More than 400 CEWA leaders met on 30 July for the second Catholic Education Leaders Forum for 2018, discussing key priorities, developments and opportunities for the CEWA system.

After a Welcome to Country from Noongar Elder Dr Richard Walley OAM, CEWA Acting Executive Director, Dr Debra Sayce, reflected on the current ecclesial, political and social context for Catholic schools, and spoke of their importance as communities for both learning and faith formation.

Lana Turvey-Collins, Facilitator of the Church’s Plenary Council 2020 shared about the purpose and process leading towards the Council meeting in 2020. She invited participants to discuss their thoughts on the future of the Catholic Church in Australia, and to provide their comments to the ongoing conversation in the lead up to 2020. (The Plenary Council website provides opportunity for all to contribute to the discussion)

Forum participants were guided through the ongoing development of the Catholic Education Commission of Western Australia’s Strategic Directions for 2019-2021 by project facilitator Philomena Billington, and given the opportunity to provide their insights and feedback.

Other sessions throughout the day included an update on education funding developments and current demographics in WA, as well as discussion around CEWA’s Vision for Learning and professional development for educators.

Forum participants had the opportunity to learn more about the CEWA PRIME (Policy, Risk, Information and Maintenance in Education) platform, CEWA’s Child Safe Framework, and the LEADing Lights digital transformation project. They were also able to find out about the initiatives nominated for the upcoming 2018 LEAD Awards for Excellence, and cast their vote for the Leaders Choice Award.

The Forum was the largest event of its kind to date, with team members from many of CEWA’s 162 schools taking part for the first time, in addition to principals and CEWA Directors, Regional Officers, School Improvement Officers and other staff.

This expanded Forum, held at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, was intended to acknowledge the invaluable work of school and office leadership teams in providing support to principals and educators, as well as bringing new voices to the table in this key event in the CEWA calendar.

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