What Catholic Education Western Australia does

Catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA) is the governing body for Catholic schools across the state of Western Australia, operating 162 schools that serve more than 83,000 students through four diocesan structures: the Perth Archdiocese, the Broome Diocese (13 schools), the Bunbury Diocese (approximately 27-28 schools), and the Geraldton Diocese (11 schools). CEWA Limited is a private company limited by guarantee operating under the authority of the Catholic Bishops of Western Australia and the Catholic Education Commission of Western Australia (CECWA), and it is not a profit-distributing entity. The organization maintains a central office in Leederville plus regional offices in Broome, Geraldton, and Bunbury, employing approximately 370 central office staff with a total workforce exceeding 10,000 including school-based educators and support staff.

The product portfolio spans core K-12 education delivery, the Virtual School Network (ViSN) for online Year 11-12 courses to remote students, an Australian-first Nurture AI Teaching Assistant piloted in ten schools from February 2025, regional teacher recruitment programs (Kimberley Calling and Teach Regional WA), an Accreditation Framework and Professional Learning Portal for staff development, a School Finder enrollment directory, a MyHR staff portal, an Outside School Hours Care service, a Zycus-based procurement portal, and governance frameworks such as the Child Safe Framework and Vision for Learning. Technology differentiation centers on ViSN's cross-school online delivery model and the Nurture AI pilot, both of which extend curriculum access and teacher support across the diocesan footprint.

CEWA's revenue is derived from two primary streams: combined Australian federal and Western Australian state government per-capita school funding, and tuition fees paid by families (with fee schedules determined at the individual school level). The go-to-market motion is direct-to-consumer, with families enrolling children through individual school websites or the School Finder directory. Pricing for school fees is not publicly disclosed and families are directed to individual schools for fee information. The organization does not publicly report revenue and is funded on a recurring basis aligned to the academic year, with annual billing cycles for tuition.

Name

Catholic Education Western Australia

Legal name

Catholic Education Western Australia Limited

Website

https://cewa.edu.au

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

Catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA) governs 162 Catholic schools across four dioceses serving 83,000+ students, delivering K-12 faith-based education supported by online, regional, and AI-enabled programs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

K-12 Catholic Education

NAICS

Elementary and Secondary Schools (611110)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Faith-Based (Religious) K–12 Schools (EDAJABAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Virtual School Course Providers (Single-Course/Part-Time Enrollment) (EDAJADAE)

Keywords

• K-12 Catholic education
• School system administration
• Religious education services
• Online secondary schooling
• Teacher professional development

Headquarters

HQ city

Leederville

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Supply Chain, Others

Revenue model

1. Government Funding: Catholic Education Western Australia receives government funding as the system operator for Catholic schools across Western Australia, which forms the primary funding source for school operations.
2. School Fees: Families pay school fees for enrollment in Catholic schools. Fee information is available through the 'Fees and Enrolments' page on the CEWA website.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

CEWA governs and operates a network of 162 Catholic schools across Western Australia serving over 83,000 students from Kindergarten through Year 12, providing faith-based education, learning programs, and holistic student wellbeing. The portfolio includes the Virtual School Network (ViSN) for online senior secondary courses, Outside School Hours Care services, regional teacher recruitment programs, and staff professional development through the Accreditation Framework and Professional Learning Portal.

Product overview

Catholic Education Western Australia operates a portfolio of 162 schools serving 83,000+ students across Western Australia. The organization provides a suite of interconnected educational services including the Virtual School Network (ViSN) for online Years 11-12 delivery, Professional Learning Portal and Accreditation Framework for staff development, regional teacher recruitment programs (Kimberley Calling and Teach Regional WA), School Finder for enrollment, MyHR for staff management, Zycus Supplier Network Portal for procurement, Outside School Hours Care for families, and strategic frameworks including Child Safe Framework and Vision for Learning. The portfolio also includes an Australian-first AI Teaching Assistant pilot called Nurture. The system is structured around four dioceses (Perth Archdiocese, Broome, Bunbury, Geraldton) with offices in Leederville, Broome, Geraldton, and Bunbury.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Virtual School Network (ViSN): A network of secondary schools that work together to deliver online courses to Year 11 and Year 12 students across Western Australia.
• Kimberley Calling
• Teach Regional WA

