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Education is not something which a teacher

does; It is a natural process which develops

spontaneously Maria Montessori

2018

ANNUAL REPORT

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Perth Individual College 2018

Directory

Perth Individual College 150 Burswood Road BURSWOOD, Western Australia, 6100 PO Box 370 VICTORIA PARK, Western Australia, 6979 Phone: 08 9362 3186 Fax: 08 9361 5181 Email: admin@pi.wa.edu.au Web: www.pi.wa.edu.au

Board of Directors Neil Major Chair Michelle Manning Vice-Chair Narida Doherty Secretary Jo-Anne Robinson Finance Director Brad Plunket Director Barbara Watroba Director Dr Gary Pears Principal

Administration Dr Gary Pears Principal

Ian Michael Deputy Principal Narida Doherty Business Manager Jackie Perriman Administration Alexsandra Louise Accounts & Enrolments Wendy Ho Library John Brown Grounds & Maintenance Jack Collins Grounds & Maintenance Tibbs Naidoo Counsellor

Cycle 1 Caroline Kennedy Director Anthea Pinto Director Sarah Caldwell Director Anitra Woodcock Director Kerryn Johns Assistant Udenie Karunaratne Assistant Suzy Allen Assistant

Cycle 2 Jayne Kaiko Director Manmeen Kaur Director Deborah Pan Assistant

Cycle 3, 4 & 5 Levanah King Director Sarah Caldwell Directot Brad Middleton Director Fiona Orrman-Brown Director Michael Caldwell Director Simon Mackenzie Director Shamim Misso Assistant (Cycles 4 & 5)

Special Programs Cono Mangano Learning Support Tamara Yousry Learning Support Adin Livnjak Physical Education &

Martial Arts Brenda Cooke Playgroup Leader Sharika Bisnath Playgroup Leader Linda Jones Language Other Than

English (LOTE) Todd Bebbington Private Keyboard Tutor Aaron Woolley Private Guitar Tutor Jessica Porter-Langson Private Violin Tutor

Board Committee Contacts Maintenance Jack Collins College Wear Anne Major Marketing Mark Thornley Parents & Friends Laura Ruddle

Playgroup Brenda Cooke Building Caroline Raines-Marsh Scholastic Kerstin Kugler

Contracted Services Bankers Westpac Bank Insurance Broker Grange Insurance

Solutions P/L Auditors Dry Kirkness Solicitors AISWA-Lavan Legal Cleaning Contractor AMC Cleaning Services Web-site Hosting Chameleon Logic IT Administration Amtech Computer Group

Table of Contents:

Our Vision and Principles 3

Our History 4

Letter from the Chairman 5

Principal’s Report 6

Deputy Principal’s Report 8

Finance Report 12

Board and Auditor’s Statements 14

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Our Guiding Principles

Our actions are guided by these principles:

To respect.

To honour each child’s reality and experience.

To nurture each child’s self esteem and individual expression.

To foster a love of learning and maintain a sense of wonder.

To encourage each child’s self-discipline, personal responsibility and

active participation in her or his learning program.

To respect the rights of every individual regardless of age, race,

gender, beliefs, disability, social, national or ethnic origin.

To encourage a balance between the needs of the self and others.

To develop a supportive school community, by encouraging the

involvement and participation of Parents, family and friends.

To respect, care for and live in harmony with nature and our

environment, with reverence for all forms of life.

A sustainable Montessori School, leading the provision of excellent education from Playgroup through High School, for children, families and educators.

Our Vision & Principles

Our Vision

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Our History

Perth Montessori School can truly provide not only a quality Montessori education but more importantly an innovative, progressive education for children from Birth through Senior High School, that will allow them to Learn for Life! In 2010, thanks to the Federal Government Building the Education Revolution (BER) program, we began construction of 2 major new buildings; one to house our three cycle 2 (6 to 9 year old) classrooms. It also has rooms for Learning Support, art, home economics, general teaching space, utility room and a parent room. The other building houses our music, playgroup and Out of School Care operation. The school continued to grow from strength to strength with dedicated focussed staff and a great partnership with the parent community. Within the next few years we hope to continue that growth as we expand our High School operation. Reflecting the changing nature of education and enrolment pathways, the Board undertook to re-badge the school as Perth Individual and institute a range of upgrades ie signage, school colour change, name of school etc. In 2017 we changed our name to Perth Individual a Progressive Montessori College. 2018 our Principal Dr Gary Pears retired Perth Individual College can truly provide not only a quality Montessori education but more importantly an innovative, progressive education for children from Birth through Senior High School, that will allow them to Learn for Life!

