For the past five years, Catholic Education South Australia (CESA) director Dr Neil McGoran has had a vision: to provide an education system that recognises each young person’s individual talents and abilities and helps them to thrive.
It’s a simple but powerful vision, driven by the Living Learning Leading Framework which has supported thousands of students to recognise and fulfil their potential as capable learners and leaders for the world God desires. And it’s a vision that cements Catholic Education as a choice worth making for all parents and their children.
“Over the past few years, we have tried to focus on our promise to young people, on how we imagine a young person to be and how we want them to see themselves,” Dr McGoran says. “As a parent, I want to see my child at a school which provides educational excellence but also looks at that young person and thinks, ‘You are awesome and our job as educators is to help you to see yourself that way’.”
To ensure that vision continues, families, students and staff have been encouraged to provide feedback on their experience of Catholic Education. “We said we want to hear about how well we’re living out that framework, so this past year we developed a survey that allowed families, students and staff to give input into the way they were experiencing Catholic schools,” Dr McGoran says.
“As a parent, I couldn’t ask any more from a school: to be interested in what I have to say and do the very best to respond to that.” The success of the Living Learning Leading Framework speaks for itself.
CESA is now the largest non-government education sector in the state, with 103 schools, 118 campuses and almost 50,000 students. “We’re at our highest ever number of students, which is fantastic,” Dr McGoran says. “I’d like it to be 52,000 students next year but we need to make sure we are doing the right thing by our current students and their families, being responsive pastorally to their wellbeing as well as their learning and faith formation.”
In the state’s Riverland, St Francis of Assisi College is doing just that. The Year 7 to 12 college – the region’s first secondary Catholic school – opened in Renmark in February.
“The new school has had an impact on the Riverland and the regional community; but I think it has also had an impact on education more broadly,” Nichii Mardon, director, Catholic Education Diocese of Port Pirie, says.
“It has been a real sign of hope, optimism and trust. We’re all asking: ‘Where are we now, where do we want to go next and how will we get there together?’ We are offering genuine pathways for families to access Catholic education from Reception to Year 12 in a regional area.”
Inclusion is a key component of CESA’s educational policy, with children of all faiths and backgrounds welcomed at Catholic schools. For lower-income families, a low-fee option has been introduced, as well as a fee-free school for young adults making their way back into education.
“We have tried to do everything we can to be accessible and reduce the burden of school fees,” Dr McGoran says. “We want to reassure children and families that there is a place for them at a Catholic school. And in a Catholic school we can share in the gift of faith and experience an education that is truly empowering.
Pictured above: Ms Nichii Mardon, Director, Catholic Education Diocese of Port Pirie and Dr Neil McGoran, Director, Catholic Education South Australia.
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