| Abbreviation | PARED Foundation |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1982 |
| Type | Not-for-profit foundation |
| Location | |
Region | |
| Services | Independent Roman Catholic schooling |
| Affiliations | Opus Dei |
Students | c. 2,500 |
The Parents for Education (PARED) Foundation in an Australian not-for-profit organisation that has founded and manages several independent Roman Catholic schools in the Australian cities of Sydney, New South Wales and Melbourne, Victoria. [1] PARED was established in 1982 by parents and educators with a focus on operating schools and other educational projects that support parents in their primary role of raising their children. The PARED Foundation has pioneered a one-on-one mentoring system in its schools, and purports to offer an authentic Christian education focused on academic excellence and character development through human virtues.
The founders of the PARED Schools have introduced into Australia a system of education that was developed in Europe in the 1950s for the parents to exercise greater responsibility in the education of their children. PARED is associated with the Institute of Family Studies of the University of Navarre in Pamplona, Spain. [2]
There are now many such schools in operation on five continents. [3] As of 1993, there were over 150 such schools. [4] PARED maintains contact with many of these schools.
PARED founded Tangara School for Girls in 1982. [4] The school initially had two full-time teachers and 17 students. [4] Since then several other schools and campuses have been established in Sydney's metropolitan region (in Cherrybrook, Dural, Wahroonga, Belfield, Orchard Hills, and Werrington), and in the Melbourne suburb of Narre Warren North. [1]
The Schools in Sydney include Redfield College in Dural, [5] Montgrove College in Orchard Hills, and Wollemi College in Werrington. [6] The schools have chaplains who are priests of Opus Dei, a personal prelature of the Catholic Church. [2]
In the schools' Mentoring system, each student is allocated a mentor who meets the student regularly (ideally fortnightly) to check on the student's advancement academically, socially, spiritually etc. The mentor tends to guide their mentee over a period of years, often all through their schooling life. The parent-mentor meeting replaces numerous parent-teacher interviews throughout the year, with the mentor working closely with the students' teachers to ensure meetings provide practical and current feedback. [5]
Opus Dei, formally known as the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei, is an institution of the Catholic Church, whose members seek to implement Christian ideals in their occupations and in general society.
Dural is a semi rural suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 36 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government areas of Hornsby Shire and The Hills Shire. Dural is part of the Hills District. Round Corner is a locality in the south-western part of Dural.
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Opus Dei in society refers to the social mission, general social strategy, social activities, work, relationship with politics and other aspects of Opus Dei.
Werrington is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 49.3 kilometres (30.6 mi) west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Penrith and is part of the Greater Western Sydney region.
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Kianda School is a private, all-girls day school with a Catholic ethos located in the Westlands area of Nairobi, Kenya. The school was opened in 1977 by The Kianda Foundation, a non-profit organisation that aims to better Kenyan women's lives through education and Christian values. The school began with 40 students but has now grown to a student body of about 830 in both its primary and secondary school sections.
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Redfield College is an independent Roman Catholic all-boys early learning, primary, and secondary day school, located in Dural, a suburb in the Hills District of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
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Wollemi College is an independent Roman Catholic school for boys, located in the western Sydney suburb of Werrington, New South Wales, Australia. Situated on 10 hectares, the college was founded in 1999 and provides a personalised education for students from Year 2 to Year 12. Oversight of the college is administered by Parents for Education Foundation (PARED), which is affiliated with Opus Dei.
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PARED is affiliated with the Institute of Family Studies of the University of Navarre in Pamplona, Spain, a campus created by Opus Dei founder Saint Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer. "All these guys are close family friends," one Liberal said. "They all went to the Opus Dei schools, they all joined together and they're all one unit. You can't separate them."
