President's Message

Greetings Colleagues,

I trust you have all had a relaxing break now that all States and Territories have had their Term 1 School Holidays. Hopefully there has been the opportunity for some down time amidst all the work that continues during the breaks.

We continue to be approached by key players in the education and political sectors as a voice for Catholic schools. Both ACARA and AITSL are undergoing self-reviews at the moment and our input has been sought. We recently had our first ICP Oceania/Asia Leaders Meeting via Zoom and discussed the biggest challenges we are facing as leaders in schools. Some of the challenges included, employment, succession planning, a general lack of autonomy, complexity in schooling and the need for co-design of education with governments and governing bodies. There is also an invitation to contribute to the next edition of the ICP Magazine through an article. The theme is Leadership in Action. Articles are due in early July. In September 2026 the ICP Conference will be held in New Zealand and there hope is that we will have greater numbers due to its proximity.

As this Newsletter is published the results of the Federal Election should be coming through, the campaign has been a strange one for Principals, straddling Easter and holidays as it has. It took quite some time to tie down the major parties to policies with little to no change to previous positions and we thank Jacinta and the NCEC team for providing a summary of the education and funding stance of the major parties for our communities . When comparing policies it is clear that Labor and the Coalition have policies that are supportive of Catholic Education and the Greens do not. The Greens ignore the sector blind principles of the Gonski model and favour divisive measures such as free lunches for public school students only.

Catholic Secondary Principals Australia mourn the death of our beloved Pope Francis. Principals have been blessed to witness the way children and young people have engaged with and been inspired by this humble leader, so taken with the poor and those on the margins.

Best wishes

Dr Stephen Kennaugh GAICD

CaSPA President