About Us

Broken Bay Catholic School Parents

Formerly the Diocesan Parent Council (DPC)

Parents engaging in their children's faith, learning & wellbeing

Broken Bay Catholic School Parents (CSP) is the official body recognised the Broken Bay Catholic Schools Office (CSO) to represent and support the participation of all parents & carers in our Catholic School communities and strengthen the important partnership between parents & school.

Mission & Aims of Broken Bay CSP
Broken Bay Catholic School Parents exists to provide leadership, advocacy and support to all parents with children in Catholic Schools across the Broken Bay diocese encompassing the 3 distinctly unique clusters of Central Coast, North Shore and Northern Beaches.

Broken Bay Catholic School Parent aims to:

Be an advocate for parent’s perspectives at all levels: school, parish, cluster, Diocesan and State, and a conduit for two-way communication.
Promote and support respectful & trusting parent / school partnerships for the benefit of children’s education, faith development and wellbeing.
Support P&F / Parent Teams /School Advisory Bodies to strengthen the participation, involvement and engagement of their parent community.
Promote and support Catholic Education in partnership and through collaboration with the CSO.

Consistent with the values of Catholic education, the CSP aspires to foster and support a community culture of participation, engagement and learning that is responsive to each individual school community to ensure educational equity and quality faith-filled learning environments for all young people.

Broken Bay CSP Constitution

History & Name Change:
The Diocesan Parent Council (DPC) was formed in recognition of the need to formalise connections between parent groups and the Catholic Schools Office (CSO) and build the capacity of parents within their school communities in particular to undertake leadership roles, most notably through positions on P&F / Parent teams.
After consultation and discussions, with both our parent community and CSO, it was decided that changing our name in late 2016 from Diocesan Parent Council (DPC) to Broken Bay Catholic School Parents (CSP) would assist strengthen our profile and identity in the Diocese.

How does it all work?

NATIONAL Representation:
Two representatives from CCSP sit on Catholic School Parents Australia (CSPA);

STATE Representation:
Two CSP members represent all Broken Bay Catholic School parents at state level through the CCSP NSW/ACT;

DIOCESAN Representation:
Each Cluster has 4 members on the CSP Management Team, meet once a term;

CSP CLUSTER Representation:
Each diocesan systemic school’s P&F/Parent team has parent reps at the cluster level that meet with their Cluster Coordinator once a term in a local school;

SCHOOL
Every parent / carer in a school community is a member of their school P&F / Parent Team

Learn more: Who is Who in Catholic Education

Who supports the CSP?

How is the CSP funded?
An annual levy of $6 per family, is collected each year through school fees from all systemic schools within the diocese of Broken Bay.
It gives the CSP an operating budget of approx $75,000, to support the work of the CSP. including paying the Diocesan Coordinator (2 days/week) & Cluster Coordinator employed casually.
The Executive Officer is an employee of the Catholic Schools Office.

Support from the CSO
Executive Officer:

Carmel Hewitt
As part of her role as CSO Education Officer-
Parent Liaison (3 days/week)

Broken Bay CSP Secretariat
Diocesan Project Officer:

Leisa Cannon (2 days /week)

Cluster Coordinator:

Louise Johnston (casual)

Links with Broken Bay CSO

The Broken Bay CSP has a desk at the Catholic Schools Office (CSO), Pennant Hills within Educational Services and is grateful for the support of the CSO through the use of office facilities eg photocopying, meeting rooms etc

Who's Who: Broken Bay Catholic School Parents Executive

Necola Chisholm (pictured left) has been elected by the Broken Bay CSP Management Team to the position of Chairperson. Necola is a parent at Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, West Pymble, with two daughters in Year 4 and Year 2. Necola was OLPS’s CSP Parent Rep for three years and has a keen interest in Parent Engagement.

"Moving onto the Broken Bay CSP Management Team gives the opportunity for more involvement with Parent Engagement and what needs to be done to support parents in our Diocese." Necola said. As well as the role Chair, Necola is also representing the Broken Bay diocese on the Council of Catholic School Parents (CCSP NSW/ACT)
Deputy Chair - Mark Sing: Mark is a parent at St Mary's Catholic Primary Manly and will support Necola and the Management Team in his role as Deputy Chair.
Treasurer - Alexia Silver: Alexia is a parent at Corpus Christi Catholic Primary, St Ives. As well as assisting with the finances of the CSP, Alexia is Alternate Parent Rep on the Council of Catholic School Parents (CCSP NSW/ACT)