSPWA President
The season of Advent is upon us, as 2024 draws to a close it’s a perfect time to reflect on the year that has been and look forward to what 2025 might bring. Over the 4 weeks of Advent we are encouraged to focus on the themes of hope, peace, love and joy, to consider where we have experienced these in our lives and how we have brought them into the lives of others. In our modern world time for reflection is often hard to find but as we approach Christmas it’s good to take a little time to appreciate the many blessings we have received and gifted to those around us.
2024 was a special year for all of us at CSPWA as we celebrated our 70th anniversary, 70 years of representing and advocating on behalf of parents who choose a Catholic Education for their children in Western Australia. It was wonderful to see so many people, past and present staff and councillors, P & F representatives from all over WA, teachers, principals and clergy come together at our conference dinner to honour the dedication of parents in our catholic schools and celebrate the valuable contribution they have made to Catholic education in our state.
With both a state and Federal election taking place in 2025 the CSPWA council and staff are working hard to ensure that your voice is being heard by all who seek to represent us. The issue of funding for our Catholic schools is being place front and centre by our team and we will continue to advocate on your behalf as the elections draw ever closer. As parents we all have a role to play here, it’s vital that we take every opportunity to remind those who seek our votes that capital funding for our schools is a live issue and one that will impact on how we vote. If you would like some more information on this please contact the CSPWA office, the staff will be happy to assist you. CSPWA is always open to suggestions from parents on issues they would like us to take up, please feel free to contact our staff or a councillor if there is an issue that you are passionate about and would like us to get involved in. We also strongly encourage P & F’s to nominate members to join council, our voice is so much stronger when we join together.
With Christmas just around the corner many of us will be thinking of gifts for the loved ones in our lives. A recent article in the news highlighted the huge number of toys that are donated to charity shops in the weeks after Christmas, as children’s cupboards are cleared to make way for new toys. Volunteers lamented the fact that this did not happen prior to Christmas when the demand for toys for those in our community who are struggling is so great. As a volunteer with St Vincent de Paul this really resonated with me, so many people in our community are struggling with cost of living pressure this year and the requests for assistance are growing every day. I would encourage anyone who has the means, to support our charitable organisations with donations of toys and food and to nurture the spirit of giving in our young people by asking them to donate items they no longer use to those less well off in our community.
On behalf of everyone at CSPWA I wish you and your families a blessed and peaceful Christmas and hope that your 2025 is filled with hope, peace love and joy,
God Bless
Alan