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At this stage of the year, conversations around school are equally about what is to be achieved in the coming three weeks, and what needs to be organised for the start of next year.
Reports are being written and organisation for end of year events is very much at the top of people’s to-do lists. On Friday 25th, Carey Parents and Community will host our Carey Christmas Carols event. This is going to be a great night of music and food plus a performance from the Quiz Worx puppetry team. We’ve had a great response from our school community and if you haven’t provided a RSVP yet, it’s not too late. You are more than welcome to join with us to celebrate the end of year, our great school community, and remember the birth of Jesus Christ who came as saviour for humanity.
At the same time, we are running events to welcome new students and families to our community. This week, we held our second Taster Day for Year 7 2023, welcoming close to 40 new students and their families along with those who have been at Carey through Primary. It was a day of exploration and anticipation. Next week it will be the turn of new Primary families to be welcomed to the school community. Interest within our community for new enrolments at Carey is at a real high. We love the opportunity to welcome new families.
Unfortunately, student enrolment limits are placed on independent schools such as ours which restricts our capacity to welcome as many families to the school as we would like. We are limited from meeting the demand that exists in the community.
On this topic and thinking further about next year, once we return to Term 1, you can bet that there will be a lot of attention on the upcoming State elections set for 25th of March 2023. It is expected that this will be the most closely fought State election since 2007. While most of our school’s funding comes from the Federal government, the State government still plays a critical role in terms of infrastructure development, including the number of schools and how many students they can enrol.
Firstly, it is worth noting the significance of the independent school sector.
Since 2014, NSW Independent School enrolments have grown by 18.1% (compared with 5.3% for the government sector and 1.8% for the Catholic sector).
Currently constraints prevent Independent Schools from meeting this demand for enrolment places.
The key issue is that Independent Schools can meet parent demand for more student places by:
I encourage you to engage with your local MP and candidates to highlight this issue and help achieve the outcomes the Independent School sector is seeking.
Should you like to know more about the details of these issues and solutions, contact communitysupport@wccs.nsw.edu.au to request the AISNSW flier which highlights the planning, financial and other constraints Independent Schools must overcome to accommodate the growth in demand from parents – constraints the NSW Government can ease or, in some cases, remove.
God bless,
Mr Keith McMullen
Principal