Kyle Gotladera, Anaelle Bonaventure, Principal Geraldine Hardy, Stephanie Coghlan & Zhe Wei Leong.
Camera IconKyle Gotladera, Anaelle Bonaventure, Principal Geraldine Hardy, Stephanie Coghlan & Zhe Wei Leong. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Lynwood Senior High School nominated for secondary school of the year

Ben SmithCanning Gazette

LYNWOOD Senior High School believes a positive culture and student and community input have been critical to the school’s success after being nominated for a prestigious award.

The school is among the finalists for Secondary School of the Year at the WA Education Awards, following its previous nomination in 2015.

Principal Geraldine Hardy said they had worked hard to make the school warm and inviting for teachers and pupils.

PerthNow Digital Edition.
Your local paper, whenever you want it.

Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE

Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.

READ NOW

“My first impression of this school was really about how it felt, that intangible thing when you walk into somewhere and you can feel how positive a place feels – this place had that,” she said.

“It was a very powerful sense of positivity and dynamic relationships between the staff and students.

“The feedback from staff is they would overwhelmingly recommend this school and if you’re getting nearly every employee saying they don’t want to go anywhere else, that says something about a lot of things the school is doing right.”

Mrs Hardy said student feedback and a focus on improving well-being had been vital to its success.

“If schools aren’t focused on well-crafted programs with caring people in place to make sure kids can get to school, feel safe at school and enjoy school, they won’t perform well,” she said.

Associate principal Jo Willesee, herself a Lynwood graduate, said community feedback had also been important.

“Looking at the school’s reputation 10 or so years ago, it was relatively negative in the community,” she said.

“The changes which have led to where we are today are things like a focus on student wellbeing, introducing academically focused programs, specialist soccer program and having a focus on sustainability, so you’ve got a unifying focus for the school.”

Mrs Hardy said the award nomination was proof its methods were working.