CaSPA News

We thank the following colleagues for sharing their profiles with us:

	St Andrew's College, MARAYONG - Stephen Kennaugh
	St Francis College, CRESTMEAD - John Marinucci
	Clairvaux Mackillop College, UPPER MOUNT GRAVATT - Brian Eastaughffe

If you would like to join the growing number of schools who have their profile on the CaSPA website, simply send an email with "CaSPA Profile Template" in the subject line to admin@caspa.edu.au and we will send you a template to complete and return.

As you may be aware, all CaSPA Principals are periodically invited to supply key data.  This information is held in strictest confidence and individual information is not disclosed to any third party.

So far this year 93% of our Principals have assisted in supplying their Year of Birth. 

The significance of this was apparent once again last week, when Tanya Plibersek announced plans for a Principals Academy should the ALP win office later in the year. Part of the justification for this is based on data regarding career milestones for Principals from the Government sector. It did not however contain data from the Catholic Secondary sector. To our knowledge this is not held by Governments, State or Federal - or by our own sector at the national level. Only CaSPA is maintaining this Data Set.

Thanks to your generosity, should this project proceed, CaSPA is being invited to be on the steering committee and we will be able to bring current and accurate data to this planning.

There have been one or two of our principals who have given "pushback" when invited to provide information such as this.  We would simply request that they reconsider....

If you have not been in a position to assist with key data such as:

• Year of Birth [ we are not seeking Date of Birth as this is private to you]
• First Year as CaSPA Principal at any school

 

Simply include this basic information in an email with your name and forward to admin@caspa.edu.au

 

I am pleased to announce the inaugural Catholic Schools NSW Education Law Symposium to be held in Sydney on Monday 30 September 2019.

The theme of the 2019 symposium, the first of what will be an annual event, will be 'Catholic School Governance in the 21st Century'.

This professional development forum will be a premium opportunity to explore the governance related challenges - and responses - facing Catholic schools in NSW.

The Symposium is an opportunity to gather as a Catholic faith community to explore the complex governance and compliance issues that increasingly feature in the Australian school sector; participants will benefit from the insights of leading sectoral and nationally recognised experts.

Symposium topics include:

• Governance and Catholic culture
• Education law in the post Royal Commission and the Truth, Justice and Healing Council era
• Catholic Education Governance frameworks for the 21st Century
• Models of Governance - options for Australian Catholic school systems and authorities
• Understanding Section 83c

Who should attend?  Principals, others designated as responsible persons (Parish Priests, religious), School Board Chairs, Heads of governance and compliance and finance officers.

As a NESA approved provider of governance training and an Endorsed Provider of Professional Learning, CSNSW will register the forum with NESA to ensure that 'responsible persons' can use the forum hours to assist in meeting their mandatory obligations for governance related training.

Registration of the course in relation to the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers will also provide those leaders in schools who are accredited teachers to also register these hours as NESA approved professional learning.

Action:

• ·         'Save the Date' - Monday 30 September 2019 in your personal and broader membership Calendar
• ·         'Spread the word' , please send this through your networks and your Committee and encourage those who contribute to governance decision making in schools and systems to register their interest.

CSNSW will cover registration costs for this inaugural event.

Please direct all enquiries to Bronwyn Hession bronwyn.hession@csnsw.catholic.edu.au

Yours in Christ,


Dallas McInerney

On Feb 21st, CaSPA President Loretta Wholley and Exec Officer Frank FitzGerald were in Sydney for an NCEC Stakeholder meeting. With the great help of NSW Field Officer Rob Laidler, a dinner was organised for local principals to meet with the CaSPA reps and also catch up with colleagues from both systemic and PJP schools. CaSPA sees its role to assist collegiality among Catholic Secondary Principals as a high priority.

Thanks to the support of our National Partners - such as Catholic Super - CaSPA is able to run such events. To underline the importance of the support of our Partners, we were able to invite Chair of the Catholic Super Board - Mr Danny Casey to join us at dinner.  Mention was made to the gathering of the important role our partners play in the work of CaSPA.

Mention was made of the great success Catholic Super has had over the years of annual returns that are significantly above industry standard and so assist Catholic Principals and Teachers in their retirement years.

There was also reference made to the puzzling publicity issued by a different Super Fund in our sector, which had made false and misleading suggestions regarding recommendations from the Royal Commission into the Finance Sector. Perhaps it was a case of needing to resort to Fake News given the less than impressive returns that some in the Catholic sector had been receiving from their Super Fund......

 

Above: David de Carvalho [left] at a recent meeting at Newman Technical College Port Maquarie hosted by the 2018 Principal Stephen Pares [right] 

CaSPA welcome the new CEO of ACARA, David de Carvalho who replaces Robert Randall effective March 4, 2019. Robert served in the role with distinction from 2012 until the present time, and the Board of CaSPA would like to thank him for his courtesy and generous contribution at many of our Board Meetings. At our May 2018 Meeting Robert shared with us the following:

"I depart with enormous pride at all the organisation has achieved, in collaboration with partners in the federation, to improve the learning of all young Australians" he said.

"I am not retiring, and will be interested in applying my skills and experience to new challenges."

De Carvalho is the former CEO of the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) and once led the National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC). In his earlier career he worked as a teacher - including a posting at Xavier College, Melbourne.

De Carvalho's resume also features positions at the NSW Department of Family and Community Services and the Federal Department of Education, where he was head of higher education.

ACARA board chair, Belinda Robinson proviided this welcome for the new CEO:

"On behalf of the ACARA Board and staff, I congratulate David on his appointment and am delighted to welcome him as ACARA's new CEO. David has significant experience and expertise in education. He joins ACARA following his most recent position as Chief Executive of the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA)," 

"In addition to his depth of knowledge of the education sector, David has also served on ACARA's Board since November 2017. I look forward to continue working with David and supporting his leadership of Australia's national curriculum, assessment and reporting authority to achieve ACARA's mission of improving the learning outcomes for all young Australians."