The
Catholic Weekly
Online
Sydney
19 October 2003
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Peace
in our hands
Jubilee
week for Pope
Special
guests at Mother Teresa’s beatification
School
insurance hike
Honoured
by university
It’s
truly feminine and truly beautiful
Spiritually
renewed by Lourdes
$1.75m
for Caritas
Catholic
Women’s Network
Board
short bonanza for Vinnies
Advice
to lectors, acolytes
Much
deeper reality
Editorial:
Time for tribute
Letters:
Barrel of a gun
Conversation:
Terry Hanley, lay missionary who has spent nearly 15 years in the field - Happy
to ‘spend rest of my life in Africa’
What
is peace like?
Religion
test upsurge
Malouf
on campus
Ministry
of Jesus to the sick and dying
‘Father,
this is your life’
‘Priest
in residence’ honoured
Bushland
setting for Thurgoona church
Full-on
disciple of Jesus
Active
practice of faith
Requiem
Mass for ‘Bacon Priest’
School insurance hike
Parents of the 37,000 Catholic parish primary school students and 26,000 regional secondary school students in the Archdiocese of Sydney next year will face an extra cost of up to $45 per student to cover the sharp increase in insurance premiums.
They will be charged an extra $45 per student in parish primary schools and $20 for each student in a regional secondary school.
A family with, say, two children in a parish primary school and two in a regional secondary school will have to pay $130 more than last year.
The Sydney Catholic Education Office says that with massive increases taking effect in many of the insurance premiums that apply to schools, it has been left with no other option than to pass the increases on to parents in the form of additional fees in the coming year.
The executive director of schools in the archdiocese, Br Kelvin Canavan, says the annual insurance premiums for the 148 parish primary and regional secondary schools have almost doubled in two years - from $5.7m in 2001 to $10.5m in 2003.
“When averaged across a total enrolment of over 63,000 students, this represents a jump from $92.38 per student in 2001 to $169.93 per student in 2003,” Br Kelvin said.
“The main increases in this period were for public liability - up from $1.4 million to $3.5 million - and workers’ compensation, which rose from $2.2m to $4m.”
Br Kelvin expressed regret that the additional costs must now be passed on to parents.
The Sydney Archdiocesan Catholic Schools Board had decided to stagger the increased charges over the next three years to soften the impact, he said.
Br Kelvin said that many of the public liability claims relate to classroom, playground and sporting accidents.
The only way to influence premiums is to ensure best practice risk management programs aimed at reducing the number of accidents, he said.
“The Catholic Education Office has worked closely with schools in recent years to contain insurance claims,” he said.
Principals have been assisted in minimising incidents, accidents and injuries to staff, students and visitors.
Staff have been provided with in-service training in hazard identification, risk management and accident prevention techniques.
Br Kelvin said that there was an ongoing occupational health and safety audit program that provides for the assessment of compliance with occupational health and safety legislation and the opportunity to correct inappropriate and unsafe practices, while confirming positive achievements.