There has been Catholic education in the Diocese of Parramatta since the first catholic school was established in the Parramatta area in 1820. [1] There are 80 [2] Catholic systemic schools in the diocese (58 of which are primary and 22 secondary) with a total student population of around 43,000 and a staff population of around 5,000. There are also six non-systemic or congregational (independent) Catholic schools. [3]
A growing population saw many schools open in the years before the Second World War. Built and staffed without government financial assistance, the schools served Catholic communities in Blacktown, East Granville, Guildford, Katoomba and Castle Hill.
Australia’s population grew rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s. An ambitious school building program was successfully pursued to cater for new families in many developing areas, including Lalor Park, Seven Hills, Westmead and Kingswood.
Some financial relief came to Catholic schools in the 1960s with the funding of science and library facilities. However it was the 1970s that brought a new era of Australian Government funding for all Australian schools, based on the principles of equality and diversity.
Many new schools opened in the decades that followed. These served numerous parishes, including Winston Hills, North Rocks, Kenthurst, Cranebrook and St Clair.
The Executive Director of Schools in the Parramatta Diocese is Jack de Groot. Mr de Groot brings significant leadership experience in senior governance roles in healthcare, aid, tertiary education and social services where he has demonstrated a strong focus on Catholic values, social outreach and mission.
Most Reverend Vincent Long Van Nguyen OFM Conv DD STL is the third Bishop of Parramatta. Appointed on 5 May 2016, Bishop Vincent was installed as the fourth Bishop of Parramatta at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Parramatta on 16 June 2016.
Catholic Schools Parramatta Diocese accept enrolments from students who are not Catholic. All students enrolled in a Catholic school should be willing to participate in the religious activities of the school.
In the Parramatta Diocese, enrolment preference is given, in order, to:
Siblings of children already enrolled in the school are considered by the same criteria above. However, within each of these categories, a sibling of a child already enrolled has preference over an applicant who does not have a sibling enrolled in the school.
Special consideration may be given to children of non-Catholic families for a number of reasons, after discussion with the school principal.
Catholic Schools Parramatta Diocese schools are funded by the Australian and NSW governments, as well as through modest school fees and fundraising.
Castle Hill is a city of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, located 34 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district and 9.5 kilometres north of Parramatta. It is within the Hills District region, split between the local government areas of The Hills Shire and Hornsby Shire.
Blacktown is a suburb in the City of Blacktown, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Blacktown is located 34 km (21 mi) west of the Sydney central business district. It is one of the most multicultural places within Greater Sydney.
Greater Western Sydney (GWS) is a large region of the metropolitan area of Greater Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), Australia that generally embraces the north-west, south-west, central-west, far western and the Blue Mountains sub-regions within Sydney's metropolitan area and encompasses 13 local government areas: Blacktown, Blue Mountains, Camden, Campbelltown, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Hawkesbury, Hills Shire, Liverpool, Parramatta, Penrith and Wollondilly. It includes Western Sydney, which has a number of different definitions, although the one consistently used is the region composed of ten local government authorities, most of which are members of the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC). Penrith, Hills Shire & Canterbury-Bankstown are not WSROC members. The NSW Government's Office of Western Sydney calls the region "Greater Western Sydney".
Westmead is a suburb in Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Westmead is located 26 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Cumberland Council and is part of the Greater Western Sydney region.
Marayong is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Marayong is located approximately 32 kilometres north west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Blacktown and is part of the Greater Western Sydney region.
St Thomas Aquinas Church is a Roman Catholic church building located in Springwood, New South Wales, Australia. The church shares its grounds with the St Thomas Aquinas Primary School.
Toongabbie is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. One of the oldest suburbs in Sydney, Toongabbie is located approximately 30 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is part of the Greater Western Sydney region. Toongabbie is split between the local government areas of the City of Parramatta, the City of Blacktown and Cumberland Council. The suburb is often locally referred to as "Toonie", "Toonga Bay" and "Bayside".
Wentworthville is a suburb in Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Wentworthville is located 27 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is part of the Greater Western Sydney region. Wentworthville is split between the local government areas of the City of Parramatta and the Cumberland Council. Wentworthville is colloquially known as 'Wenty'.
Parramatta railway station is a heritage-listed railway station located on the Main Western line, serving Parramatta in New South Wales, Australia. It is served by Sydney Trains T1 Western Line, T2 Inner West & Leppington and T5 Cumberland Line services and NSW TrainLink Blue Mountains Line, Central West XPT and Outback Xplorer services.
Kings Langley is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Kings Langley is located 28.3 kilometres north-west in a straight line from the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Blacktown City council.
Stanhope Gardens is a suburb of Greater Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Stanhope Gardens is located 31 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of City of Blacktown.
The Ponds is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Ponds is located approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) west-northwest (WNW) of the Sydney central business district in the Blacktown local government area. At the 2016 census, The Ponds had an estimated resident population of 11,731.
Delany College is an independent Roman Catholic comprehensive co-educational secondary day school, located in Granville, a western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; in the tradition of the Patrician Brothers. Founded in 1942 as the Patrician Brothers' High School, the College is administratively overseen by the Catholic Education Office of the Diocese of Parramatta.
The St John Paul II Catholic College is a dual schoolcampus independent Roman Catholic co-educational secondary day school, with campuses located in Nirimba Fields and Schofields, in the City of Blacktown in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
St Andrews College is a dual-campus independent Roman Catholic co-educational secondary day school, located in Marayong, a western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The school provides education for students from Year 7 to Year 12. Founded in 1998, the college is a school of the Catholic Education Office of the Diocese of Parramatta.
The metropolis of Greater Sydney in New South Wales, Australia, is informally subdivided into a number of geographic regions. The geographical definition of Greater Sydney spans across 33 local government areas and includes the Blue Mountains in the west, the Northern Beaches and the Hawkesbury in the north, the Royal National Park, the Wollondilly and Macarthur in the south, and Botany Bay in the east. These areas sometimes, but not always, roughly coincide with official boundaries of suburbs, local government authorities, or cadastral units, and some of the customary regions do not have well defined boundaries at all. Some commonly referred to regions overlap: for example, Canterbury-Bankstown is often referred to as a region, but it is also part of the South Western Sydney region. The regions themselves are not used as a formal jurisdiction, and generally do not have administrative or legislative bodies, although some regions are coterminous with a local government area, and in a number of regions that include multiple local government areas, Regional Organisations of Councils have been established that represent the councils in the region.
Patrician Brothers' College, Blacktown is a Roman Catholic single-sex secondary day school for boys, located in Blacktown, a western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Parramatta Park is a suburb of Cairns in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census, Parramatta Park had a population of 3,508 people.