1 August 2016

Newsletter Articles

A Word from the Chair

Tony O’Byrne

CSPA has been a flurry of activity in recent weeks with the Council meeting in Perth preceding the NCEC Conference which was attended by most CSPA members. Our booth at the conference certainly raised our profile within our Catholic sector and the promotional materials have been effective in extending our presence. Well received papers on Parent Engagement were presented by Carmel Nash and Ann Bliss (primary school focus) and John O’Brien and myself (secondary school focus). Congratulations to Carmel who more than adequately held her own in commenting from the parent perspective as a member of a Q&A panel hosted by Tony Jones at the NCEC Conference.

The Parent Engagement project, which has been funded by the Australian Department of education and Training through the Grants and Awards programme 2015-16 to 2018-19, has seen national surveys of primary and secondary principals over the past several months. CSPA’s formal partnership with the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY) already has been of much benefit with assistance around the design of the survey instruments and data analysis during the latter weeks of July. John O’Brien has done a lot of the work to ensure the original submissions was made and the subsequent generation of the comprehensive Implementation Plan. He has liaised closely with DET and ARACY representatives in relation to the project and currently the surveys in particular.

It was agreed that CSPA would include Government and Independent schools in the surveys and this will happen in phase 2 of the project commencing in August. The addition of these sectors enriches the statistical robustness of the project findings and enhances the versatility of the Parent Engagement Tool Kits which will be generated. I wish to thank members of council who responded to the challenging task of informing principals about the survey and encouraging their involvement. In this vein I urge members of Council to attend to the range of matters that John reminded us of recently. This support is essential if John is to effectively carry out his work on our behalf. Training for interviewers to conduct principal interviews will be undertaken prior to our Adelaide meeting at the end of July.

I was pleased to be able to attend the Queensland and West Australia State conferences and John O’Brien represented CSPA at the South Australian State conference and AGM. Due to Carmel’s intervention we continue to be part of the Australian Sports Commission Parent and Guardian Advisory Group (PGAG) along with ACSSO and APC and other stakeholders. I am attending my second meeting with them in Canberra in late July. The PGAG will bring together subject matter representatives and academics to share knowledge and provide advice to support and guide the Australian Sports Commission’s Parent and Guardian Engagement Project. This will include advice on parent networks, engagement strategies, messaging and associated implementation plans as they relate to sport participation.

In this our first Newsletter it is fitting to share of the farewell that was given to Ann Bliss as she has moved into her new role with the Nazareth College Community in Adelaide. CSPA was fortunate in its formative years to have Ann as both a member of Council and the Executive. Ann brought a generous and lively spirit to all aspects of her commitment to CSPA and to her Parent work more generally. Imbued with a deep integrity, Ann negotiated the dual Parent memberships of the SA Federation with great sensitivity while at the same time being a tower of strength in articulating the distinct national and independent voice of CSPA. This was no more evident than in her championing of Parents and CSPA in her role as a NCEC commissioner. Our loss is the great gain of the Nazareth Catholic Communities and we wish her every blessing in her new role and thank her for her selfless work on behalf of CSPA

At our Perth meeting we also welcomed new councillors in Paul Compton (ACT) and Wayne Crase (Qld), I am sure that after hearing of their rich professional backgrounds, Wayne and Paul’s contributions will be well received. We also welcomed Siobhan Allen to our executive at our Perth meeting.

At this stage, our executive is meeting to plan our work around strategic planning for our Adelaide meeting which is looming large at the end of July. We are rapidly establishing our presence as a national, peak parent body. It was pleasing to receive government funding to support our work around Parent Engagement and I know that general comments at the NCEC conference and our discussions with Ross Fox at our Perth meeting have been well received by our members. A very fitting end to our CSPA Council meeting in Perth was to attend Eucharist celebrated with us by Fr Michael Twigg OMI (Australian Bishops’ Conference representative on CSPA and Principal of Iona Catholic College in Brisbane) in the very picturesque St Michael of the Archangel Chapel. Fr Michael also preached the homily at the NCEC conference Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral in Perth.

