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 the year. It is by focusing on connections within all of these roles that I feel I can really ‘show up’, both for myself and others.
Brené Brown defines connection as “the energy that is created between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment” and links this with belonging, the “innate human desire to be part of something larger than us.” My aim for this year is to approach all of my interactions with the goal of ensuring that others feel they have a voice by listening intently to understand without judgement, and by being vulnerable and authentic myself so a sense of belonging is created and there is space for genuine growth and learning for all.
At our January Book Club, we discussed ‘Leadership is Language’ by L. David Marquet and the final of his 6 ‘plays’ for effective leadership is the enabling play of connect. He describes connection as the antidote to fear, creating conditions of safety and trust that encourage diversity of thought and opinion. The connect play is about caring what others think and how they feel and, rather than judging from a position of power, walking alongside from a position of encouragement.
In the inaugural #EduSkyAU chat over on Bluesky, our guest host Matt Pitman, author of ‘The Connection Curriculum’, proposed that “connection is the foundation of a thriving school community” and asked what ‘connection’ means to us. My response was that it feels like knowing that you belong and are part of something amazing. It is feeling seen, heard and valued and making others we come into contact with feel the same way. Matt followed this by outlining that “trust is the cornerstone of strong … relationships” and asked for our go-to strategies for fostering trust and connection. I shared that trust is established if we say what we mean and mean what we say. If we are reliable, consistent and acknowledge our mistakes. If people know we will show up for them if we say we will. Trust is developed through our actions, not just our words...
My plan is to enact these learnings and embrace 2025 from a lens of connection, actively seeking to create rich connections in all my roles, embracing being vulnerable, building trust and admitting when I simply don’t know!
I hope that each of you has a successful year whatever the intention you have set, or the focus you have and that your year is filled with rich connection-building, where trust is established through your actions and not just your words, and a powerful feeling of belonging wherever your journey takes you.
I encourage you to take all the opportunities you can to connect with others through the ACEL WA events, as we are a collective of incredible leaders with a wealth of knowledge to share. Look out for upcoming events, follow us on social media, and engage in the Member’s Lounge Communities for further conversations and connection.
Connect with us via:
Save the Dates for these upcoming ACEL WA events
- Innovation Network Meet-up - Thursday 27th February 1030-1230: Bloom UWA
- Hot Topic – Next Gen. Leaders – Wednesday 19th March 5-7pm: Venue TBC
- ACEL WA Book Club – Thursday 24th April 10am-12pm: Venue TBC Book - Teach Brilliantly by James Nottingham
New ACEL WA Members
We want to extend a warm welcome to our new ACEL members in WA who joined late last year or early this year. We look forward to connecting with you all this year and leading and learning together.
- Jette Oksis – Catholic Education Office WA
- Linda Archer – Iona Presentation College
- Kathryn Campbell – Georgiana Molloy Anglican School
- Rebecca Harris – Murdoch College
- Debi Taylor – Cloverdale Education Support Centre
- Cherie Dobbs – Caralee Community School
Do encourage others to join this amazing community of passionate educators and leaders as we truly are better together!
Awards Nominations 2025
This year there will be a shift in our awards nominations process, with nominations being called for concurrently for all state and national awards from mid-February. Keep your eyes peeled for an email outlining the new process and, meanwhile, get your thinking cap on for some incredible educators to nominate for an award. Our awards evening is a not-to-be-missed celebration of excellence in educational leadership across the various sectors!
ACEL WA Executive Team Spotlight – Dr Ray Boyd
We are fortunate to have a team of 12 passionate educators making up our ACEL WA executive team this year and you can view the team here and read a bit about each of us.
Each month we will spotlight one of our members and give them the opportunity to share some words of wisdom, something that has helped them grow or some ponderings that they have been having. This month we hear from Dr Ray Boyd, Principal of Dayton Primary School and an ACEL Fellow.
READ SOMETHING TO PONDER - LIFE by Dr Ray Boyd
A big thank you to Ray for sharing his thoughts with us all and you can connect with him via socials or email (Ray.Boyd@education.wa.edu.au) if you want to discuss what he has shared.
Have an amazing month everyone and we look forward to connecting with you at upcoming events. Do reach out at any time with questions, comments or just to connect.
Rachael Lehr
ACEL WA Branch President