Western Australia Branch Messages

WA Branch News: May 2025

By Rachael Lehr posted 14 days ago
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On the recent school holiday break, our ACEL WA Leadership Book Club met to discuss James Nottingham’s new book Teach Brilliantly: Small Shifts that Lead to Big Gains in Student Learning . This was a departure from our usual leadership-focused selections, often broad and beyond the classroom. Instead, this book brought us back to the heart of education — the classroom, where small instructional shifts can significantly impact student learning. As instructional leaders, everyone in the room had valuable insights to share — takeaways from reading the book that they planned to bring back to their teams. We began by watching a video message from James ...
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WA Branch News: April 2025

By Rachael Lehr posted 02-04-2025
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A few weeks ago, ACEL WA hosted a truly inspirational evening of conversation with four Next Gen. leaders. This insightful panel discussion, led by our amazing ACEL WA vice-president Gary Racey, explored the challenges, opportunities, and real-life experiences of educators who have stepped from the classroom into varied leadership roles - Emma Cross, Associate Lecturer, Bachelor of Early Childhood Education and Educational Studies - Curtin University; Jessica Milne, Director of Environmental Education, Emmanuel Catholic College; Oliver Oeij, College Deputy Principal - Providence Christian College and Phil Wass, Director - WA Space Science Education Centre ...
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WA Branch News: March 2025

By Rachael Lehr posted 04-03-2025
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Well, February just flew by, didn’t it?! The start of the year is such a busy time, and the days seems to just pass in the blink of an eye. Here at ACEL WA, February saw us hold our first event of the year with our Innovation in Education meetup held last Thursday at Bloom UWA, and I must say - What an event! Despite the busyness of this time of year, and the parking challenges on the day, we had a fantastic turnout to listen to some absolutely amazing speakers. During the session, and after, I had two words swilling around my head – hope and optimism . Whilst the narrative online and in the news in relation to education can, at times, be a little ...
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WA Branch News: February 2025

By Rachael Lehr posted 05-02-2025
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Welcome back for 2025! I hope all of our members had a fantastic holiday break and are relaxed and ready for an amazing year of teaching, leading and learning. As a school leader who is currently wearing a number of hats - associate principal, ACEL WA president, doctoral student, and more – the holidays involved a little less relaxation than usual and a touch more direction setting for the year ahead, along with time spent reflecting on how to best manage my various roles so that I am giving my best to each and not becoming overwhelmed! As part of this reflection and direction setting, the word ‘connect’ has been at the forefront as my focus word for ...
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WA Branch News: December 2024

By Mathilda Joubert posted 05-12-2024
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This will be my final newsletter as outgoing President of the Western Australian Branch of the Australian Council for Educational Leaders, as I hand over the reins to the wonderfully accomplished Rachael Lehr. In this newsletter I am sharing news of our recent ACEL WA Awards Ceremony, my reflections on the important role that educational leaders play, which I shared on the awards evening, and a farewell message from the Branch Executive to me, which they encouraged me to share here with the wider community. ACEL WA 2024 Awards On the 6 th of November we got the opportunity to celebrate the 2024 ACEL WA Awards for Excellence in ...
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WA Branch News: November 2024

By Mathilda Joubert posted 06-11-2024
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Good day I hope that term four is progressing well for you. In this newsletter I will share some reflections about events this year and make an announcement about changes coming up in the ACEL WA team. Leading Innovation in Education Network We held a fabulous Leading Innovation in Education Network meeting this term at the new Western Australian Space Science Education Centre (WASSEC) – what a wonderful new resource for students and educators in our state. Liz Smith, Principal at Joseph Banks Secondary College, where the WASSEC is located, shared with us the story of translating vision into action with the establishment of this unique new educational ...
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WA Branch News: October 2024

By Mathilda Joubert posted 08-10-2024
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In this newsletter I will share some reflections from the national conference and highlight upcoming events for the rest of the year. National Conference Reflection I have just returned from the ACEL 2024 National Conference – what an experience! The conference theme was Reimagining education, with subthemes reimagining educational leadership; reimagining schooling; reimagining our profession; and reimagining our future and planet. There were so many inspirational speakers, so many new and deepened insights, and so many moments of connection with likeminded educators from across the country, but mostly I am returning overwhelmed with a renewed sense ...
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WA Branch News: September 2024

By Mathilda Joubert posted 03-09-2024
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I hope that Term 3 is progressing well and that you are looking forward to the upcoming holidays. In this WA newsletter I will share some brief reflections on our role as leaders in shaping the next generation of leaders, followed by some updates on upcoming events and branch activities. I hope to see you at some of these future events. Shaping Future Leaders I recently read quite a cynical message on an education social media page, suggesting to an aspiring leader that it is not worth aspiring to educational leadership positions unless they are the right gender, ethnicity and went to the right school. This saddened me, firstly because this does not ...
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WA Branch News: July 2024

