Principal delighted with plan to extend

Providing children with opportunities to extend and enrich their education is at the top of the list for Rockingham Beach Primary School’s new principal, Jacqui O’Donnell.

Six weeks into her journey at the school, Mrs O’Donnell said she was impressed with the work ethic of teachers and friendly culture within the school.

“What I love about this school is it is a very supportive school, and it has strong connections with the staff and the community,” she said.

“It is a great environment to come into.”

Coming from a short stint in Mundijong and prior to that, 13 years as principal at Atwell Primary School, Mrs O’Donnell said she had learnt one of the most important aspects of a school environment was “quality of teaching”.

“For me, though it doesn’t matter where you teach, it is the quality of teaching that happens, so the teachers may not have the most up-to-date modern facilities, but they certainly do an amazing job,” she said.

“I think it is about understanding where kids are at; knowing your students well and understanding what it is that will help that child make progress.”

In terms of improvement, Mrs O’Donnell said she wanted to get the school out into the community more, and build partnerships with the City of Rockingham and the Naragebup Rockingham Regional Environment Centre.

“It is about giving children an opportunity to extend and enrich their education, there are lots of things external to the school in terms of curriculum competitions they can enter and programs which develop their problem solving skills and their ability to show their initiative,” she said.

Outside of her principal duties, Mrs O’Donnell said she was in the proposal stage of a doctorate in education.

“To me it is about being passionate about education and wanting to improve my own skills, and pursuing a doctorate in education allows me to do that,” she said.