E southcoogee.ps@education.wa.edu.au
T (08) 6174 1500
southcoogee.ps@education.wa.edu.au
T: (08) 6174 1500
E southcoogee.ps@education.wa.edu.au
T (08) 6174 1500
southcoogee.ps@education.wa.edu.au
T: (08) 6174 1500
The School Board meets twice a term. For more information: https://www.education.wa.edu.au/school-councils-boards
Sanja Tesic (Board chair), Rob Tweedie (P&C representative), Ferne Watson (Parent representative), Julia Formato-Stockman ( Parent representative), Sharnelle Pratt (Associate Principal), Rochelle Anderson (Staff representative), Lynette Beard (Principal), Sue Parr (Executive Officer)
Parent Representative
Principal
Executive Officer
Your School Board met last Friday. We briefly reviewed the preliminary results of the parent and community survey, which have indicated areas of strength and identified lines of enquiry for growth. The board would like to commend the hardworking SCPS teachers, who were praised strongly throughout. The survey remains open, with QR codes around the school. Please have your say if you haven’t already done so.
The board heard about the outstanding work of the senior students in their ‘Habitats for Wildlife’ program. They have added ‘quenda hotels’ and a ‘frog bog’ to their existing ‘cocky trough’, making South Coogee a suburban haven for our native wildlife. The school’s excellent sustainability program continues to thrive, and this rich learning project will culminate in a presentation at Perth Zoo later in the year. The board acknowledges the hard work of staff and students in this exciting project. This is yet another example of our beautiful school going above and beyond!
Principal
The School Board met in August and discussed a range of exciting initiatives supporting student learning, engagement and the wider school community.
The Board acknowledged the wonderful support of our P&C, which has generously contributed $8,000 towards the lease of the Cube in the undercover area and $500 towards resources for Lego Club. The school was also delighted to secure a $12,585 government grant to support upgrades to the canteen.
The Board celebrated a fantastic NAIDOC Week, coordinated by Mr Osboldstone and Miss Kickett. Highlights included a dance performance by Fremantle College students and a NAIDOC rap by Malakai, alongside engaging curriculum-linked activities across classrooms.
Students continue to benefit from a wonderful range of incursions and excursions that enrich classroom learning, including In My Pocket, Healthy Lifestyles and an author visit from Mark Greenwood, with plenty more exciting experiences to come.
The Board also discussed investigating options to reduce swimming lesson costs for families and was pleased to hear positive feedback from the community regarding the school’s communication with families.
Associate Principal
The School Board met on 19 June and discussed several important initiatives that support student learning and school improvement. The Board endorsed a proposal to commence the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) program from Year 4 instead of Year 3, recognising the benefits of allowing students additional time to develop handwriting skills and build greater responsibility before introducing personal devices.
The Board also reviewed feedback from the recent Parent Interviews, with families expressing positive comments about the opportunity to connect with teachers and discuss student progress. Valuable suggestions were shared regarding future interview scheduling and format, which the school will consider as part of its ongoing commitment to strengthening partnerships with families. In addition, the Board reviewed the school’s Strategic Plan, with a focus on inclusion, disability support, and professional learning opportunities that continue to enhance teaching and learning across the school.
The Board received an update on Kindergarten enrolments, with strong interest already shown for 2027, and noted the school’s healthy financial position, including the receipt of the PALS grant. Members also discussed upcoming community initiatives, including the PPP Parenting Seminar on 31 July and the rollout of the Connect and Respect resources in classrooms. The Board looks forward to continuing to support the school’s strategic priorities and celebrating the many opportunities that enrich learning and strengthen our school community.
Board Chair
The Board has its second meeting for 2026 on the 8th May.
A key item discussed was the approval of a school closure on 11th June for parent-teacher interviews, with appointments managed through Try Booking. Learning Journeys are also planned for Term 3 — a great chance for students to share their progress with family.
The Board reviewed the Funding Agreement for Schools 2026, with student numbers and budget allocation discussed. It’s good to see the school continuing to manage its resources responsibly.
