What is Distinctive about Catholic schools?
Catholic Schools; Mandate
Founding Story of Catholic Education in WA
Curriculum of Catholic Schools
Beginnings (1843+)
Perth Population 1846 : 1148 with 126 Catholics
1843: Two Catholic Priests and an Irish Catechist.. No Training
Given three blocks of bush land
Opened St John's college for boys 1844, 1 Pupil attends
Church Built
Expansion (1868+)
Teachers Paid according to Results
1871, Education compulsory for ages 6-18
Government schools 100% subsidised
1880-1895 Catholic schools enrolments doubled
Sisters of Mercy build 4 schools in 7 years
Educated Boys and Girls #
Struggle (1895+)
1895 Government assistance removed for non government schools
Education system more organised
1902 Claremont Teachers' College established
1911 first government secondary school
Catholic schools relied on Religious orders.. No funds for teachers
Catholic community isolated and resented
1962: Goulbourn Catholic School strikes
New Directions (1980+)
Most Catholic schools received 50% funding from commonwealth
New programs introduced
- Special needs
- Indigenous students
- Adult education #
Reemergence of laity Teachers and leaders
Current Funding:
Accepts all students with all beliefs #
Catholic Education Commission established
The Mandate Letter
1. Presence of God
2. Witness of the Catholic Schools
3. Curriculum in the Catholic School
4. The Catholic School Community
NINE learning areas; Religious education is first priority
Students build knowledge and understanding of Gospel values
Values by which Jesus lived by
Know and Understand
Value #
Be Able to #
Three pillars support faith development in young students
- Family
- Parish Community
- Catholic School
Church and Catholic schools exists to Evangelise
Do as What Jesus did through witness and word
To transform from within
Catholic schools strive to be good schools
Biggest fear is forgetting why a Catholic School exists
Teach students to integrate:
- Faith
- Culture
- Life
‘doing as Jesus did’ – ‘proclaiming the Good News’,
Do good for others by giving a Christ like love
Christian witness is always "the first act of evangelisation"
"Being a christ like presence to others"
Part of a Schools tradition
Gospel values integrated into the content of the nine Learning Areas.
Religious Education promotes knowledge and understanding of the Gospel
All Learning Areas contribute to ‘evangelisation’ through helping students develop as Christian men and women
- Freedom
- Love
- Faith
- Humility #
Distinctive through its religious dimensions
Displays the schools Core Beliefs and Values
Educating young people in faith #
Four Dioceses:
"A Catholic school cannot be a Catholic school if it is not a good school" - Archbishop Timothy Costelloe
“The spirit of the Gospel is that we belong to each other and are responsible to each other, where the welfare of one is the welfare of all” - Archbishop Timothy Costelloe
Attentiveness to the needs of today’s youth
Christian culture of the school
Curriculum:
the school’s life and work
Religious education and faith-formation
Catholic Schools more respected
Teacher’s in WA 2005:
- 3981 Lay teachers
- Only 26 religious Sisters or Brothers
Guided by the Mandate