Number of members: 2225
President: Dianne Byers, Narellan Vale Public School
Secretary: Sam Rosete, Airds High School
Treasurer: Susan Greaves, Robert Townson Public School
Our meetings: We meet each Monday before Federation Council at Western Suburbs Tennis Club at Leumeah. Our Executive includes two vice presidents who are supported by our many contact positions, including Women’s Contact, Aboriginal Education Contact, Casual/unemployed Contact, Peace, Special Education, New Activist and LGBTIQ contacts. Our membership is well represented by colleagues from diverse backgrounds and school settings.
We encourage all members from our schools to attend. School reports are a good opportunity to share what’s happening at the workplace, in a supportive forum. Over the years we have always had amazing organisers who deliver informative reports on current campaigns and news from Federation. This year we welcomed Claudia Vera back to home soil as Organiser for the Camden-Campbelltown TA.
Our community: Our Association is home to the Tharawal people, bordered by the Gandangara to the south and Muringong to the north of the Nepean River.
Campbelltown was founded in 1820 and gets its name from Elizabeth Campbell the wife of former NSW Governor Lachlan Macquarie. Originally called Campbell-Town, the name was later simplified.
The Camden region was first visited by Europeans first in 1795 who named it “Cowpastures” after a herd of cattle that had disappeared was discovered there. Pioneering grazier John Macarthur was granted 2000ha at Cowpastures by the British Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, Lord Camden. Macarthur named his property Camden Park in his honour.
CCTA takes in 71 schools across the Camden and Campbelltown region. We are in the federal seats of Macarthur (Labor) and Hume (Liberal) and the state seats of Macquarie Fields (Labor) and Camden (Liberal).
Our region is growing rapidly with many new housing estates being developed, leading to new schools being established. Existing public housing areas are being redeveloped and replaced with private estates in many suburbs. Campbelltown is home to an Arts Centre, the Mount Annan Botanic Gardens, heritage-listed buildings, and many natural places of interest.
Local Issues: We face many of the same issues faced by other associations: a backlog of much-needed repairs and improvements for our older schools; the resourcing of all of our schools; suitable placement of students with special needs, especially those making the when transition from primary to high school. We also face the problem of a lack of casual teachers needed for day-to-day relief.
Our Focus: The drive to get as many people as possible to sign up to the new #FairFundingNow national campaign is in full swing at CCTA. We are working together with teachers, principals and parents to speak out against the $1.9 billion cuts to public schools and inform the community about what those cuts mean to our schools and our children.
We are providing opportunities for members to attend special seminars run by Trade Union Training. The first will be held on 22 May and focus on special education. We are also planning an event to celebrate 100 years of Federation.