The school has had some strong grant outcomes recently — the PALS grant has been approved for a Cultural Dance experience, a Green Grant application is underway linked to Two-Way Science, and a canteen upgrade is also in the pipeline.
We welcomed some positive staffing news, with new permanent positions accepted and several Special Needs Education Assistant roles filled. It’s great to see the team growing to support our students.
The school has also entered into new leases for ten Promethean interactive boards across classrooms, and a new Cube Screen for the undercover area which is due for installation in May — great news for assemblies and community events. The Nature Play area is also set for a refresh, with a quote being sought to make the space even more inviting for students to get creative.
Finally, the Board acknowledged the school’s ongoing investment in Speech and OT students from Curtin University — a wonderful initiative that directly benefits the students.
P&C Representative
8th May 2026
The Board held its final meeting for the year on 4 December 2025 and reflected on the wonderful year SCPS has had. We are extremely proud of our students for the enthusiasm, curiosity and commitment they have brought to their learning this year and positively contributed to the school community aligning with our values.
A sincere thank you to our fabulous teachers and support staff, whose dedication makes SCPS a great place to play, learn and grow. As well as volunteer parents at various activities and excursions during 2025.
The Board has endorsed the 2026 Budget and is pleased to report a positive financial position at the close of 2025.
We also say farewell to our long-standing Board member, April Morgan. We are grateful for her many contributions over the years and wish her all the very best for the future. Early in the new year, an expression of interest will open for a parent representative from the P&C to join the Board
This has been another very successful year for our active P&C Committee – thank you for your hard work and ongoing support.
The Board wishes all students, families, and staff a safe and joyful festive season, a Happy New Year, and a holiday break filled with fun and rest.
We look forward to welcoming everyone back to school on Monday 2nd February 2026.
Board Chair
The Board had its last meeting for the year on the 28th November 2023 and reflected on the amazing year SCPS has had.
The Board are very proud of the students’ efforts, resilience and creativity. Thank you to the fabulous teachers and support staff who make a SCPS a great place to play, learn and grow.
A very successful year with our active P&C Committee, thank you for all your work.
The Board wishes all the students, families and staff a safe festive season, a Happy New Year and school holidays full of joy!
See you back at school on Wednesday 5th February 2025.
Board Chair
The school Board met for the first time in term four on the 25th October.
We reviewed and endorsed the stationary lists and contributions and charges estimates for 2025. The Admin team has worked hard to try to keep costs down for families, which the Board appreciates.
Rachel Spears talked us through the end of year activities for the year 6 graduating class – they have lots of fun activities planned to commemorate their last year in primary school!
We discussed and provided support for the proposed changes to the information included in our children’s reports, which is in accordance with Department requirements. There will still be plenty of meaningful information to read and talk to our kids about and details about these changes have been communicated through Connect.
Board Chair
At today’s meeting, the board members discussed lots of exciting happenings around the school.
Mrs Beard and her staff are currently preparing for the upcoming School Review. During this process, reviewers from the Department of Education come in to the school and verify that the school is operating successfully. The board looks forward to supporting the school’s presentations to the reviewers.
We were excited to hear that the school is a recipient of the Woolworths Junior Landcare Award. This qualifies us as a finalist in the national awards ceremony, to be held early next year. Once again our school is in the spotlight for our work in caring for our environment. The board would like to congratulate all staff and students who continue to work hard to care for our planet.
The board also discussed feedback on late openings, lighting upgrades, and updates made to the school’s Healthy Food and Drink Policy. The policy updates have been made to include the operation of the Canteen and Breakfast Club.
We ended our meeting with a tour of the school library, which has had a makeover. We were blown away by the difference that moving the shelving has made to the space. Thank you to everyone involved who have made this part of our school a much more user-friendly and inviting space.
A reminder that the board acts as a conduit between the school and the community. Your parent representatives are here to chat if you have something you’d like to see happen or improve. We look forward to continuing our work as your board next term.
