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CCSP Family Partnerships Excellence Awards
These annual grants totalling $10,000 are offered to NSW/ACT Catholic schools that show exemplary practice in building partnerships between home and school to enhance the learning outcomes of students. Council voted to rename these awards, previously known as the Roger O’Sullivan Award for Family, School and Community Partnerships for Learning, in 2024. The school awarded first place receives $5000 to continue their partnership-focused initiative.
Who is eligible to enter?
All NSW/ACT Catholic diocesan and member congregational school communities are eligible to enter.
Applications may be completed by Parents and Friends Associations (or similar parent bodies), individual schools or clusters of schools.
The initiative may have commenced before or in the current year.
Judging criteria
All applicants are considered by the independent judging panel on the basis of how well their initiative meets the Family Partnerships Excellence Awards judging criteria.
In the submission template, applicants are asked to answer the following questions using up to 200 words to demonstrate how their initiative/project meets the six judging criteria.
- How the project is a genuinely collaborative partnership between families, the school and, if applicable, the broader community.
- How the project demonstrates authentic parent engagement.
- How the project has enhanced student learning and outcomes.
- How the project is resourced in a sustainable way, including the likelihood of the initiative being able to be replicated in other Catholic school communities.
- How effective the project has proven to be, with supporting evidence such as testimonials from parents, teachers, students or others.
- How the $5000 award money would be spent to continue your initiative should your school community be the recipient of the award.
Roger O’Sullivan
The Family Partnerships Excellence Awards were previously known as the Roger O’Sullivan Award. Throughout his long and distinguished career as an educator, leader and advocate, Roger O’Sullivan made an extraordinary contribution to Catholic education in Australia.
As the first executive director of the Council of Catholic School Parents, Roger built a strong foundation for the voice of parents and carers in Catholic education. In 2014, the Roger O’Sullivan Award was created to recognise and celebrate the myriad ways that Catholic schools, families and communities work together to enhance student learning.
After Roger entered eternal life in 2015, the award was renamed the Roger O’Sullivan Memorial Award for Family, School and Community Partnerships for Learning as a testament to his legacy.
In 2024 the Council voted to rename the awards as the Family Partnerships Excellence Awards.
