Catholic Education in the Diocese of Parramatta

There has been Catholic Education in the Diocese of Parramatta since before the Second World War. There are 76 Catholic systemic schools in the diocese (54 primary and 22 secondary) with a total student population of around 41,000. There are also six congregational (independent Catholic) schools.

A growing population saw many schools open in the years before the Second World War. Built and staffed with absolutely no 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 Commonwealth 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 Mr Greg Whitby. In June 2007 Greg Whitby won the Education category of The Bulletin Magazine's Bulletin Bayer Smart 100, an annual list of the 100 smartest, brightest and most creative people working in Australia. (The Bulletin, 26 June 2007, pp 62–65).

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