Membership News 🏻‍🤝‍🧑🏽

NEW MEMBERS

We would like to welcome the following new members who have joined our Association.

Anissa Hinchcliffe, Pegs Creek PS
Karen Swaine, Bencubbin PS
Lynne Pontikos, Carnarvon Community College
Donna Sparke, Secret Harbour PS
Tracey Williamson, Settlers PS
Debra Fitzgerald, Coolgardie PS

"We look forward to providing you with the Support, Advocacy, Leadership Development and Connection for which WAPPA is renowned.

We welcome your voice to the ongoing discussions around primary education and school leadership through the numerous avenues provided to our members."
- The WAPPA Team

DIRECTOR GENERAL'S ANNOUNCEMENT

Like many, we were somewhat surprised at the news coming from the Director General of her decision to step away from the role later this year. The WAPPA Board have always valued the ability to meet directly with the DG, as she has availed herself to us at Board Meetings, in person and online, along with a host of other events such as Conference and State Assemblies. Given the DG’s intention to remain in the role until later in the year, WAPPA will reserve our ‘formal farewell’ until such time.

WAPPA MEMBER SURVEY RESULTS

We are pleased to present you with the 2023/24 WAPPA Member Survey Results. The number of members who have completed the biennial survey has grown since the last time the survey was issued, however still only represents a small percentage of the membership.

The survey provided an opportunity at State Assembly, for Chapter Chairs and Board Members to reflect on our successes and challenges of the last two years and plan for ongoing improvement into the next Strategic Plan.

It is pleasing to note that members continue to see the support provided to them, as being of the highest possible quality, whilst all additional services such as PL, Networking, Conference and Collegial Groups, continue to grow in popularity.

The work that was started at State Assembly will continue behind the scenes throughout the year and will culminate in the drafting of a new Strategic Plan 2025-2027, at the November State Assembly.

The quickest myth we are keen to bust, following the survey analysis, is to ensure that all members are aware that Deputy Principals receive the same level of support as Principals. This includes access to the Support Line, Legal Counsel and President. Deputy Principals are considered Ordinary Members, with equal benefits across all Member Services and Support.

SEE THE FULL REPORT

Advocacy & Support

Government House Roundtable

Earlier this week, WAPPA President Niel Smith, was invited to Government House to participate in an Educational Roundtable, specifically looking at the topic of Social and Emotional Learning in Schools. This event provided a great opportunity to share some of the work WAPPA has undertaken in the area of:

supporting students with complex needs,
benefits of early intervention,
resourcing challenges faced by primary schools and
the role of all stakeholders in creating conditions for change.

Mrs Dawson, wife to His Excellency the Honourable Chris Dawson AC APM, Governor of Western Australia, was previously a primary school principal and still maintains WAPPA Alumni Membership. It was very reassuring to know that Mrs Dawson spoke very passionately about the difference being made in primary schools and the need to ensure communities are equipped to intervene early, in order to make the biggest difference to future outcomes.

A number of other WAPPA Members were in attendance, but in different roles, so it was pleasing to see the interests of primary so well represented.

PRINCIPAL PROFESSIONAL REVIEW

Over time, WAPPA has listened to the concerns of members and has continued to advocate for changes to the PPR process. Whilst this feedback is not always taken on board, there have been changes to the process, that are supported by the various associations.

Each term, the Deputy Director General, Student Achievement, the PPR Directors and associations meet to share feedback and collaborate regarding the PPR process. Our collective aim is for this to be a valuable and rewarding process for principals. At our last meeting, we discussed workload, both for principals in general and in the preparation for their PPR. The PPR Directors shared that principals often do excessive preparation, particularly in the collection of school-based evidence. The PPR Directors confirmed that the only documentation they require is that relevant to the principal personally and the self-reflection they have undertaken.

The PPR team strongly encourage you to refer to the Five steps to success. This document outlines the key elements of a good review and promotes quality not quantity with a focus on your personal development as a leader. It encourages you to make notes on the PPIT Matrix, complete 360° surveys against the PPIT and Attributes, and select one or two pieces of supporting documentation. Anything you choose to provide further to this is at your own discretion and should be clearly linked to your leadership in the relevant domain.

