NEW MEMBERS We would like to welcome the following members who have joined our Association.
Mandy Hudson - School Curriculum and Standards Authority
Rebecca Bass - Bibra Lake PS
Ashley Sims - Orelia 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
2024 FOTOWORKS WAPPA CONFERENCE
Thank you to everyone who made this year’s conference such a resounding success. We have received overwhelmingly, positive feedback via emails, social media and in person. Across the three days we had over 450 individual registrations, an amazing 55 exhibitors and a record number of Gala dinner guests, at 400 in attendance. The dinner theme, Ken and Barbie Through the Ages, which initially had many people worried, resulted in an amazing sea of pink and glitter and a great time being had by all. In the weeks to come, we will release written recaps of various speakers, as well as video and photo footage across our social media platforms.
As always, the success of conference was a combined effort that can only be made possible through the contributions of:
Business Centre Staff
WAPPA Board Members
WAPPA Partners
Exhibitors
Local and National Speakers
WAPPA Members and Concurrent Presenters
WAPPA Conference Delegates
If you attended this year’s conference, please keep an eye out for the Feedback Survey, that will make its way into your Inbox in the very near future.
ACU PRINCIPAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING SURVEY
The 2024 Principal Health and Wellbeing survey is now live! WAPPA views this survey as one of the most important data tools, that supports our advocacy efforts in the areas of wellbeing, resourcing and school leader support. Deputy Principals are also able, and encouraged, to complete this survey.
This is a confidential survey, independent of all employer groups, professional associations and unions. There are quite a few benefits to completing the survey, including:
You can review your job-related personal health and wellbeing, with an individualised report returned automatically upon completion.
Global results build a holistic picture of the state of school leader health and wellbeing.
The results provide a system-level report with recommendations for future actions.
This research has significant impact in the diagnostic feedback given to school principals, the evaluation of existing policy initiatives, and the consultation with state departments leading to important new policy initiatives. The survey data has led to our occupational safety and health being on the National agenda for the first time.
The survey can be found here, for first timers, or should be in your Inbox if you have completed the survey previously. SURVEY: https://healthandwellbeing.org/
WAPPA BOARD ELECTIONS
WAPPA members are asked to keep an eye on your Inbox for information pertaining to WAPPA Board elections before the end of term. There will be four board positions, one Vice President and one President position, to be elected (6 positions in total). The term for these new positions will be for the 2025-2027 calendar years. If you are interested in any of these positions and would like to know more, please do not hesitate to contact Marni Hill at the Business Centre.
APPA NEWSLETTER - NATIONAL HORIZONS
At this year’s conference, Angela Falkenberg, APPA President, delivered an APPA Update and delivered the annual Tony Misich Lecture - “If you are going through hell, keep going”.
Angela’s attendance at conference gave members a greater insight into the work of APPA at a national level.
Last week at the WAPPA conference, the Minister for Education, Hon Dr Tony Buti MLA announced a ‘workload reduction’ initiative regarding Reporting to Parents. Immediately, member feedback was that this initiative is not about a system driven workload reduction but is, in fact, a transfer of responsibility directly to school leaders. It was implied that leaders have created extra work in the past by doing more than required, therefore leaders can now manage how this work will be peeled back. To be clear, the requirements are for schools to report twice a year, providing Learning Area grades (not sub-strand grades), ABE information, a General Comment and communicate to parents that a Student Position Report is available upon request.
When discussing these changes with associations, the Department acknowledged that reporting does look very different in primary and secondary settings. In fact, it became obvious that whilst many schools were doing too much, some were not meeting the minimum requirements. WAPPA would caution members to undertake any changes using a consultative approach with staff, school board, P&C and even neighbouring schools, to ensure comparison between schools is minimised. WAPPA would also encourage members to consider Clause 12(5) of the 1993 Teachers Award, which states, The Parties agree that up to two (2) meetings with parents/carers, to discuss students’ progress, can be required of all teaching staff outside student instruction hours each year. The agenda, venue and timing of these meetings will be determined in full and proper consultation with staff. The final responsibility to ensure meetings occur rests with the Principal.
Anecdotally speaking, secondary schools make far greater use of these two meetings for reporting purposes. Members may wish to consider a Term 1 and 3 meeting, with a scaled back Term 2 and 4 Summative Report. It is also critical that members clarify with the parent community the variety of ways in which reporting progress takes place, inclusive of emails, updates on communication apps, parent case conferences and parent interviews. Members may also wish to consider when any changes are made, and whether changes are made as a whole school, or in a graduated manner. For example, you may wish to make changes from 2025 and have a phased in approach of how changes will occur.