By Mathilda Joubert posted 04-07-2024
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Reflections on Rest, Recuperation, and Refreshment Dear WA Education Leader We are currently in the middle of the school holidays, and I found myself reflecting on the importance of three Rs – not Reading Writing and Arithmetic, but Rest, Recuperation and Refreshment. I believe these three Rs are vital, not only for students but also for educators and leaders, the driving force behind our educational institutions. In the relentless pursuit of excellence, it's easy to overlook the essential need to pause and recharge, so here are my brief reflections on the matter. Rest: Reclaiming Balance The four school terms are a series of high energy ...
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WA Branch News: June 2024

By Mathilda Joubert posted 04-06-2024
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Good day I hope that Term 2 has been a positive time of student and staff learning and growth in your organisation. In this ACEL West Australia newsletter, I am reflecting on the process of changing habits, and sharing some updates of branch events past and future. I hope to see you at some of these events. Changing Habits For the next ACEL WA Book Club meeting in the July School holidays, we will be discussing the book “ Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones ” by James Clear. I am about halfway through reading the book and enjoying it tremendously. It is an easy read, full of practical strategies, on ...
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WA Branch News: April 2024

By Mathilda Joubert posted 02-05-2024
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Reigniting our Passion for Teaching and Leading Welcome to Term 2! In this WA newsletter we will briefly reflect back on Term 1, look forward at an exciting array of events planned for Term 2 and reflect on a topical think on strategies to support teacher wellbeing. Reflecting Back Term 1 flew by with a host of exciting ACEL events. We started the year with our Breakfast with the Minister and Sector Leaders event in February, exploring the challenges and opportunities for education in Western Australia in 2024. In March we held a Leading Innovation in Education Network meeting with speakers addressing diverse topics ...
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WA Branch News: March 2024

By Mathilda Joubert posted 04-03-2024
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Good day to our ACEL WA Community This edition of our monthly WA newsletter will contain a guest article from one of our ACEL WA Branch Executives on the power of emotional connection in education, followed by a report on our Breakfast with the Minister and sector leaders event that was held in February, plus a glimpse ahead at upcoming ACEL events in WA over the next few months. I hope to see you at some of these events. The Power of Emotional Connection By Dr Ray Boyd, Principal, Dayton Primary School Schools, by their very nature, involve interacting with people. Therefore, if you don’t like people, then a school is not an environment that you ...
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WA Branch News: February 2024

By Mathilda Joubert posted 06-02-2024
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A Culture of Conversation I hope the new school year is off to a brilliant start in all the different educational institutions where our Western Australian ACEL members serve. Over the holidays I was reflecting on what I value most about my involvement with ACEL WA over the years, and I realised it is the culture of conversation. ACEL has provided me with rich opportunities for deep and meaningful conversations about learning, teaching and leading, often crossing traditional boundaries of role, system, sector, stage or age. These conversations continue to enrich my professional journey, which is why I remain invested in ACEL. As educators we know that ...
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WA Branch News: December 2023

By Mathilda Joubert posted 05-12-2023
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As the academic year is drawing to a close, I am sharing news of our recent ACEL WA Awards Ceremony and some reflections about the important role that Educational Leaders play in our communities. ACEL WA Awards 2023 On the 8th of November we got the opportunity to celebrate the 2023 ACEL WA Awards for Excellence in Educational Leadership. It was a wonderful opportunity to honour the tremendous service and dedication of a number of outstanding educational leaders in our State, who serve in leadership roles, as system leaders, school leaders, teacher leaders and in their en gagement with research or tertiary studies in educational leadership. ...
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WA Branch News: November 2023

By Mathilda Joubert posted 02-11-2023
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Good Day I hope that Term 4 is progressing well. In this newsletter I will offer a brief reflection on leadership styles, provide some updates about the ACEL WA Branch Executive Team and highlight some of our upcoming events this term. Leadership Styles Much has been written and said about the impact of different styles of leadership in education. One of my favourite articles on the topic remains the 2008 paper by Viviane Robinson and colleagues who analysed the impact of different leadership types on student outcomes, drawing the conclusion that “the average effect of instructional leadership on student outcomes was three to four ...
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WA Branch News: September 2023

By Mathilda Joubert posted 14-09-2023
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Significance Matters Education is not just a profession; it is a calling to do work of significance . Every lesson you teach, every heart you touch, every teacher you enable, and every mind you inspire holds the power to shape a brighter future. In your hands lies the potential to ignite a lifelong love for learning, to cultivate empathy and resilience, and to empower generations to come. This month’s ACEL WA newsletter is focused on the theme of significance . Please read further to find out how this theme connects to: Networking at the ACEL National Conference The next ACEL WA Educational Leadership Book Club Our last Leading Innovation in Education ...
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WA Branch News: August 2023

By Mathilda Joubert posted 28-07-2023
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Good day I hope that Term 3 or Semester 2 has started well for you. During the July school holidays we held our customary ACEL WA holiday Educational Leadership Book Club. I thought I would share a few quick insights form the book that we discussed this time, Holly Ransom’s book “The Leading Edge: Dream big, spark change and become the leader the world needs you to be”. The book is an easy read, covering a wide variety of leadership ideas structured into two sections framed around leading self and leading others. Each of the 28 chapters is only 10 – 12 pages long, so great to dip in and out for bite-size reading or perfect to use as provocation for school-based ...
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