CSPA Council Meeting Matters

Perth and Adelaide

Some key items progressed at our Perth (18/19 June) and Adelaide (29/30 July) Meetings include:

• National Catholic Education Conference Booth
• National Catholic Education Conference project presentations
• Information dissemination in relation to the federal election.
• CSPA Parent Engagement project funding and implementation.
• Further development of Students with a Disability in Australian Catholic Schools Position Paper.
• Developing protocols – Financial Reserves Policy and Funding study, formation and travel costs for council members and office holders of Catholic School Parents Australia.
• NAPLAN on-line.
• The CSPA Strategic Plan.
• CSPA Incorporation.
• Review of progress of CSPA Council and CSPA Executive.

Parent Engagement Project

Update

The Catholic secondary and primary principal national surveys will soon be closing - our projected samples for each are around 70. The State and Independent sector primary and secondary principal surveys are to commence from August and we have approached other national peak parent bodies including the Australian Council of State School Organisations (ACSSO), the Isolated Children’s Parent Association (ICPA) and the Australian Parents Council (APC) to put forward the details of principals they suggest we should approach to complete a survey. The survey platform we are using is Survey Monkey and Belinda Coughlan in Perth is assisting us around this.

From September we will be interviewing a sample of Catholic school principals and parent focus groups as a follow up to some of the principals who have completed the survey. The time window on these interviews will extend into 2017 if required. Interviewer training will take place prior to our Adelaide meeting at the end of July.

There are regular meetings with Department of Education and Training representatives and there have been a number of strategic meetings with Tim Sealey and Penny Dakin (ARACY) in relation to the rolling out of our CSPA-ARACY partnership, the development of the survey instruments and the analysis of the survey data.

[CSPA acknowledges that this project is funded by the Australian Government Department of Education and Training through the Grants and Awards Programme 2015-16 to 2018-19].

Some news from CSPA Members

Queensland

Following is a bio for Dr Debbie Pushor who was the keynote thought provoker at the Qld P&F Federation 2016 Biennial Catholic School Parents Conference (30 April – 2 May) in Rockhampton. Dr Pushor will return to Australia in 2017 - contact Carmel Nash for details.

Dr Pushor currently works as a Professor in the Department of Curriculum Studies at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada. In her program of research, Debbie has engaged in narrative inquiries into parent knowledge and into parent engagement and leadership. In her undergraduate and graduate teaching, Debbie makes central an often absent or underrepresented conversation about the positioning of parents in relation to school landscapes.

Debbie, in collaboration with the Parent Engagement Collaborative (a cohort of graduate students), published a book entitled, Portals of Promise: Transforming Beliefs and Practices through a Curriculum of Parents (Sense Publishers, 2013). A second book, Living as Mapmakers: Charting a Course with Children Guided by Parent Knowledge (Sense Publishers, 2015) was co-written with the Parent Engagement Collaborative II, and builds from and extends this earlier work. Currently, Debbie and the Parent Engagement Collaborative III are creating a video series for parents and educators to present concepts from the two books in a different form.

Dr Debbie Pushor (at left) with CSPA Executive Members
Carmel Nash, Tony O’Byrne, Ann Bliss, John O’Brien and Tim Smith.

New South Wales

In 2004, the executive of the Council of Catholic School Parents had the foresight to see the need for the voice of Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Parents to be included in the Catholic school parent voice and so the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Committee came to life in 2005 and it may well be that this is the only group of its kind in education in Australia. Because of this, its members are called on by governments and statutory bodies from time to time to provide expert opinion so that the views of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families can be heard.

The Committee also provides support to schools, diocesan parent associations and diocesan Catholic education offices through the provision of information, professional learning opportunities, advice and resources for effective home, school and community partnerships. The Committee also supports the development of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parent and carer leaders.

