From the Principal

Dear Parents and Guardians

Introducing Wollaston's Wrap

Our newsletter has undergone a number of changes in recent years, all aimed at improving our communication with school families. This week we launch Wollaston's Wrap our new online, fortnightly newsletter which we hope  will provide a readily accessible, attractive format for readers. Thank you to our Community Engagement Coordinator Amanda Barrett who has designed Wollaston's Wrap and will oversee its publication. Mrs Barrett has been actively working on improving our social media presence and to that end, you may have noticed increased posts on our Facebook site and a new Instagram site. In the near future we will be launching our new website which will display a more contemporary design, improved functionality and updated information on the School. A challenging aspect of social media is that it changes so frequently - we recognise this and will do our best to provide a range of relevant and useful forums for the school community and beyond. I would welcome your feedback on these initiatives via email on principal@jwacs.wa.edu.au.

What does it mean to be an Anglican School?

Anglican Schools Australia invited a group of Anglican educators and representatives of the Church from around the country to a forum entitled What does it mean to be an Anglican school? Anglican identity and education in the 21st century on 17 and 18 May in Melbourne. I was fortunate to attend the forum and found it a challenging experience discussing six key components of Anglican identity in schools: faith, reason, ritual, service, pluralism and character. Discussion was lively and enlightening.  The ideas raised will lead to a paper written by the facilitator of the forum Dr Daniel Heischman, Executive Director of the National Association of Episcopal Schools (USA). It is anticipated that the paper will highlight the distinctive nature of Anglican schools and the value of an Anglican school education.

If it's Thursday it must be Sydney …

Last week for me was a whirlwind of four capital cities in four days, culminating in meetings in Sydney on Thursday as a member of the WA Education delegation accompanying the Minister for Education and Training, the Hon Sue Ellery MLC. I was able to invite a colleague and Wayne Revitt accompanied me. The delegation had separate meetings with David Gonski AC, Professor Geoff Masters CEO Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and Rob Randall CEO Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). The focus of the meetings was to discuss and provide feedback on the Gonski report Review to Achieve Educational Excellence in Australian Schools: Through Growth to Achievement. The report contains three identified priorities, 17 findings and 23 recommendations that will inform the development of a new national agreement on school reform being negotiated between the Australian government and all states and territories in 2018. The recommendations recognise that a well supported teaching workforce is critical to student learning growth and educational achievement. Student progress must be measured and tracked to enable teachers to tailor teaching practices to individual student needs.

The meetings were most worthwhile. It was a privilege to hear from prominent influencers on the national education agenda and also offer them a West Australian perspective on the proposed reforms. The Minister expressed her wish to take the best elements from the report to advance education in our state.

Don’t miss out! - Academic Scholarships 2019

Registration for Academic Scholarships in 2019 at John Wollaston Anglican Community School will be closing soon. Register your child in Year 4, Year 6 or Year 9 to be eligible to participate in the scholarship examination to be conducted at the School at 8:20am in The Commons, on Saturday 16 June 2018.

Two scholarships for entry into Year 5, Year 7 and Year 10 in 2019 will be awarded. Successful applicants will be granted a 50% remission on Tuition Fees. The scholarships will be awarded for the student’s education for a three (3) year period. This is a wonderful opportunity for students and their families to experience the engaging academic, pastoral and co-curricular programs for which John Wollaston is renowned.

Please register via the link attached below. Registrations received after Saturday 9 June 2018 will incur a late fee. Click here to apply for scholarships.

For further information please email Karen Ayres at policyandprograms@jwacs.wa.edu.au or phone (08) 9495 8100.

With good wishes for a relaxing long weekend.

Anne Ford

Principal