Products and services

• Virtual School Network (ViSN) A collaborative network of Catholic secondary schools delivering online courses to Year 11 and 12 students across Western Australia, enabling students from remote areas to access specialized senior secondary courses not available at their local schools.
• Nurture AI Teaching Assistant An Australian-first AI-powered Teaching Assistant designed to improve student outcomes by supporting teachers with research-led use of AI, closing the feedback loop between learning activities and assessment. Currently piloted across ten Catholic schools in Western Australia.
• Professional Learning Portal Online platform providing access to a range of relevant, collaborative and future-focused professional development courses and workshops for teaching and non-teaching staff across the CEWA system.
• Accreditation Framework A professional learning and formation framework establishing requirements for differing levels of competency and qualifications for all staff in Catholic Education, supporting initial and ongoing education in faith and theology.
• Kimberley Calling Program A staffing initiative that recruits teachers for Catholic school communities in the Kimberley region (Broome Diocese), providing information about unique teaching, living and cultural experiences in remote Western Australia.
• Teach Regional WA A supported pathway for qualified teachers to work in Catholic schools across regional communities in Bunbury, Geraldton, and Goldfields-Esperance-Merredin-Southern Cross regions, offering career growth opportunities.
• School Finder Directory Online directory enabling parents and families to discover and locate Catholic schools in their local area or diocese across Western Australia, supporting direct enrollment.
• Outside School Hours Care Childcare services including before and after school care, vacation care, and long day care provided at Catholic schools for working families.

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability1 record

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Catenian Association in Western AustraliaminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 30 July 2025Joint project between the Catenian Association in Western Australia and Catholic Education WA for the annual Speak for Faith Competition, part of the Performing Arts Festival programme. The competition involves students from across WA Catholic schools in oratory competitions.
• Liverpool FC International AcademycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 May 2025Irene McCormack Catholic College partnered with Liverpool FC International Academy to offer students from Years 7 to 12 a high-performance, co-curricular soccer development program. The partnership brings world-class coaching and training methods to the College, supporting the development of promising young footballers. Servite College also participates in the program, with colleges uniting for training days.
• NurturecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 February 2025CEWA partnered with Nurture to trial an Australian-first AI-powered Teaching Assistant in ten West Australian Catholic schools. The AI assistant aims to improve student outcomes by supporting teachers with research-led use of AI, closing the feedback loop between learning activities and assessment. Participating schools include Iona Presentation College, Kolbe Catholic College, Lumen Christi College, and others.
• Main Roads WAminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLiwara Catholic Primary School collaborated with Main Roads WA on a community art project. Mural artist Paula Hart worked with students to create a mural themed around friendship, play, and local flora and fauna, displayed on the school boundary wall.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Catholic Education South Australia: Operates the Catholic school system across South Australia, with a comparable diocesan structure, faith-based K-12 offering, and government-plus-tuition funding model — making it the closest structural peer to CEWA.
• Brisbane Catholic Education: Catholic school system authority for the Archdiocese of Brisbane, operating a comparable multi-diocesan Catholic K-12 network with similar funding structure and direct-to-consumer enrollment model.
• Catholic Education Melbourne: Governing body for Catholic schools across the Archdiocese of Melbourne, offering the same K-12 Catholic education model with diocesan governance, fee-based enrollment, and government co-funding.
• Catholic Schools NSW: State-level body representing Catholic schools across NSW and the ACT, with a comparable system-wide governance role, advocacy function, and shared Catholic-school funding model.
• Sydney Catholic Schools: System authority for Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Sydney, operating a comparable network of primary and secondary Catholic schools with shared governance under Catholic Church authority and similar funding sources.

Broad incumbents

• Association of Independent Schools of Western Australia: Peak body representing Western Australia's independent (non-Catholic, non-government) schools — a competing fee-paying school segment in the Perth metropolitan area and regional WA.
• Department of Education Western Australia: The public-school system operator for Western Australia, the primary alternative to CEWA for K-12 families; competes directly on cost (free public schooling), geographic reach, and curriculum offerings.

Emerging players

• Lutheran Education Australia: Network of Lutheran faith-based K-12 schools across Australia, comparable as a smaller faith-based school system competing for similar values-driven families, though with a smaller footprint than CEWA.
• Christian Schools Australia: National network of non-Catholic Christian schools across Australia, competing in the same faith-based K-12 segment as CEWA for families seeking values-aligned education outside the public system.

Regional players

• School of the Air (Various Australian Operators): Government-operated distance education providers serving remote Australian students — directly comparable to CEWA's ViSN in delivering secondary curriculum to geographically isolated learners across regional and remote Australia.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CatholicEdWA
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/CEOWA
• Facebookweb.facebook.com/CatholicEducationWA
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/2477641

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Catholic Education Western Australia