In a time when NSW Catholic schools have witnessed a significant increase in enrolments of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, this committee gives an important vehicle to bring forward issues. ATSI student enrolments have risen consistently from 1,950 students in 2004 to 3,925 in 2014. In Catholic secondary schools, the numbers have almost tripled from 1,091 in 2004 to 2,962 in 2014 and the proportion of total enrolments has increased from 1.3% to 2.7% over that time. NSW has the greatest number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students of any Australian state or territory with 32% of the 200,000 indigenous students in Australia.

Members of the NSW Council of Catholic School Parents together with
members of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Committee.

CSPA Councillors in Profile

Fr Michael Twigg OMI (Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference representative)

Fr Michael Twigg OMI is a priest with the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and is Principal of Iona College in Brisbane. He has served Oblate parish and school communities in Indonesia, New Zealand, Western Australia, Victoria and now his home state in Queensland. He has also led pilgrimages to World Youth Days, Holy Land and Footsteps of St Paul. Fr Michael is a delegate support from the Australian Bishops’ Conference to CSPA.

Dennis Torpy (Victoria)

Dennis is a strong advocate of parent and community engagement, together with student health, in his role of Manager, Wellbeing and Community Partnerships, at Catholic Education Melbourne.

A key focus of Dennis’ work is to act as the Catholic Education Commission Victoria representative on the Victorian Catholic Schools Parent Body (VCSPB) Council. He complements this role serving as one of two Victorian representatives on the CSPA.

Dennis has 20 years’ experience across Catholic and public education sectors, working at multiple levels ranging from school community grassroots through to regular interaction with government ministers and their offices.

Such liaison has been the bases on driving improvements and responding to challenges in broad policy areas such as parent/community engagement, inclusion, wellbeing, disabilities, diversity, and student learning.

Greg Boon (Tasmania)

Greg was appointed to the position of Executive Officer for the Tasmanian Catholic School Parents Council in 2015. The previous three years saw him perform the role of Vice President.

Greg also operates a Human Resources Consultancy called “People and Safety”. Greg’s community involvement also includes being President of the St. Patrick’s College Parents and Friends, Vice President of the Australian Human Resources Institute – Tasmania and Deputy Chief Commissioner of Scouts Australia – Tasmania.

Kylie Ind (South Australia)

A South Australian born in the heart of the Flinders Ranges Kylie now lives in Mount Gambier with her husband Chris and their three boys Sean (14), Travis (12) and Colby (7) who all attend Tenison Woods College (their local R-12 Catholic co-educational college). Kylie is passionate about the importance of family-school-community partnerships and the opportunities these offer. She also works as a Registered Nurse and in her spare time enjoys reading, quilting, card-making and spending time with family and friends.

Linda McNeill (New South Wales)

Linda McNeil has worked in Catholic education for more than a decade, firstly in the Maitland-Newcastle Schools Office and now as the Executive Director of the Council of Catholic School Parents. Linda has also experienced the school system as a parent too.

Throughout this work, it has been Linda’s aim to promote the partnership between parents, schools and community. She is a seasoned workshop facilitator for school staff, parents and community members and has presented at conferences both nationally and internationally.

Building relationships with government representatives

As a national, peak parent body, Catholic School Parents Australia promotes the development of relationships with political leaders at all levels - local, State and Federal. If CSPA is to represent and advocate for the parents/carers with children and young people in Catholic schools across Australia, all Members should strive to have current, active relationships with their local Members of State and Federal Parliament, Senators and Local Councillors – in short, CSPA Members need to be proactive in ensuring that we are known to local political leaders at all levels of government.

Many school communities already have very good relationships with their local Members of Parliament and local councillors and ensure that they are involved with various school events. Notably, these local members are our representatives and the lives of our Catholic school communities are very important to them. One should also remember to include Senators in these relationships as Senators are usually a great source of support and information, and often provide a broader perspective on issues.

It is important to develop positive ongoing relationships with your representatives at all levels of government such that they are informed of the great work happening in CSPA and its member organisations. Often, when there is an issue, these representatives will be more likely to listen and act to get answers from the various levels of government for you.

