Briefing the Board Conference

After graduating with a Bachelor in Science (Chemistry) and a Diploma in Education Gary started teaching in 1979 as a science teacher at Norseman District High School. After teaching for 9 years in Department of Education schools in a range of subjects including Chemistry and Physics he moved to Albany, with his family, where for the next 20 years he taught at Bethel Christian School. He was Principal of the school for his last 8 years in Albany. From Albany Gary and his wife moved to Esperance to teach at Wongutha CAPS, a boarding school for Aboriginal students. Gary was offered and accepted a position at AISWA in 2007.

Gary’s first role at AISWA was to support the Aboriginal Independent Community Schools (AICS) as they took on older students as a consequence of the raising of the student leaving age. Gary then worked in the newly created Policy and Registration space for a few years before taking on the management of the AICS support team. Since 2013 Gary has been back as a consultant in the Registration and Compliance area where he works alongside Sarah Kennedy.

Janet is passionate about education and has a strong interest in the impact of leadership on teaching and learning as well as exploring the complexity of leadership at all levels. She enjoys the challenge of school improvement in different contexts and working with teams to empower them to make the changes that are needed. She is committed to working with aspiring leaders and to doing all she can to promote women in leadership. This is an area of increasing interest and her research and Janet has established a network of Women in Educational Leadership that is open to anyone interested in attending the meetings. Janet is also keen to support those new to teaching so that they continue to grow and to see themselves as lifelong learners rather than being lost to other careers.

Janet has over twenty years’ experience as a school leader and has taught at all levels. She holds a Master of Education degree, her research being in the area of middle schooling. She has worked on a number of state and national committees and represented the Independent Sector on the Secretariat of the Australian Primary Principals Association. She was Vice-President of that association and is now a life member. In 2010 Janet was the recipient of a John Laing Award that recognizes those school leaders who have significantly contributed to the professional learning of their colleagues. Janet is a school visitor, reader and consultant for the International Baccalaureate Primary years Program and a strong believer in the strength of the IB.

Janet looks forward to working with teachers and school leaders in order to support them in the complex work that they do in order to improve outcomes for students.

Mark Newhouse has worked at AISWA for ten years and is currently the Manager of Curriculum. Prior to this Mark was a secondary teacher for 26 years in a variety of Government and Independent schools in WA and also for three years in a boarding school in Zambia. He has enjoyed the challenge of assisting teachers and school leaders through educational change periods associated with Curriculum Framework, two WACE reforms and now the Australian Curriculum. Mark can provide advice and updates on the implementation of the Western Australian P-10 Curriculum as well as the WACE in senior secondary. This includes workshops and presentations on all aspects of curriculum, assessment and reporting. Mark manages a team of curriculum consultants covering most learning areas.

Peter Crosbie was appointed Assistant Director in January 2016. This leadership role includes developing AISWA’s capability in STEM and learning technologies and working effectively with teachers and other stakeholders across the state.

Peter has a professional engineering qualification and has extensive industrial and business experience which includes working for defence establishments and a variety of engineering consultancies.

He has worked for many years in the Western Australian education system including 12 years at Hale School as a teacher and Head of Technology. Whilst at Hale School for more than seven years, Peter was an Adjunct Lecturer in Design and Technology at Edith Cowan University Perth. He has been a member of many state and national educational working groups and steering committees. He is the Contact Liaison Officer (CLO) for Scootle in the (WA) Independent School jurisdiction and is responsible for the registration of schools new to Scootle and training of Scootle administrators and teachers.

Ron is Deputy Director of AISWA. He has extensive experience in teaching and leading a diversity of schools in WA and Victoria.  Ron manages innovative programmes and university partnerships for AISWA. He is a member of the Global Educators Leaders Partnership and has been awarded Fellow of Australian Council of Educational Leadership (WA). Ron is also past-Chair of the Australian Children’s Laureate Foundation, advocating for Australian authors and illustrators and working closely with the Australian Children’s Laureate.

Therese has worked at AISWA for a number of years, previously in the Aboriginal Schools Support Unit and in the administration of a Commonwealth funding program for the CGA. 

Since 2014 Therese has worked in the area of school registration and compliance, which involves supporting schools with their renewal of registration process and assisting all member schools with queries related to school registration and compliance with the Registration Standards and Requirements. Therese works in this role alongside her colleague, Gary Robinson.  When not visiting schools she and Gary are a contact point for school compliance queries and are involved in presentation delivery, school constitution review, the development, review and maintenance of policy and procedure guidelines, governance guidelines, production of the Registration and Compliance Focus newsletter and other documentation associated with registration and compliance.

Valerie Gould became the Executive Director of the Association of Independent Schools of WA in July 2008. She has worked for many years in the Western Australian education system with her first four years teaching Economics and Mathematics. The following seven years were spent working in New York with Ernst and Young, and being greatly involved in the introduction of microcomputer applications into business. She returned to WA in 1986 as Director of Computing at St Mary’s Anglican Girls’ School for seven years.

During the early 1990s she worked with the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (at the time the Secondary Education Authority) for four and a half years before joining AISWA as the Manager of Curriculum and Australian Government Targeted Programs. She has been with AISWA for more than 10 years and has worked closely with schools and other stakeholders in the areas of curriculum change, Curriculum Framework and Senior Secondary Education; and in meeting government regulations from a national and state perspective. Valerie has a Bachelor of Economics and a Diploma of Education, and is a Fellow of the Australian College of Educators and the Australian Council for Educational Leadership.

Wendy manages the Early Childhood consultant team for AISWA. Her role involves supporting all Independent Schools across WA with children aged from 3 to 8 in matters relating to early childhood pedagogy, compliance, curriculum, assessment, and leadership.   Wendy manages the Preschool Reform Agreement implementation for the Independent School sector. Wendy also represents AISWA in the Independent sector on policy and regulatory matters.

Wendy has gained experience and wisdom from working across a variety of school settings in her 30 years as an early childhood teacher and leader.

Wendy has a strong belief that a high-quality early education program is a right for all children and that this will support them to become healthy, engaged, active, and informed citizens of the future.