Parent Representative
The Board had its second meeting for the year on the 15th March 2024 and a number of items were discussed.
We had a discussion regarding the ongoing fortnightly late openings. This item will be discussed throughout Term 2 and revisited at the next meeting.
We discussed the value of our current report comments for Mathematics and English. We discussed whether longer, more detailed general comments might be more beneficial. Semester 1 comments will be under the current format.
David Scaife has generously pledged $50,000 for student-facing capital works, contingent upon the reelection of the Cook government and his re-election. This pledge marks a significant contribution to our school’s development.
The Annual Report is currently being compiled. Teachers have submitted reports from their Learning Areas for the report.
We’ve been engaging in conversations with the Year 5/6 cohort about “Good Standing.” Additionally, we’ve communicated relevant information about this to parents.
Acting Associate Principal
On Friday 16 February the School Board met for the first meeting of the year.
The members of the Board for the year include April Morgan, Ferne Watson, Sanja Tesic and myself as continuing parent representatives; Principal Lyn Beard and Associate Principal Ros Byrne (in her acting capacity); Teacher representative Cristy Coulson and MCS Sue Parr.
Staffing was discussed – the new year has meant there have been a few changes in staffing as some of our staff have moved on either temporarily or permanently. There is a current recruitment process underway for the Associate Principal position which was vacated by Sarah Baden-Powell at the end of last year and we hope that by term 2 we will be welcoming South Coogee’s new Associate Principal!
We spent time having an in depth discussion about the phonics and literacy programs, both those implemented at our school and requirement of the Department of Education to have evidence based literacy programs, which we are pleased to report are already implemented as a whole of school approach. We also discussed Focus 2024 which documents the areas of focus for School and Lyn talked us through the changes for the year.
We discussed the Public School Review process, which all Western Australian Public Schools are required to go through. Through this process a school goes through a self-assessment (reflect on their performance against six domains and provide evidence to support their assessment), which is then reviewed by a team, consisting of an employee from the Department of Education and principal peer reviewer (from a similar school). The review team checks the self-assessment and supporting evidence and conducts a day long site visit at the school where they meet with the school principal and any other individuals nominated by the principal. South Coogee underwent a review three years ago (which members of the Board were involved in) with strong and positive outcomes and, in accordance with the review schedule, will undergo another review during 2024.
Ongoing maintenance, improving facilities and providing additional resources around the school is always a consideration and 2024 we will no doubt continue to see our school kept to the high standard we expect, see improvements that our children will enjoy and resources that will help them in their education. Your voluntary contributions are always used to help your children throughout their learning journey, so payments are always welcomed at the front office (or electronically).
The year has been off to a busy start and the Board hopes that our school community have an enjoyable 2024. We look forward to providing continued updates on matters that affect the school community, following our board meetings.
Board Chair
The Board had its last meeting for the year on the 28th November 2023 and reflected on the amazing year SCPS has had.
The Board are very proud of the students’ efforts, resilience and creativity. Thank you to the fabulous teachers and support staff who make a SCPS a great place to grow.
Recently, a review of Camp Australia services was undertaken, which showed increased parents’ satisfaction over the year. SCPS have regularly met with Camp Australia during the year and provided feedback for improvement, which they have actively worked on and improved their service.
The Board endorsed the Budget for 2024 and is happy to see a positive budget closure from 2023.
It is pleasing to see that the grounds have been improved and refreshed, specifically:
The students will have new water fountains at school in Term 1, 2024. The fountains have been ordered and will be installed during the summer school holidays.
A parent survey had 96 responses, an increase of 20% compared to last year. Thank you to all that took the time to complete it. Overall satisfaction of the school was a score of 4/5.
The Board wishes all the students and staff a safe festive season, a Happy New Year and school holidays full of rest and fun!
