Pilbara school one of the State’s best

Baynton West Primary School has been acknowledged as one of the State’s top public schools, after it was announced as a finalist in two categories in the 2015 WA Education Awards.

Baynton West Primary was a finalist in the WA Premier’s Excellence in Aboriginal Education Award and principal Lisa Ledger was also announced as a finalist in the WA Primary School Leader of the Year category.

Ms Ledger said she was extremely humbled to be nominated as a finalist and represent Karratha Education on a state-wide stage.

“I just love what I do, I’ve been a teacher for more than 30 years and this school is everything to me,” she said.

“To come to a school every day where I’ve got 600 awesome children, highly involved families, great staff and strong school leaders… I just feel like I’ve hit the jack pot.

“Families who think they are getting a raw deal with education when they come to Karratha can think again…the programs we have on offer here are world class.”

Ms Ledger said she was passionate about closing the gap between the achievement of aboriginal and non-aboriginal students in Karratha.

“When we look at our data, it tells us we are doing a good job with our aboriginal students who are making valuable progress,” she said.

“We have got 80 per cent average attendance of aboriginal students which is not where it needs to be but it’s certainly making strong progress to get up to that 90 per cent minimum target.

“We also work closely with the high school to make sure aboriginal children are supported through transition because that’s where we lose some of our kids.

“We want to teach the kids to value their traditional languages and but also how to make that jump between dialect and standard Australian English so the kids have power and choice in their lives.”

South Hedland Primary School’s Adeline Monaghan was also a Pilbara finalist for WA Premier’s Primary Teacher of the Year award.

Education Minister Peter Collier congratulated the 44 finalists and said the awards were a great way to celebrate the outstanding work of staff in public schools.

Award winners will be announced on November 30.

Visit http://www.education.wa.edu.au to view all finalists.