The Perth Montessori School began life in 1980 as the Victoria Park Montessori Playgroup before becoming the Montessori Children's Centre, with the opening of the first Children's' House, Hibiscus, in 1982. Anne Zekas was our first Principal. Throughout the mid-eighties the Centre continued to expand, with the opening of the first primary group in the old cottage on the Egham Street site, and a second Children's House, Bougainvillea. This Centre continued to thrive through the latter half of the 1980's with the opening of two further middle primary classrooms, and the Kangaroo Paw upper primary, culminating in the opening of the first phase of the School's new primary building in November 1989. In the early 1990's the second phase of the new primary building was completed, and the School purchased the Leigh Street property which currently houses our Out of School Care operation and Playgroup. The existing middle primary classes were also amalgamated into a new middle primary group, Jacaranda. Through the middle and late 1990's the School entered a period of consolidation. In 2000, Dr Gary Pears joined the School as the Principal and shortly thereafter the Centre changed its name to the Perth Montessori School. In the period from 2000, all members of the School community have worked hard to ensure a sustainable future for the School. The rewards of this hard work began to be realised with the purchase of the adjoining property at 150 Burswood Road to further improve the classroom environments and the School operations. In 2004 the School undertook a review of its internal governance policies and procedures which led to an updated Constitution, and a new Board of Management structure. In 2010, thanks to the Federal Government Building the Education Revolution (BER) program, we began construction of 2 major new buildings; one to house our three cycle 2 (6 to 9 year old) classrooms. It also has rooms for Learning Support, art, home economics, general teaching space, utility room and a parent room. The other building houses our music, playgroup and Out of School Care operation.

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Perth Individual has achieved another successful year in 2018, despite some challenges. The year started well, with Gary returning from extended illness and quickly getting back into the swing of things. As with the previous year, student numbers and financial sustainability remained key themes for the Board and Executive to manage. Educationally, the School maintained its high standards, continuing to deliver on its key strength of a high quality, Montessori based, child focussed education

Financial sustainability remained a key theme throughout the year as the WA economy remained flat, with Private Schools across the state continuing to feel the impacts of lower student numbers and intense competition. As per 2017, the key decisions made in earlier years enabled the Board and Executive to guide the School successfully through the year despite the

impacts to the bottom line of continuing low numbers. Unfortunately, while retention remained at good levels, particularly into the High School, lower numbers at the earlier years resulted in a classroom closure at the end of the year to ensure continuing financial stability.

Also, towards the end of the year, our beloved Principal, Dr Gary Pears, announced his retirement. It was with great sadness that I had to accept his resignation as Gary has been such a stalwart of the School for so long. Over decades of service, Gary built the School up from its early learning beginnings into the diverse and complete Pre-Kindergarten to Year 12 College that we now have. His expertise in education and development of our profiling and teaching practices have been a big driver of the ongoing success and improvement of the School. As Chair, and on behalf of the School, I want again to thank Gary for all his hard (and often thankless) work over such a very long time. Gary achieved so much during his time here, and the changes and improvements that he has put in place form the foundation of our future.

While we continue to miss Gary, we must also look and move forward. I also thank Ian Michael for his work in keeping things rolling as Acting Principal while the Board conducted its search for our next Principal. On that matter, the Board was proud to recently announce the appointment of Marg Pontin to the Principal role. We are looking forward to her bringing her style of leadership and management to the School and hopefully be able to replicate the growth she has been able to achieve at her prior school.

Through all of this, I must make note of our wonderful teaching staff. Despite managing the emotional roller-coaster of Gary’s return and retirement, they continue to achieve amazing things in helping our children to grow both educationally, socially and emotionally. It is this outstanding education, delivered on a day-by-day basis in a safe and structured environment that is the foundation and key to our School.

As always, there is so much more that has been achieved during the year, and while I do not have the space to go through everything here, I do want to send out my heartfelt thanks to the Board, our Executive, Staff, P&F and families for your contributions this year. Our School depends upon the many contributions made throughout the whole community and it is great to see a growing number of people putting their hand up to help. I am looking forward to the next phase of our School as we move forward under the leadership of a new Principal and working together to continue our educational journey.

