Four schools made independent

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By Tim Slater, Comment News

FOUR local primary schools, Neerigen Brook, Campbell, Bletchley Park and Challis and the Challis Early Childhood Education Centre were among 34 schools statewide that were selected to become independent by a panel of teaching experts.

The independent status, starting from next year, will give the schools increased independence over decisions on budgets, hiring teachers, curriculum and student expulsions.

Neerigen Brook Primary School principal Megan Barnett welcomed the announcement, saying it had the full support of staff and parents and was endorsed by the school council.

“The big thing for us will be having flexibility with staffing for people who really want to be at Neerigen and being able to keep good staff here,” Ms Barnett said.

“We run a merit selection process here so we will still follow all the Education Department standards for choosing staff.”

She said staff and parents would have more say in important matters including teacher selection.

Campbell Primary School principal Peter Glendinning said the school applied for independent status because it would provide more flexibility to support teaching and learning.

“It's about the businesses of the school essentially and to be able to create some flexibilities in terms of the way the school is managed,” Mr Glendinning said.

“It just gives us the opportunity to manage some of the businesses of the school that generally had been done centrally.”

Education Minister Liz Constable said principals could work with their schools to form the best local solution to their problems rather than relying on a one-size fits all approach.

She said establishing independent public schools was a key election commitment of the State Government and will hand greater control to schools while still providing systematic support and benefits, such as access to professional development programs.

Three other local schools who missed out on the first round were Mundijong Primary School, Kelmscott Senior High School and Yule Brook College.

Ms Constable said schools that were not selected could work with the Education Department to strengthen their bid for consideration in the next intake of Independent Public Schools next year.

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