Sydney, Australia, Aug 8, 2007 / 09:40 am
The Archdiocese of Sydney is considering opening its own preschools in order to tend to the spiritual development of preschoolers and to help bolster the Catholic school population.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the bishops’ Catholic Education Office commissioned a report on the provision of early childhood education. The report recommended a trial of three preschools on parish or school land.
At the same time, Australia’s bishops released a statement on education, warning that the Catholic school system was at a "crossroads". The identity of the Catholic school system is threatened by falling enrolments of Catholic students and growing numbers of students from different religious backgrounds, they said.
As many as one-in-four students at Catholic schools are not Catholic and up to half of Catholic students attend public high schools, they noted.