Members are reminded that if ever you have concerns about your upcoming process, what to include and so on, that your first point of contact should be your designated Principal Professional Director, or a member of their team.

In the meantime, WAPPA will continue to work with our members and Department senior leaders, to ensure the PPR process is beneficial for school leaders, whilst not creating duplications of workload, data submissions and other processes.

LEADERS' LIBRARY and SHARED RESOURCES

Categories: If you have any documents or examples of files that may fit into any of the following categories, please share them with us so that we can make them accessible to all members.

OPERATIONAL FILES
BEHAVIOUR AND WELLBEING
PERFORMANCE DEVELOPMENT
PARENT AND COMMUNITY RELATIONSHIPS
TEACHING/LEARNING
SCHOOL PLANNING/REVIEW

Some members may recall a time when WAPPA sent hard copy lever arch files with quarterly inserts. This file was known as the WAPPA Leaders’ Library. As technology has become such a prominent part of our lives and members now frequently turn to a variety of platforms to find resources, WAPPA is bringing back the Leaders’ Library, in a web-based format.

WAPPA will now seek specific resources from members, who are happy to share their work, to be filed and catalogued in the Member Profile section on the WAPPA website: www.wappa.asn.au/login

We have recently added a small number of files to this section, but the potential growth for these documents is quite limitless. The building of the Leaders’ Library will be overseen by Meg (our Comms Officer).

If you have documents you would like to submit to share with your colleagues, please email them to Meg, mheller@wappa.net.au.

State Assembly Report

The May State Assembly Report will be sent to Chapter Chairs later this week. It is one of the most detailed reports in many years, as it captures the significance of the activities and discussions, that were undertaken across the two days. Work from these two days included analysing the Member Survey, starting the first draft of a new Strategic Plan, discussing the new initiative of WAPPA Professional Communities (soon to be launched), discussing how best to continue our advocacy work with the Supporting Students with Complex Needs Paper and also discussing the nature of WAPPA’s Work, in relation to a number of advocacy matters brought to the table, by Chapter Chairs.

It is possible that when Chapter Chairs send you the State Assembly Report, that you may wish to enquire further, or ask specific questions about some of the content. We welcome you to reach out to your Chapter Chair, a Board Member or directly to the Business Centre should you wish to.

Professional Learning

Facilitated by: Standards and Integrity Directorate, Department of Education

WAPPA and the Standards and Integrity Directorate are proud to work together, to bring you three informative and interactive half day workshops.

This PL is essential content for all school leaders. Gain valuable insights directly from the SID team about leading cultures of integrity, setting high expectations for staff behaviour and integrating conduct into performance management. These workshops will provide critical self reflection opportunities for PPR and whole school self assessment opportunities for PSR.

Members will be able to attend in person, or online, but will need to register, using the attached links. Workshops will be three hours in length, 9.00am-12.00pm which will include morning tea. Members are encouraged to attend all three workshops, given the complimentary nature of the content, across sessions.

If you are unable to attend in person and would like to join online, please register for online link by emailing Carolyn Hanham at chanham@wappa.net.au.

Upcoming Events

2024 FOTOWORKS WAPPA CONFERENCE
28th August - 30th August

We have booked the band!
PROOF The Band, have built a reputation as one of the best live bands in WA.

Register for the Gala Dinner Only

Register for all 3 days (Gala Dinner included).

From the Field

WAPPA member, Emma Cooke, speaks with Positively Beaming, Jenny Cole.

GETTING REAL ABOUT LEADERSHIP with Emma Cooke
Navigating the peaks and valleys of educational leadership while maintaining one's passion and resilience can feel like an impossible task. Emma Cooke joins us, bringing not only her personal story from a high school teacher to a principal guiding various schools, but also an intimate account of her experience with burnout.

Listen to the podcast below.
🏼LISTEN NOW

WAPPA Words 2024 – Term 2 Week 8