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About Us
Key Principles Print E-mail

 Our Supporting Principles

 

  1.       Chilldren are entitled to an education which will enable them to attain their full potential.
  2.      Parents have the pri mary responsibility to educate their children.   They are the first and foremost educators of their children, and the family is the first educative ‘school’ or ‘community’ to which children belong.
  3.     “Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children”   (The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, clause 3, article 26).
  4.      As a result of the importance of the school in a child’s education, parents have the right and duty to choose schools which they consider best suit their children’s schooling requirements.
  5.      Parents are entitled to exercise their right of choice of schooling for their children without financial or other disability being imposed on them or on their children by any Government.
  6.      Schools exist to help parents discharge their educational responsibilities, and there should be harmony between the philosophy and values of the home and those of the school.
  7.      Governments, as protectors of the rights of citizens, should assist and encourage, not restrict, parents’ exercise of their right to choose schools which they consider best suit their children’s needs.
  8.      As a result of their fundamental obligation to protect and promote the rights of all citizens, Governments have responsibilities in relation to schooling for all children, not just for those attending government schools.
  9.      The child, not the school, should be the focus for the allocation of public funds for schooling.
  10.      A Basic Funding Entitlement, calculated as a percentage of the total per capita recurrent cost of schooling in government schools, is a real implementation of the parents’ right of choice of school and the right of every child to an equitable share of public funds for schooling.
  11.      For students who are experiencing specified educational disadvantages, their schooling costs should be assessed and more public funds made available, in addition to their Basic Funding Entitlement.
  12.      Governments should acknowledge and support the valuable role of the family in society, and parents in the learning partnerships with schools.

 
 
State Executive Print E-mail

The State Executive is the management committee of the Council that meets a minimum of 5 times each year. Members are nominated by the affiliated school parent associations throughout NSW and are elected at the Annual Conference.

The Executive focus on connecting with parents in an effective manner and undertake essential and worthwhile tasks  while advocating on their behalf.

The State Executive for 2009-10 consists of 23 members.

 

 

 The State Executive of the NSW Parents Council

 

 

Office Bearers:

 

President

    Malcolm Pound

Vice President

    Rick Wilson

Vice President

    Dorothy Creek*

Treasurer

    Yvonne Guo

Secretary

    Naomi Spencer*

 

 

Executive:

 

Rose Cantali     

    Michael Cantali

Marita Devaney

    Mary Lou Carter

Rob Christmas

    Michael Garland*

Bob Fozzard

    Stephen Grieve

Graeme Howard*

    Karen Hickmott

Randon Ilic

     Lenie Kumulia

Patricia Lorenz 

    Bill Mash

Piers Parbury

    Emma Scambler

Mark Webb

    Kathy Willmott

 

   

Office:

 

Executive Officer:

  Anne Crabb 

Community Development Executive:

  Michelle FitzGerald

Administration:

  Helen March

 

 

 *denotes Country Member

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 
Our Work Print E-mail

The Parents Council has been representing parents of children at non-government schools since 1962 and has been constantly evolving. It has progressed from its small beginnings in Goulburn into one that effectively advocates the needs of parents of non-government school children in the State and Federal arenas. It essentially exists to:

  • Support and inform non-government school parents and Parents Associations through the facilitation of Parent Forums and the provision of communication via NSWPC newsletters, website and email as well as the APC review.

  • Advocate on behalf of parents in the Federal (through our parent body, APC) and State political arenas. Where the comments of our parents are taken seriously. We also advocate to relevant bureaucrats. We can act as a counter to the anti-non-government school groups. Issues that we are currently advocating for include:
-    Funding for non-government schools
-    Resources and funding for students with special needs.
-    Extending the regulation of Coaching Colleges and tutors.
-    Support for Rural students and their families.
-    Unjust cost differentials for TAFE courses for non-government students
-    Parents rights to have the choice in schooling for their children.
-    Improving safety on school buses.

  • Represent non-government school parents. We are ‘parents representing parents’.  There are numerous committees and advisory boards that Parents Council Executives take part in, for example:

-    NSW Board of Studies. We offer a parents view of issues surrounding curriculum.
-    Joint Parents Forum with State, Catholic and the Isolated Children’s Parents Association.
-    Rural Education Forum Australia (REFA)
-    Student Transport Appeals Committee
-    National Literacy and Numeracy week advisory committee
-    Non Government Advisory Committee (with NSW govt.)
-    Association of Independent Schools Consultative Committee (NSW)
Our Executive consists of a voluntary parents recruited via one of our affiliated parent bodies. The Executive work tirelessly, meeting 8 times a year as a group. Both individually and as task groups they work on approaches to various government and non-government organisations ensuring parents’ concerns are heard. 

 
 
Our Aims Print E-mail

Mission Statement

 Our mission is to effectively advocate, represent and support parents with children at non-government schools on educational and related issues.

  Our Aims

As a peak non-government school parent organisation, NSWPC aims to:

  1. Promote the right of all parents to choose schools for their children.
  2. Foster quality in schooling for all students.
  3. Achieve equity for non-government school parents and their children in the distribution of Government funds allocated to schooling.

Goals 2009-10

  1. To facilitate improvement in the quality of non-government schooling through strengthening home-school partnerships.
  2. Enhance the effectiveness of NSWPC and of non-government school parents to influence educational issues and relevant public policy.
  3. Strive to maximise the safety of students in all school-related situations.
  4. To have equitable access to transparent educational funding for all non-government school children.
  5. Work effectively with other peak school parent organisations.

Priorities of Work 2009-10

  1. Improve NSWPC internal and external communications.
  2. Maximise the ethos and geographical diversity of school communities in the membership of NSWPC.
  3. Increase Australian and NSW Government funding for students and schools through a transparent funding process.
  4. Increase Australian and NSW Government funding resources for students with disabilities.
  5. Increase the NSW coverage of members of the State Executive.

 
 
Our History Print E-mail

Since before Federation, for a period of over eighty years up to the late 1960s, public funds were not provided for non-government schooling in Australia.

NSW Parents Council (NSWPC) was founded in Goulburn,1962, by parents who campaigned for public funding of their small non-government school. NSWPC was part of the vanguard of action to achieve this in Australia in the late 1960's and continues to lead action for true justice, choice and fairness for non government school parents and their children.

Today NSWPC is the state-wide organisation of non-government school parents and their local school parent associations. NSWPC is recognised as the voice of non-government school parents in the general community.

NSWPC is a non-party political and multi-denominational organisation. It is self-sufficient and autonomous in its work. It is the state affiliate to Australian Parents Council (APC), the national organisation of parents of non-government school children giving NSW non government school parents an even wider voice in the Federal arena.

NSWPC achieves and effectively contributes to significant outcomes for parents, their children and their school communities. We have been successful in monitoring the educational environment and affecting change when required.
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