(adapted from a document by the Qld P&F Federation)

Word from a Sponsor

Australian Catholic Super Retirement Fund

The announcements in the 2016 Federal Budget are a timely reminder of the value of, and need for, financial advice for workers on virtually all levels of income and across all amounts of retirement savings through superannuation.

The Budget changes sound complicated, and perhaps unfair to some, but a brief discussion about the background to the changes will help put it in perspective. Rest assured, despite the changes announced in the Budget, superannuation remains one of the most tax-advantaged means of saving for retirement in Australia today. It’s also important to remember that superannuation is not an investment – it is simply a tax arrangement, under which various investments can then be made.

In the early 2000’s the mining boom was in its early phase. Exports of iron ore and coal to China, in particular, were accelerating at a rapid pace, and the Federal Government was awash with an increased level of taxation receipts. What to do with all the money? The Government of the day decided to hand back some of that revenue in the form of taxpayer subsidies for saving via superannuation. Some of those subsidies were very generous, and cost a large amount of money, but the cost at the time was covered by tax revenue associated with the mining boom. Then the China-led mining boom slowed, and tax receipts decreased. The generosity of earlier years became unaffordable, leading to the current Government announcing in the 2016 Budget what is, in effect, a reversal of some of that earlier generosity.

Amongst the many changes announced in the Budget, there are perhaps three that potentially have the most significant effect on many people:

1. Concessional, or pre-tax contributions – from 1 July, 2017, the Government will limit the amount of savings on which it provides a tax-payer subsidy to $25,000 per year (with a new catch-up provision added)
2. Non-concessional, or after-tax contributions – from 7:30pm 3 May, 2017, the Government will limit the amount of savings on which it provides a tax-payer subsidy to a lifetime cap of $500,000, backdated to include contributions made since 1 July 2007
3. Transition to retirement pensions – from 1 July, 2017, the tax on investment earnings and capital gains on the funds supporting a transition to retirement pension will be increased from nil to 15%, to then be the same as in superannuation.

Despite these Budget announcements, saving for retirement through superannuation remains one of the most advantageous forms of saving. Accumulating $500,000 in after-tax contributions over one’s working life, plus multiple years of saving $25,000 each year, all with the benefit of a taxpayer subsidy, remains the bedrock of a sound retirement savings plan. Additional savings from the sale of investments, proceeds from downsizing a home, receiving an inheritance etc. can all still be part of your overall retirement plan, although those additional savings outside of the super system will no longer receive a taxpayer subsidy.

Superannuation rules can appear complex at the best of times, and the announcements in the Budget may appear more confusing than is usually the case. To help guide members, Australian Catholic Superannuation offers two different appointment-based advice services that can help clear the confusion. The first service is conducted over the phone, and may be suitable for someone who has around $5,000 or more invested in super, and with a question on one of four topics listed at the attached link. The second appointment-based service is a face-to-face meeting with a financial planner (which can also be conducted via Skype) – this service may be more suitable for someone with perhaps $50,000 or more in super, and who wants a more comprehensive level of advice across a wider range of topics. For more details about how we can help, simply go to the Catholic Super website or call us on 1300 658 776.

Next Council Meeting

Melbourne

While this first Newsletter is going to production around the time of our Adelaide Meeting, the final CSPA Council meeting for the year will be in Melbourne on 4/5 November.

The Annual General meeting for CSPA will be held to coincide with the first council Meeting of 2017 - date yet to be finalised.

Schoolzine

Schoolzine is proud to be a digital partner and supporter of CSPA - Parent Engagement.

Schoolzine has been an industry leader in digital school communications for 10 years. They are dedicated to customer service, product development and understanding the school landscape that keeps them at the top of the industry. Schoolzine’s Parent Engagement Platform consists of 3 packages, an eNewsletter, Mobile App and Website offering. Purchased separately or together, they guarantee each package will make engaging with parents easy and even enjoyable for a school of any size. Schoolzine addresses the need for media-rich, interactive content that engages parents.