The Council of Catholic School Parents NSW/ACT
proudly announces the recipients of the
2023 Roger O’Sullivan Award

Congratulations to Mount Carmel Catholic College, Varroville, Diocese of Wollongong
for the Mount Carmel Home–School Literacy Partnership

CCSP would like to acknowledge, thank and congratulate all our wonderful school communities who submitted entries to our Roger O’Sullivan annual award, and for their effort and commitment to building partnerships between home and school to enhance the learning outcomes of students.

We received 15 impressive entries, and the judges had an extremely difficult decision selecting from the inspiring projects and initiatives that schools have undertaken to improve family engagement.

A huge ‘congratulations’ goes to Mount Carmel Catholic College, Varroville, who took out First Place in the 2023 Roger O’Sullivan Award and is the recipient of our $5000 grant.

The independent judging panel awarded the grant to Mount Carmel Catholic College for their ‘Mount Carmel Home–School Literacy Partnership’, as it acknowledges that parents are the primary and ongoing educators of their children and is an excellent example of how learning partnerships between school and home improves student outcomes. The literacy project has involved building rich and meaningful connections with parents and caregivers, ensuring parents understand the ‘language of learning’ and engendering an intrinsic love of learning and positive sense of self in students.

CCSP would like to acknowledge, thank and congratulate the school communities for their effort and commitment to building partnerships between home and school to enhance the learning outcomes of students.

At CCSP we recently held our Term 4 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Committee and CCSP Council meetings and AGM at the Sydney Novotel International Airport. 

We are delighted to announce our 2024 members of the Committee and Council, authorised by the 11 Diocesan Directors in NSW/ACT and by the Federation board for our independent schools.

A big thank-you to our outgoing Chair, Wayne Davie, from Diocese of Parramatta, who served CCSP in this role with passion and commitment and saw us through the Covid years. Congratulations to our new Chair, Anne Fehon, who represents the Federation of Religious Institute and Ministerial PJP Catholic School Authorities in NSW and ACT as our parent representative, and our new Deputy Chair, Cheryl Murphy from the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle.

The CCSP is the officially recognised organisation representing Catholic school parents and carers in NSW.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Committee meets to discuss issues of importance for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents and carers with children in Catholic schools. The committee helps to build home, school and community partnerships by providing valuable information and developing resources. The CCSP Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Committee meets to allow for meaningful Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parent representation at a state level.

Our Council and Committee members represent the families of more than 260,000 students in Catholic schools in NSW/ACT.

The Council's mission is to provide leadership, advocacy and support for all parents and carers with children in over 600 Catholic schools, and parents and carers are encouraged to contact their parent representative/s in their diocese to find out more about CCSP. Please email us on office@ccsp.catholic.edu.au

Your Parent Representatives for 2024:

Our Council and Committee parent members are supported by diocese staff in the role of 'Executive Officer':

In the lead-up to the end-of-year school holidays, the Australian Federal Police's Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) has provided resources especially for parents and carers with information and guidance to empower you to help keep your children safe.

Online child sexual exploitation can be confronting and not an issue that you may have considered could affect you or your child. It is important that parents and carers understand what young people see, say and do online in order to know how to take action to prevent online challenges.

Sextortion is a form of online blackmail where someone tricks or coerces you into sending sexual images of yourself and then threatens to share the images unless you comply with their demands. The ACCCE is receiving around 300 reports of financial sextortion per month, with the majority of reports involving 13-17-year-olds. There are serious safety concerns for victims, with instances of self-harm attributed to this crime.

Parents and carers can go to the ACCCE website and find the following:

• Downloadable posters
• Animations
• ThinkUKnow online blackmail and sexual extortion response kit
• Messaging kits and social media assets

 Click here: For parents & carers | ACCCE

To boost education opportunities and narrow the digital divide, the Australian Government is providing up to 30,000 eligible families with school age children with no internet at home access to free nbn® for one year under the School Student Broadband Initiative (SSBI). Access to the SSBI will become easier, with the announcement of a National Referral Centre that parents/carers with school students can contact directly to check their eligibility.

For information, please click School Students Broadband Initiative

To be eligible for SSBI, families working directly with an SSBI Nominating Organisation, or self-nominating through the National Referral Centre, must:

• Have a child living at home that is enrolled in an Australian school (up to year 12 including from Prep in Qld/Vic/Tas & Kindy in NSW).
• Not have an active nbn® network internet service at home. Having a mobile internet service does not affect eligibility.
• Live in a premises that can access a standard* nbn service.
• Not have had an active nbn connection during the previous 14 days.
• Either be referred by a nominating organisation or have your suitability determined via an assessment conducted by the National Referral Centre