WAPPA has concerns with the announcement, especially if school leaders are left unsupported to manage ongoing concerns from staff or parents and the changes to the Reporting to Parents requirements are viewed unfavourably by the community, whether that be scaling right back, or making no changes at all. It is one thing to say that leaders create extra work and therefore can manage the reduction, but one needn’t think all that far back to what happens to school leaders even when they make consultative decisions, such as modifying school camp arrangements. WAPPA is keen to ensure that school leaders will be supported by the Department, once their Reporting to Parents Policies are negotiated and finalised and we would encourage members to liaise with us, should any changes be met with ongoing resistance.
BETTER FAIRER SCHOOLS AGREEMENT (BFSA)
This week saw the signing of the Better Fairer Schools Agreement in WA. This is a 10 year deal that also incorporates a 5 year Bilateral Agreement (WA’s response to how it will fulfill its BFSA obligations).
As has been reported, this agreement will result in WA Government schools receiving 100% of the School Resourcing Standard - an amount identified by Gonski, almost 14 years ago. This amount was only ever calculated as that which would be required to cater for 80% of all students. It was always expected that there would remain a need to further fund multi-tiered levels of support.
It is easy, on one hand, to be grateful that over 1 billion dollars of funding will flow into our schools in the next few years. Yet we will also need to see how much of these funds will make its way directly into school budgets and into the schools who require the greatest support. We are still to see what small group tuition or Numeracy checks will looks like. On the back of WAPPA’s Supporting Students with Complex Needs Position Paper, we have consistently advocated for a greater amount of funding to come directly to schools, especially primary schools, in order to implement early intervention strategies that are contextually specific. While there appears to be strategies linked to this type of support, we are yet to see any detail. We hope that consultation with associations will form part of the rollout of the additional funding and associated initiatives.
REVIEW OF THE SCHOOL EDUCATION ACT (DISABILITY)
On 4 December 2023, the Minister for Education, Hon Dr Tony Buti MLA announced a review of the School Education Act 1999 (WA) to identify opportunities to strengthen access and inclusion for students with disability. The review is being led by an Expert Panel, chaired by Professor Andrew Whitehouse. The panel has developed a Discussion Paper (click here for document: SE Act Review Discussion Paper – English – updated), ahead of a consultation period running until 4 October 2024.
The discussion paper is based on findings from a research phase that explored:
what children, families, and educators have already shared in various reports and studies across Australia
what can be learned from other regions in Australia and overseas.
WAPPA has already attended one Round Table Consultation Session with other association representatives, and we will submit an official response to the 13 questions that form part of the Review. No one can deny there is a moral and ethical imperative to ensure our schooling system is accessible to everyone within the community. However, WAPPA believes we shouldn’t remove parent choice when exploring what future models of inclusive schools look like. Many parents do favour a specialist facility, with smaller class sizes, additional support, specific resources and equipment. WAPPA will always advocate for parental choice.
Secondly, there is a fear, from lessons learned in the past, that a change to the Act will not necessarily equate to a change in funding and support for schools to implement the required changes. WAPPA believes that inclusive models will benefit all students, staff and community members when there is adequate training, support resources, equipment, support staff and para-professionals. Furthermore, these can’t be seen to be metro-centric supports. If improved access and improved outcomes are to be achieved, there needs to be far greater consideration than just amending the Act.
WAPPA PROFESSIONAL COMMUNITIES
A reminder to all members that WAPPA Professional Communities have kicked off and there are 7 communities, who have meetings planned in the coming weeks. These groups will link WAPPA Members, with a Board Member (Chair), to discuss a range of issues, support, resources etc, specific to that community. WAPPA President, Niel Smith, will be joining two community chats in the coming weeks – Level 3 Principals and Newly Appointed Principals. Other communities exist for Leaders of Ed Support, Leaders for Early Childhood, Aboriginal Leaders, Deputy Principal Leaders and Learning from Leaders.
PSYCHOSOCIAL HAZARDS AND RISK With the recent national spotlight on Psychosocial Hazards and the introduction of PIIR, having significantly increased workload for school leaders, WAPPA has attended a number of consultation meetings with the Department. We have been advocating for a range of support strategies such as PL, templates, case studies and additional staff at Central Office. We are very pleased to advise that these efforts have not been in vain, with the Department acting on all of these requests. Further to roll out of training and additional staff, we have been asked to promote the following Connect Community to members, that contains a range of resources, templates and discussion forums.
We are excited to have Jade Aim and Rozanne Williams present an engaging workshop designed to empower you with AI tools and skills, enabling you to lead positive change within your classroom and school. By streamlining your workflow and enhancing your efficiency, you'll gain the time and capability to take on leadership roles and drive impactful educational improvements.
For all upcoming events, including professional learning, CLICK HERE.
Partnership Spotlight
Thank you to Concept AV who proudly sponsored our 2024 WAPPA Footy Tipping Competition.
WINNERS: Congratulations to Stuart Klose of Walpole PS for winner the top prize, to Jason Bushe-Jones of Kelmscott PS and to Ryan Pettit from East Kenwick PS. It was a close competition with only 6 points the difference across the top 20. Thank you to everyone who participated this year!