Board Meeting Register

During 2018, there were 12 Board Meetings in total.

Neil Major

Chair

Letter from the Chair

Director Meetings Attended

Neil Major (Chair) 12

Michelle Manning (Deputy Chair)

11

Jo-Anne Robinson (Finance)

10

Gary Pears (Principal) 6

Ian Michael (as delegate for Principal)

6

Barbara Watroba 12

Brad Plunkett 7

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Gary Pears—Principal National Compliance Under the Australian Government programs for schools quadrennial Administration Guidelines and as part of our funding agreement, all schools are required to make school information available. The following information relates to the 2018 school year. A. School Profile: Perth Individual is an Independent Progressive Montessori school providing educational services to children from Birth to Year 12. Student numbers in our 0 - 3 years Pre3Montes playgroup program run at approximately 65 children averaged per week over the 4 terms. The early childhood to Year 12 high school program, student numbers have suffered somewhat due to the Western Australia Resources downturn and the move of many Year 7 students to other independent High School sector schools. However, despite this, the High School program is vital and offers ATAR, WACE and Vocational Training pathways. B. Teacher Standards & Qualifications: All teaching staff are registered with the Teachers Registration Board of Western Australia and are financial.

All teaching staff are: Montessori Certified where required; are completing Montessori qualifications; are completing externally provided

Montessori workshops or are participating in internally provided Perth Individual professional development via our Collegial Professional Development Forums; or

via workshops offered by the Perth Individual College, Director of Montessori Sustainability (DMS).

All staff have Senior First Aid qualifications.

All staff are subject to ongoing Professional Performance Management with formal reviews conducted every two years. This will next be conducted in 2019. Staff attendance = 97.5% All staff are Working with Children (WWC) compliant. All staff have completed Mandatory Reporting training. There are no staff of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent. C. Composition of Workforce:

Total Staff = 27 Male = 9 Females = 19 Teaching = 24

Both the Principal and Deputy Principal have teaching and other educational duties in addition to their administrator roles. Deputy = 0.5 Principal = 0.4 D. Student Attendance: The average daily student attendance rate in 2018 was 94%. Student non-attendance is currently recorded digitally twice daily with a cross-check of absentees by 9.45am daily. An SMS messaging service is used to notify parents and/or seek immediate feedback as to absence or late arrival. Overall student: 94% Cycle 1: 96% Cycle 2: 94% Cycle 3: 96% Cycle 4: 93% Cycle 5: 88% Parent Education Evenings: 65% (per family)

Principal’s Report

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E. NAPLAN 2018 Schools are prohibited from providing information that may lead to a breach of privacy of a student’s results. Small schools with small numbers of students sitting the exams need to be careful not to expose confidential results. Where there are small numbers of students in each year 3, 5, 7 and 9 cohort - schools may see quite a wide range of scores due to their small numbers. For example, where a year group may have one or even more students with significant learning delays and difficulties, the NAPLAN results for the group may show a substantial decrease in the oval all year level results. Consequently, those viewing any schools NAPLAN results would need the “Back Story” to every student sitting these compulsory high-stakes tests, in order to understand the overall school results. Contrary to public rhetoric, NAPLAN is not a “Diagnostic Test” as such. Perth Individual, along with most Montessori schools, work on a Mastery approach to learning and achievement. Therefore, while some students may be years ahead of their chronological peers, some may be below either due to Asynchronous Development, learning difficulties or other conditions that inhibit or suppress academic outcomes at that time. Perth Individual NAPLAN 2018 results, like past years, across almost all assessed elements and year levels are above the National norms. We acknowledge the effort displayed by students; outstanding teaching and learning environments prepared by teaching staff; the general staff support and of course, parent support. F. Grievances: There have been no official grievances for 2018. G. Secondary Data - 2018 Of our 4 year 12 High School Students: 3 undertook vocational training 1 attained their WACE certificate and ATAR Student Post-school destinations: TAFE - Polytechnic West, Central TAFE Murdoch University Curtin University

