November 2018

Newsletter Articles

ACPPA President’s Newsletter

Greetings Colleagues and Friends,

Welcome to our final eNewsletter for 2018. Our National Executive met this week in Sydney to unpack a very full agenda.

This is a testimony to the growing knowledge and reputation ACPPA has in the education sector, as we develop strong working relationships with key educational and political groups. Never before have we been in a position to liaise with so many organisations to advance the agenda for Catholic Primary education.

We continue to be committed to being truly representative and active to support every Catholic Primary Principal and we need your interest and input to keep growing.

Have a read of our newsletter and get in touch. We welcome your thoughts and comments.

Greg Whitby

It was a pleasure to be able to welcome Greg Whitby, Executive Director of Catholic Education Parramatta, who joined us as our guest speaker. Greg is passionate about learning being at the core of all decisions made and spoke about some of the new initiatives that the Paramatta Diocese is undertaking to address learning needs of the 21st Century. He promotes a new vision for education to address the outdated and industrial model of schooling which includes schools in shopping centres, schools open from 6am to 6pm and creating models of collaborative learning environments. Greg acknowledged the role of Principals and encouraged our National Association to write and speak loudly about what we are doing in the education arena.

Greg Whitby thanked for addressing the National Executive in Sydney

Governance Training

From 2019, ACPPA National Executive will be operating as a Board of Directors as we improve the structure of our Association. In preparation for this we participated in Governance training to understand the roles and responsibilities as Directors. Our thanks to Kathy Nguyen, from Associations Forum, who led our training. Associations Forum has been instrumental in assisting ACPPA over the last two years and we are very grateful to them for their support.

Kathy Nguyen from Associations Forum leads our Governance training.

Association Visits

As part of our work to connect with all our State Associations, it was great to be invited to speak at the Catholic Principals Association Tasmania (CPAT) in Hobart, a few weeks ago. Many thanks to Adrian Drane, President, and our ACPPA reps Fran Bearman and Joy Matar for hosting us. We were privileged to be able to share a meal with Principals and CEO staff which gave us a chance to get to know them and the issues they are facing.

While we were there we also met with John Mula, Executive Director TCEO to discuss the work of ACPPA, the role of Principals in schools and the important part they play in both State and National Associations. Many thanks to John for his time.

John Mula, Executive Director, Catholic Education Tasmania

First meeting with new Education Minister

Recently we were invited to meet with the new Federal Education Minister, the Hon. Dan Tehan, as a part of the Catholic Education Leaders group. The discussion focussed around school funding, Religious freedom, initial teacher education, Principal wellbeing and raising the status of the profession. While the agenda was excellent and productive, there was real value in being able to build a relationship with the new Minster who admitted that he was on a ‘fast learning curve’ and wanted to have real and meaningful discussions with us going forward. We congratulate the Minister and appreciate his willingness to consult us in the future.

Catholic Education Leaders meet with Education Minister Dan Tehan

ACPPA farewells State Representatives

As this was our last meeting for 2018, we farewelled a number of State Representatives. Being a National Representative is both a privilege and challenge, as these hard-working individuals also represent their State on top of an already busy life as a School Principal. The commitment and dedication shown by our reps is to be applauded as each of them have contributed significantly over a number of years to make our Principal voice heard loudly across the Education sector.

We would like to sincerely thank Tony Falls and Ellie McGinness from Victoria, Julie King from NSW, Joy Matar from Tasmania and Anthony Hockey (VP) from Northern Territory.

Each of these dedicated Principals have helped make ACPPA stronger and more vibrant and we thank them for their service.

ACPPA National Representatives receive their service award

Vice President Election

We would like to thank and acknowledge the work of Anthony Hockey, for his contributions as Vice President over the last 12 months. Anthony has brought a keen sense of educational priorities and new ideas to ACPPA and we wish him well. As Anthony is relocating to Victoria in 2019 he has stepped down from the position.

Therefore, an election was held in Sydney to elect a new Vice President. We are pleased to announce there were two nominations for this position and Peter Cutrona from Western Australia was elected.

Congratulations to Peter Cutrona (WA) elected as VP from 2019

Senate Hearing into Legislative Exemptions

This week Paul and I were invited to present at the inquiry into legislative exemptions that allow faith-based educational institutions to discriminate against students, teachers and staff in Melbourne.

We presented a brief statement and I also added a few examples to show that as Catholic Principals we would not discriminate against a student or parent. We presented after the Bishops and NCEC and we presented alongside CASPA. This was another good opportunity where ACPPA are being asked to present our views as a National Association.

Interestingly a parent, representing LGBTI parents, came up to us after we finished and thanked us, as Catholic Principals, for the support we have shown LGBTI students, not only in her own personal case, but all LGBTI students across the country. This was very affirming and a very positive aspect of the day.

ACPPA 2018 National Survey

It’s not too late!

Please take 5 minutes to share your thoughts as every comment is of great value to us.

ACPPA Alumni

Would you like to get together for a drink or a meal when ACPPA meets in a capital city?

We have already received interest from past members…please email us now!

Please contact Executive Officer – paul.colyer@acppa.catholic.edu.au or Kevin Clancy kclancy@ozemail.com.au for more information.

Current Ongoing Discussions and Events

• Attendance at the CPAT Principals meeting
• Presentation to the National Directors Forum in Brisbane.
• Meetings with National Catholic Education Group
• Meetings with both political parties
• Appearance at the Senate Hearing into Legislative exemptions around religious freedom.

SZapp…Have you downloaded yours yet?

Would you like ACPPA news and feeds straight to your phone… SZapp is here and can be downloaded on your device.

• Visit the app store for apple or playstore for android and type in SZapp in the search field
• Click the icon that looks like the image to the right:
• Click install
• Once installed Click open
• Click region Australia/Pacific
• Start typing Australian Catholic Primary Principals Assoc.
• Our logo and name should appear
• Registration required
• Register by Clicking and sign in with your email
• Create a password

Once again, thanks for your ongoing support.

From time to time you will receive correspondence from our ACPPA partners. Without our partners, ACPPA could not operate and I urge you to engage with them for their services and products.

Let’s continue to make ACPPA stronger together.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Brad Gaynor
ACPPA President

For any immediate information or to discuss ACPPA matters, please contact our Executive Officer, Paul Colyer on paul.colyer@acppa.catholic.edu.au or 0478 973 767.

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