Every Child Counts for Catholic Education Western Australia

In her foreword for Building a Brighter WA, Catholic Education Western Australia Ltd Executive Director Dr Debra Sayce speaks about the key priorities of CEWA ahead of the Federal election.

As Western Australia turns its attention to long term recovery efforts in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the combined contribution that Catholic schools make to the State’s economy and community has never been more significant.

Our State’s education sector has responded with compassion to the changing needs of families and communities that have experienced the flow-through impacts from COVID-19.

But government support is still required for government and non-government schools alike, and the need for focused advocacy has been more important than ever in the past 18 months.

Representing 158 Catholic schools in WA, Catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA) pursues focused advocacy objectives that seek fairer funding from both State and Federal governments on the premise that ‘Every Child Counts’.

We have identified national priorities relevant to our Western Australian schools that will help every child receive the best education possible:

• Support for Catholic schools to be an affordable choice for Western Australian families.

• Increased capital funding to address learning environments, accessibility, and wellbeing needs.

• Indexation of funding to reflect increasing educational costs.

• Extension of the Non-Government Reform Support Fund beyond 2022.

• Capital funding support for early childhood education in the two years prior to school.

• Access to Mental Health and Wellbeing programs to complement CEWA’s Wellbeing Framework.

• Access to Closing the Gap initiatives for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in Catholic schools, particularly in remote Western Australia.

More parents than ever before are choosing to send their children to Catholic schools, with enrolments up by more than 10 per cent over the last ten years. This growth is a testament to the quality education, sense of community, non-educational student outcomes, and responsive learning environments that Catholic schools provide.

However, it is not just our 74,000 students, attending schools stretching from the Kimberley to the Great Southern, for whom we have been a strong voice. It is also the 10,500 staff we employ in WA which puts us among the 10 largest employers in the State.

At the core of everything we do remains our commitment to the formation of students and the delivery of a quality Catholic education that is both child-focused and Christ-centred.

In fostering these values, we have continued to build on the strong benefits of partnerships with parents. During the period of COVID-19 restrictions these partnerships allowed Catholic schools to move to a remote learning model quickly and with minimal disruption to teaching and learning.

Catholic school families make a significant financial contribution to their children’s education in choosing one of our schools. In 2021, contributions from our parents resulted in estimated net savings of $294 million to both the Federal and State Governments, and an estimated $627 million to State Government alone, if they were required to replace our services.

We are committed to providing a Catholic education to all families who wish to access it for their children, regardless of their individual financial circumstances. We provide specialised support and services for students in remote and regional areas, and for seven remote communities a Catholic school is the only local school. CEWA is also committed to supporting the diverse needs of all students in our schools, offering specialised support for vulnerable students, as well as students with disabilities and specific needs.

CEWA values the Government’s commitment to ensuring all students receive a high-quality education and we will continue to co-operatively engage with government to make sure all schools, including our schools, can better support the State’s growing student population.

All we ask is that every child counts equally when important decisions are being made around existing and new government funding models and initiatives.

This report has been produced to highlight the progress and growth of Catholic education in Western Australia, which we are proud to say plays an important role in preparing our state’s children and young people to positively contribute to society well into the future.

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