H. Financial report See page 12 for the 2018 Financial Report. I. Value Added NAIDOC Celebrations Multicultural Celebration Progressive Montessori Inspired Curriculum, Environments and Pedagogy supporting Differentiated Programming Virtues program Specialists in music, physical education, health, languages other than English, visual arts Martial arts program for Pre-Kindy to Year 10 Comprehensive Learner Profiling Assessment program for all students “on-entry” and/or at or Cycle Transition Times (every 3 years). Comprehensive community contact program. Ongoing Building and Renovation program to classrooms. Before, After and Holiday School Care programs “on-site”. "Challenge Days" for students and families. Pre3Montes Playgroup program (0 to 3 years old). On-site clinical Psychologist (Dr Tibbs Naidoo). Parent Education Forums by Principal and Deputy x 4 per year. Comprehensive professional Development Program. Additional investment in Learner Support FTE for students with Learning Support Needs

Principal’s Report (continued)

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Ian Michael

Deputy Principal 2018 Report Cycle 1 and 2 continue to develop their programs to comply with the EYLF (Early Years Learning Framework) and the NQS (National Quality Standards). This included professional Learning for teaching staff and training to certification standard for teacher assistants. We have been able to send our Education Assistants off to many Professional Learning opportunities , often with their Director. Outcomes from this work have resulted in different forms of communication with parents, recommendations for play areas and improved documentation. Seesaw is a new form of communication introduced in Cycle 1 and 2. It is an application that empowers students to independently document their learning with built-in creative tools, and provides an authentic audience for their work. For families Seesaw provides an immediate and personalized window into their child's school day, and makes communication with teachers seamless. COMMUNITY School Support Hours Projects The college initiated the project model for School Support Hours. Some projects are initiated by the School Board, but most will come from the Directors. When an agreement has been reached the Director logs the project with Admin for recording. The agreement was reached on the following: New parents to the school are not required to do support hours in the term they commence. If the project worked on exceeds the annual allocation

of 24 hours the excess can be carried over to the following year. Similarly, if an approved project exceeds the term allocation of six hours, the excess can be carried over to the next term. Craft activities, reading and similar classroom assistance count as one for one Cancer Council Fund Raiser Several families and staff participated in the Cancer Council WA Relay for Life, a unique 24-hour community event that celebrates cancer survivors and carers, and raised funds for the Foundation. Jump Rope for Heart This was an exceptional fundraising event conducted by our students. They managed to raise more than $5800 for the Heart Foundation. We look forward to a similar amount in 2019. Special Days - Mother’s Day lunch, Fathers’ Week, Grandparents’ Day The High School and Primary students excelled in cooking and preparing lunches for the Special Days. Students also assisted the P&F in preparing for the Multicultural Evening and helping with special morning teas. Parenting Courses Our College Counsellor conducted two 12-week courses for parents who wanted to gain evidence-based skills for parenting children. The courses are grounded in scientific research. The program included learning intervention strategies and skills when dealing with children, including those with difficulties. Staff Professional Learning Ongoing professional development is essential in maintaining skilled and confident teachers. Throughout 2018 and beyond teachers at Perth Individual are involved in targeted, ongoing professional development (including professional conversations, professional readings, mentoring, workshops and presentations focusing on the following key ideas each term: Term 1: Differentiation Term 2: Aligning pedagogy Term 3: Assessment and Feedback Term 4: Consolidation of implementation Much of our professional development is presented by staff who have specific expertise in teaching and learning strategies, particularly Maths and HASS. THRASS Workshops

Deputy Principal’s Report (continued)

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Deputy Principal’s Report (continued)

After an agreement to adopt THRASS, a structured multi-sensory literacy program teaching children about letters, speech sounds and spelling choices all staff attended two day PD sessions, which was followed up by a very well attended seminar for all interested parents conducted by the THRASS Institute. At the end of 2018 every staff member had been trained in the program. Visitors The College was host to several groups of visitors who came to experience the Montessori setting. They were very grateful for the generosity shown to them by our parents, who hosted eleven Japanese students in primary and high school. We were also visited by a group of Montessori teachers from Malaysia with whom we now have a relationship and our High School students visited when they went to Malaysia in 2018. COLLEGE GROUNDS Property Committee The Committee began implementing a whole-school improvement plan as part of the re-badging process. The initial process of de-cluttering and softening the grounds was completed, along with re-painting the building during 2017. In 2018 there have been many refinements to the Playground including additional equipment in fresh colours. STUDENTS Students The school is enriched by the diverse nature of the students in our care, and this diversity within the student body increases the challenges for staff in many ways, for example: Ability Culture Development Disposition Aspiration are brought to the school by each new student and are constantly in the background affecting the delivery of effective curriculum. Our Learning Support Team works with teachers to ensure each identified student is helped directly. In 2018 more than 20% of students received specialist support for at least one hour per week. Students participated in a range of four extra-curricular

