September 2025 Newsletter

Dear Colleagues,

The Australian Catholic Education Conference was held in Cairns in late August. The tropical climate was a welcome relief from the storms ravaging NSW and other parts of southern Australia. It provided a welcome opportunity to gather with delegates from all segments of our Catholic Education sector to share, learn and celebrate around the theme of Hope, Anchored in Faith. The conference Mass was a highlight with the 1400+ delegates joined by more than a thousand students from Cairns diocese schools, many in a choir that joined the local musicians to raise the roof of the stadium with uplifting liturgical music.

Later in the first day I was delighted to be able to be part of a concurrent session from the Leadership and Wellbeing Strand entitled:

Sustaining Hope: personal and collaborative approaches to school leader health and wellbeing.

Presenting with Dr Paul Kidson from ACU, Mick Egan our Executive Officer, Phil Schultz and Gez Mulvahil from ACPPA, we were able to share some insights from the data and report some next steps on action to address our shared concerns arising from this, in too many places alarming, data. I share below a few of the slides used. Further information is featured later in this Newsletter.

The Survey for 2025 has just been sent out to all registered participants across all sectors of education. I encourage and request all Principals to register both themselves and their Assistant Principals if you have not already done so. It is important that we continue to support and advocate for this most important work. We all know that if school leaders are not well then schools are more likely not to function well.

Best wishes

Dr Stephen Kennaugh GAICD

CaSPA President

There was no scheduled meeting in August but several Board members gathered informally at the Australian Education Conference. We were delighted to include CaSPA Life Member, former President and current Executive Officer for CaSPAQ in our conversation.

Stephen and Mick, together with colleagues from ACU and ACPPA, presented at the conference on school leaders health and wellbeing. The presentation was warmly received, and we look forward to actioning some of our strategies to garner consistent support for principals.

Stephen once again represented us at the Department of Education Secretary’s Quarterly meeting with Principal groups reps.

Profiles of all the CaSPA Board are available on the CaSPA Website: https://caspa.schoolzineplus.com/current-and-past-board-members

Now part of the Officeworks family, Box of Books continues to deliver the best experience for educators, students, and families across Australia, further strengthening our shared commitment to innovation, service excellence and lifelong learning.

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• 5 August Quarterly Principal and Department of Education Meeting.
  • Welcome and introductions
  • Deep dive on BFSA bilateral agreements and NEIs
  • Update on workforce roundtable
  • Follow-up from National Principal Reference Group (NPRG) meeting 4 July
  • Key issues from associations
• 11 August Keller Education / CaSPA – Exploration
• 12 August CaSPA and ACPPA ACEC Presentation planning
• 15 August CaSPA and Leading Teams Initial Meeting
• 18 August CaSPA and Athas Concepts meeting re CaSPA projects
• 20 – 22 August Australian Catholic Education Conference

• 28 August CaSPA meets Ben Maher from Full Spectrum Education re Activate Programs

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Being a school leader has never been more complex, or more important.

Join the International Confederation of Principals (ICP) for the next edition of our global webinar series: Making Principalship Doable.

This 75-minute session brings together leading voices in education from around the world to share practical insights and actionable tools that school leaders can use right now.

Choose your session:
Wednesday, 10 September 2025 – 12:00 GMT - https://lnkd.in/dsevZxbh
Thursday, 11 September 2025 – 07:00 GMT - https://lnkd.in/dbsHzG_H

Don’t be shy,if you are new or yet to be featured please complete the information below and forward this information to: admin@caspa.edu.au

Photo: Please provide a photo of quality

Name:

Current School:

Previous Position:

First Year as a Principal:

Year of Birth:

My big picture for my current school is:

The Joy of becoming a Principal is:

Favourite Book:

Favourite Food:

Interests / Hobbies:

My Favourite Well-Being Strategy:

Advice for an Aspiring Leader:

Favourite Leadership Quote:

What Title would you give to your TED Talk or Book:

If you have yet to feature in our Principal Profiles you are welcome to do so, simply send me an email at admin@caspa.edu.au with your answers and a picture.

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ICP ANNUAL COUNCIL 2025

There are 65 delegates registered for the Council from the following countries and Associations:

• Africa: Ghana (CHASS), Kenya (KESSHA), South Africa (SAPA), Eswatini (EPA), Nigeria (ANCOPSS), Uganda (ASSHU)
• Americas: Canada (OPC, BCPVPA), Argentina (ESSARP)
• Asia & Oceania: Australia (AGPPA, APPA, ASEPA, ASPA, CaSPA, IPSHA, NSWSPC), Singapore (APS), New Zealand (NZPF), India (Salwan Education Trust)
• Europe: Ireland (IPPN), Finland (SURE-FIRE)