First Place Presentation to Mt Carmel Catholic College Varroville, Diocese of Wollongong
2024 Roger O’Sullivan Award
Entries Closed 14 October 2024
for Family, School and Community Partnerships for Learning
- Has your school community implemented an initiative that focuses on family, school and community collaboration?
- Does your initiative focus on faith formation, the school curriculum, student wellbeing, or any combination of the three?
- Has your initiative made a real difference for the students, staff and families in your community?
The Roger O’Sullivan Award is an annual grant offered to a NSW/ACT Catholic school that can show exemplary practice in building partnerships between home and school to enhance the learning outcomes of students.
Briding the gap between home and school,
and enhanced student outcomes in faith development, learning and wellbeing of students.
A school’s project or initiative may focus on faith formation, the school curriculum, student wellbeing, or any combination of the three. This could be an initiative that may have commenced before or in 2024.
The award opened on 22 July 2024 and applications closed at 5pm on Monday 14 October 2024.
This award celebrates partnerships in which the family and community are authentically engaged and where the school has bridged the gap between home and school, and enhanced student outcomes in faith development, learning and/or wellbeing of students.
Benefits for your school community
The school awarded first place receives $5000 to continue their partnership-focused initiative, as well as publicity including promotion in CCSP’s newsletter Parent Talk, a framed certificate and a professional video created to promote their initiative.
If there are second and third placegetters and Highly Commended submissions, finalists may receive a financial award at the judges’ discretion, and will receive a framed certificate.
Who is eligible to enter?
All NSW/ACT Catholic diocesan and member CRMNA 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 2024.
Judging criteria
All applicants will be considered by the independent judging panel on the basis of how well their initiative meets the ROS Award’s judging criteria.
In the 2024 ROS Award Submission Form Template applicants will be 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 2024 Roger O’Sullivan Award.
Application Guidelines
- Applications open on 22 July 2024.
- Applications must be received by CCSP by 14 October at 5pm.
- Judging of the Roger O’Sullivan Award will be the responsibility of a panel to be convened by CCSP.
- The decision of the judging panel will be final. The panel reserves the right to award additional prizes as they determine appropriate.
- The judging criteria will be applied by the members of the judging panel.
- The award recipient will be asked to work with a videographer organised by CCSP to produce a short 2–3-minute video to showcase their project.
- All applications must be endorsed by both the school principal and the president/chair of the school's parent body (P&F/Advisory Council/Board).
- Where the applicant is more than one school community the school principal and president/chair of each school community must endorse the application.
- CCSP will acknowledge receipt of all applications by way of automated email response.
- The principal(s) of the successful school(s) will be contacted by the CCSP Executive Director advising them of the outcome.
- The successful applicant and the CCSP Secretariat will arrange for the CCSP Executive Director to visit the school to present the award. It is expected that some of the parents who have been integral to the success of the initiative will attend the presentation.
Applications closed at 5pm on Monday 14 October 2024.