activities involving Challenge Days, where a whole day was devoted to engaging students and their parents with open-ended activities based on HASS science, maths and the arts. These innovative days have now become a feature of the school calendar and are much anticipated. Clubs Parents were encouraged to become involved in Clubs as a College Support hours Project. This was taken up enthusiastically and was much appreciated by the students. Some of the club’s parents were involved in the “Science for little people” and Robotics. Staff also provided Clubs such as, Music, Art, Yoga, Chess, Coding, Lego, Homework and Robotics. More than 65 students attend Clubs and look forward to attending each term. High School In High School staff are in the development phase of a “A curriculum for everyone, inspired by Montessori. To encourage design thinkers, creators, innovators and young entrepreneurs.” A mindset to meet the needs of this century. The format of a typical week was structured to enable the curriculum to be covered in four days with the fifth day set aside for project work. This helped students with their assignments, but also was a time to follow individual interests and discuss their issues with staff. In 2018 staff continued to develop a working approach to teaching and learning. The school has developed a good relationship with Polytechnic West and Central TAFE campuses. In 2018 several students completed Vet-in-Schools short courses and longer Certificate III courses. The re-structure of the sector continues and is problematic as only courses that have been identified through workforce planning, are funded, and are not always what students want to do. High School Formal Students from five Montessori High Schools gathered at the AQWA for their first interschool formal. Camps

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Deputy Principal’s Report (continued)

Cycle 3 students attended a three-day camp at Pt Walter and High School students went to a student exchange to Malaysia. This included a visit to the POW Camp at Sandakan. ASSESSMENTS AND SUPPORT NAPLAN Results Prior to transition and on-entry, a range of assessments are applied as a routine procedure to establish benchmarks. The assessments are taken from the School Assessment Matrix which outlines mandatory assessments undertaken by staff at key milestones throughout the school year. The aim is to have a broad mix of teacher designed and Australian normed evidence for transition and reporting.

NAPLAN is an external assessment designed to measure comparability between schools and states and against national and state standards NAPLAN results also show variability based on the cohort at the time. However, when we look at the results for the same individual students over several years it clearly shows that students at PI perform very well when compared to their counterparts in other jurisdictions. Whilst NAPLAN data may have limited diagnostic features it is able to provide trends over time, particularly for the same groups. With small cohorts such as ours, the graphs can be misleading and the variability can be explained in part by low numbers and individual learning difficulties some students have.

COLLEGE ACADEMIC PROGRAM Curriculum The curriculum at Perth Individual is developed around the Australian Curriculum in English, Mathematics, Science and History from P-9, and the Montessori Curriculum. The Montessori Curriculum and the WA K – 10 Curriculum are incorporated in Technologies, The Arts (including the Montessori Music Curriculum), HASS (including the Montessori History and Geography Curriculum), Health and Physical Education from years PP - 9 and Languages in years PP to 9. The Perth Individual Philosophy We know that personalisation (or differentiation) is a shared task between teachers and students. We believe that in order for each student to maximise their opportunities, and to work at their own pace, they must be able to: Set their own goals Manage their own time Monitor their own progress Be Self-correcting

Numeracy Reading Writing Spelling

Grammar and Punctuation

Y PI Nat PI Nat PI Nat PI Nat PI Nat

3 380

408 429 434 410

407 423 418 435 432

5 548

494 545 509 432 465 527 503 545 544

7 550

548 592 542 523 505 613 545 568 544

9 534 596 531 584 460 542 525 583 471 580

Every class has students able to demonstrate at least one of the above. In a Montessori School the daily interactions between teachers and peers, help introduce these behaviours very early in Cycle 1. For example, what we mean as “time management” in the upper cycles could be just another way of saying “working at their own pace”. “Self- correcting” might be interpreted as perfectionist behaviour for one student, but for another, it is a process of achieving their “personal best”. The level of sophistication increases as students practice goal setting, time management and self-monitoring until they reach Cycle 4. Throughout this journey, our Directors and Assistants continue to support students, help them with realistic goal setting and time management, and avoid frustration and anxieties. In High School, time management is a critical factor in students’ progress, so for students to meet deadlines and apportion time to different tasks, requires supervision at home as well as at school.

