Margaret River Primary School

Deputy Principals

   Jonelle Fraser is on leave until the end of 2009. Judy Kealy is Deputy Principal in her place.

Gail Cresswell   Jonelle Fraser

Welcome to Margaret River Primary, an ICT Innovators School, Boys in Education Lighthouse School, Quality Teacher Program School, Bravehearts School, Solar Smart School, Waste Wise School, Kitchen Garden School, and Inquiry Learning Lighthouse School.  This year our School Development and Curriculum Improvement Plans have five main foci:

Inquiry Based Learning    We are now in our tenth successful year of implementing Inquiry-based Learning through ICT, and have achieved full adoption of the Inquiry Model  as the scaffold for making meaningful use of the Curriculum Framework.  Cooperative learning structures play a vital role in Inquiry, and staff have achieved  accreditation as Teacher Consultants through the joint Department of Education/SSTUWA Cooperative Learning & Behaviour Management program. We see the need to develop Information Literacy, thus preparing our students for the demands of the Information Age, as vital and achievable. The work our teachers have done in this area has won them the high regard of their peers in other schools, and we now have many schools visit us each year to participate in practicums and to observe our teachers in action.

These include:  Adam Road PS, Australind PS, Bridgetown PS, Dardanup PS, Denmark DHS, Dunsborough PS, Fairview PS, Karridale PS, Kirup PS, Mt Barker PS,  South Bunbury PS, Vasse PS, West Busselton PS, Newman PS, Lockridge PS and and Yakamia PS.  These are schools in our own district of Warren Blackwood,  in our neighbouring districts of Bunbury and Albany, and in the more far-flung districts of  Pilbara and Swan.

Full day practicums for teachers from other schools are available most Fridays during term.  Check our Inquiry & ICT link in the menu bar.

Common Assessment Tasks  In their planning of Inquiry Units, our teachers are investigating the adoption of rich tasks, planned as part of the Inquiry, to enrich  their making of judgements about student  outcomes.

Mathematics  Working Mathematically is the whole school focus in this, the second of two years in which Mathematics is a priority area.  Through the leadership of Maths Coordinator, Kingsley Iddon, teachers are investigating and planning the teaching of mathematics with working and thinking mathematically as the overarching outcome.

Health & Phys Ed  We employ a Phys Ed specialist and a Bravehearts counsellor as part of a push to ensure emotional wellbeing, physical fitness and skills levels increase across all year levels. 

From the health perspective, our first aim is to achieve emotional health and wellbeing for all students and staff through initiatives such as Aussie Optimism (Seligman), Bounce Back (McGrath/Noble), Tribes (Gibbs), John Joseph's Learning in the Emotional Rooms and Goleman's Emotional Intelligence.  Our senior teachers have trained in Aussie Optimism (currently facilitated in our school by our Youth Counsellor, Lisa Nikulinsky and our Emotional Intelligence Coordinator, Carey Jose); and the Bounce Back program has been implemented right across the school.  We are also very proud of our long-standing association with Bravehearts. Please contact our Health coordinator, Geoff McLeod, or our Emotional Intelligence coordinator, Carey Jose, for more information. 

Our second aim is physical health and wellbeing for all students and staff, through such initiatives as the Making Tracks daily walking program, the provision of Apple Slinkies for morning snacks, whole school Healthy Lunch days and a whole school focus on fruit and vegetables through our new Kitchen Garden program under the supervision of chef, Ian Parmenter.  Please contact our Health Coordinator, Geoff McLeod, or our Phys Ed Coordinator, Kane McDonald, for more information.

Boys in Education  We are fortunate to have received funding through the Federal Government's Lighthouse Schools for Boys in Education Project, and to have had our senior school teachers trained in the Rock and Water program this. Our Boys in Education coordinator, Peter Delfs, can be contacted for further information.

Solar Smart We have now bought and installed sixteen solar panels, and are working towards our first stage target of twenty six.  Please contact the program coordinator, our principal, Paul Bradstreet, for more information.