Board Member
On Tuesday 16th May, the Board met for the first meeting of Term 2. We talked about the Business Plan and the fact that we are currently on track to meet the set targets. The Business Plan will be reviewed in 2024, with the possibility of extending the plan to 2025. This is due to delays in some areas due to Covid-19.
The Board would like to welcome the new canteen manager, Aimee, and thank the P&C for their huge efforts in raising $15000 in the recent Colour Run. The P&C were also thanked for the $400 they raised in the Mother’s Day stall. This was the first time that this event has been ‘cashless’, and the pros and cons of this were discussed.
As members of the Cockburn Fremantle Network of schools, our regional priority is currently on attendance. This is monitored regularly by our school and letters are sent out to families regarding low attendance and unauthorised vacations.
Other items discussed were our new staff members, including two new special needs education assistants, and an AIEO, as well as the Terms of Reference.
The next School Board meeting is an open public meeting and will be held at 8.30am on Tuesday 13th June 2023 in the Conference Room. All members of the school community are welcome to attend.
The school board gathered this week for our second meeting of the term. The focus was the school’s Annual Report.
The Board discussed the requirements from the Department to be included in the report and the additional reports supplied by South Coogee staff. It will be uploaded to the school website and Schools Online so do look out for it.
We are likely to have community leaders at South Coogee – the Board were given updates on the involvement of staff in the Principals Network, the Deputies Network and the MCS Network. All of these networks include local schools and a great support for all involved.
The Board would like to thank our outgoing Canteen Manager Lil for all your hardwork and development of a healthy menu. The P&C have appointed a new manager to whom we wish every success.
Please be advised that the P&C have their annual general meeting next week, Monday 27/3 at 7pm in the staffroom. It would be great to have some new faces, they welcome general members to help the school in whatever way they can. The Colour Run is coming soon – the Board learnt that so far over $8000 has been raised – well done.
We wish all staff and students a pleasant remainder of term and Easter holidays.
P&C Representative
On Tuesday 14th February, the board met for the first time in 2023. The board warmly welcomed Maree Young as a staff representative.
Mrs Beard gave the board an overview of the programs running in the school. The board is impressed by the quality of evidence-based programs running throughout the school. These programs align with the Department of Education’s strategic plans and the SCPS Business plan. Many of them are also endorsed by the Dyslexia-SPELD Foundation.
The board discussed student numbers and staffing considerations. Ms Baden-Powell also shared the extra programs which are funded by the school. This year, the school are working in partnership with seven final year university students to support selected students. They are studying the areas of Counselling, Speech and Occupational Therapy. The board acknowledges the hard work of Ms Baden-Powell in coordinating these programs.
The school board also discussed Camp Australia, who have commenced operating at the school. Feedback from the community so far has been positive and their enrolments are increasing. Since our meeting, concerns around the Childcare Subsidy have been resolved.
On Tuesday June 13th the Board held it’s annual open meeting and welcomed the attendance of special guest speakers.
Staff Board representatives provided an overview of maintenance and planned updates to facilities around the school grounds and confirmed that the new signs for our welcome to country have arrived. They advised of the upcoming performances for students involved in music programs and the recently awarded grant being used towards the Rugby Clinic.
Feedback from staff was positive in relation to the recent PP to Year 4 Swimming Lessons at the ARC and options for next year’s lessons will be considered. An overview of the recently conducted lockdown was also provided and while the children responded well during the practice there were improvements identified for the Emergency Management Plan identified.
Our guests in attendance presented to the Board.
Andrea from Camp Australia provided a brief overview of ways that our before and after school care provider engages with our children and opportunities for supporting our broader school community.
Cathy Baron, Principal of Lakelands Senior High School, spoke passionately about the exciting programs and improvements at the school – she encourages parents of year 5s and 6s to tour the school and welcomes the opportunity for people to learn more about what’s on offer.
Joan de Castro and Vicky Hartill from the City of Cockburn spoke about a range of services, activities, events and support relevant to the school and our community.
We wish teachers, students and parents/carers a wonderful two week break over the upcoming school holidays.