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History and Development

The Anglican Schools Commission (Incorporated) (ASC) was established in 1985, following the passage of a resolution by the Perth Diocesan Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia.

In agreeing to establish the Commission, the Synod was giving effect to a concern to provide Anglican families and others with ready access to affordable Christian education in the Anglican tradition. It was recognised that existing independent Anglican schools, while offering excellent education and fine facilities, were beyond the reach of most people.

The new, co-educational, low-fee Anglican day schools were to be socio-economically comprehensive, overtly Christian in emphasis and accessible to the disadvantaged and children with disabilities.

Since its establishment in 1985, the Commission has founded or acquired ten schools. Each school in Western Australia is known as an 'Anglican Community School' or 'Anglican School' and all have been established in developing areas.

In its structure and operations, the Commission is not unlike the Catholic Education Commission except, of course, it is newer and much smaller in terms of numbers of schools and enrolments. Nevertheless the similarities are obvious. The Commission has a governing Council comprised of people of stature within the Church, education and business sectors. The Archbishop of Perth is Visitor to the Commission and to each of its schools in the Perth Diocese. Those located in other Dioceses have their Diocesan Bishop as Visitor. The Visitor has wide powers. Each of the Commission's schools is owned by the Commission and operates under its policies.

In a significant development, in 1990 the Federal Government accepted the Anglican Schools Commission (Incorporated) as system authority for its schools, thus making the Commission the responsible authority for the receipt and distribution of Commonwealth General Recurrent grants and other forms of Federal assistance; the accountable authority for the Commonwealth's purposes and the recognised agent for its Schools.

Each school has its own constitution, and is governed by its own School Council drawn from Church, parent and community sources. The Principal is the Chief Executive of the School and the Bursar is Business Manager and Secretary to the School Council. The Council has responsibility for overseeing the operations of the School, monitoring its progress and development, planning its capital development in association with the Commission, raising funds and authorising their application, and operating the School within a budget approved annually by the Commission.

It is important to distinguish between schools owned and operated by the Anglican Schools Commission and the other Anglican schools in Western Australia. Independent Anglican schools, such as St Mary's Anglican Girls’ School, Hale School, Guildford Grammar School, St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls and the like, are autonomous, self-governing schools which report to the Synod of the Anglican Church but which are, for all other purposes, independent. However as with the Commission's schools, the Diocesan Bishop is the School Visitor.

The ASC has the mandate to promote and support existing Anglican schools and to develop or assist in the development of religious education programmes in Anglican schools generally. It is otherwise not involved in establishing policies, procedures or in any way managing or conducting the independent Anglican schools in Western Australia.

Since its establishment in 1985, the ASC has laid down policies and procedures in a wide range of areas, most of which relate to educational and management issues.

The Office of the ASC, located at Mt Claremont:

services the ASC;
administers the financial affairs of the system;
prepares policies and procedures for implementation in ASC Schools;
plans and assists in the development of new schools;
has responsibility for industrial relations issues;
accounts for grants;
provides liaison, publicity and promotion services; and
provides support to schools in relation to their religious education programmes and educational matters in general.

It has a staff of nine, consisting of the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Director – Policy and Planning, Personal Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer, Accountant, two Finance Officers, Administrative Assistant and Receptionist.

The operations of the Commission Office are financed by a levy on schools, retention of up to 2% of Commonwealth General Recurrent Grants (as permitted by the Commonwealth) and modest income from trusts, interest and other donations.

Our Vision

The birth of the Anglican Schools Commission (Inc) in 1985 grew from the vision to deliver excellence in Anglican education to Western Australian families at a more accessible fee structure than the already existing independent Anglican Schools.

Today this vision is embodied in the form of ten Anglican Schools Commission schools on twelve campuses, which are co-educational low fee Anglican Schools, providing a comprehensive Kindergarten to Year 12 education within a caring Christian environment.

Schools of the Anglican Schools Commission:

School	Location	Year of Foundation	Year Levels Offered
St Mark’s Anglican Community School	Hillarys	1986	K-12
John Wollaston Anglican Community School	Kelmscott	1988	K-12
John Septimus Roe Anglican Community School	Beechboro	1990	K-12
John Septimus Roe Anglican Community School	Mirrabooka	1992	K-6
Frederick Irwin Anglican School	Mandurah	1991	K-12
Peter Moyes Anglican Community School	Mindarie	2000	K-12
Georgiana Molloy Anglican School	Busselton	2003	K-12
Swan Valley Anglican Community School	Aveley	2006	K-12
Peter Carnley Anglican Community School	Wellard	2007	K-12
Esperance Anglican Community School	Esperance	2008	8-10
Cathedral College	Wangaratta	2003	P-12