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In Cycle 3 and 4, lessons are designed to develop group skills and provide an environment for these four characteristics to flourish. Visitors and classroom observers should be able to identify the type of activity or format in the lesson and see a progression from, “whole-class to the individual”, depending on when the observation starts.

Students progress from Whole-group to Individual as part of series of lessons, and the level of customisation or personalisation should increase. This process of differentiation means students should be able to negotiate projects or parts of projects with their Directors and choose the entry-level or layer when starting, and most projects and activities are open-ended thus allowing students more scope to further develop their interest and engagement.

To support this learning process students’ individual needs and abilities need to be identified by Assessment Profiles undertaken earlier, even before entering Cycle 3 or 4 and by Learning Area pre-testing. Pre-assessment is critical for successful differentiation, it ensures students are not repeating what they have already learnt and provided a starting point for teacher planning.

Armed with this data our specialist Learning Support teachers can assist Directors to work with students providing them with the skills and understanding for better engagement and maximizing outcomes.

This approach is all about ensuring the skills students are acquiring are the ones that will be the most useful into the future. Students learn how to communicate in Cycle 1 and by Cycle 4 they are beginning to communicate the way the world communicates now.

They learn about emails, tweets, grams, and snaps, but they still need a high level of competency with English to be able to use the precise and analytical language that is required when making meaning in more complex settings.

Collaboration and cooperation are key skills students learn in the early years and routinely practised by playing together and working in small groups. It is further developed in Cycle 3 and 4 by collaboration across space and time, for example, our students use the Google Classroom environment to work as teams, and together on projects whilst being in different locations and at different times. The world we live in now places a large emphasis on creativity. This is not something that is just “artistic” or for a closed audience but a form of endeavour that is shared more widely, even globally. Our Montessori teachers understand the creative urge and work to unlock it and allow it to flourish so students can see that creativity leads to innovation, problem-solving and good thinking. Cycle 3 and 4 students understand that creating is far more purposeful and fulfilling than just being a consumer of someone else’s good idea. Finally, we emphasize critical thinking as an important life skill for our students. Everyone knows that making good choices based on good evidence is sound practice. Students who grasp this become good problem solvers. More importantly, they become good problem finders, especially if they are able to apply creative and innovative techniques. We teach our students that to become good critical thinkers they need to learn a few different skills to apply in the different contexts that may arise.

Deputy Principal’s Report (continued)

LESSON FORMAT MONTESSORI PURE MONTESSORI INSPIRED WHAT IS DONE (GENERALLY)

Whole group I Do “lecture, presentation” Making notes with struc-

tured guides

Small group We Do “lab, tutorial, forum” Working in a small group

(of four)

Individual You Do “project, assignment” Working on an assignment

(project)

Delivery of PIC Curriculum – High School –Upper Elementary

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Finance Report 2018

Finance Report 2018

The 2018 financial position is represented in

the following table:

(Please note - The College’s financial year

runs from 1st January to 31st December so

the below report covers the period January

2018 – December 2018)

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2018 Overview

Executive Summary

The overall net recurrent loss for 2018 was

$213,577 (before the depreciation write-

back), compared to a budgeted net loss of

$267,617. An analysis of this variance to

budget is as follows:

The overall recurring income for 2018 was

$2,819,602, compared to a budgeted

$2,804,989. The $14,613 over budget

amount was due to higher government

grant income than anticipated.

The overall recurring expenditure for 2018

was $3,033,179 compared to a

previously reported budget of

$3,072,606, being $39,427 lower than

expected.

The overall net non-recurrent surplus for

2018 was $84,921, against a budgeted net

loss of $34,827.

As is always the case, student numbers are

difficult to forecast at the time of preparing

the annual budget and numbers tend to

fluctuate within the year given movement of

families in and out of the school and given

the school takes new enrolments during the

year. The student numbers as at June 2018

were 124. The student numbers as at

December 2018 were 131. The current

student numbers as at June 2019 are 119.

It is projected that student numbers will be

around 125 by December 2019

2018 Summary

There was a fee decrease implemented at

the end of 2018 of $1,000 per student. The

Board decided to continue to strike a balance

between the fee burden facing families in

the challenging economic environment and

prudent financial management of the school.

The Board has taken the view that the

College fee income needs to be financially

competitive in the market place as part of its

longer term goal of financial sustainability in

order to sustain and grow student numbers.

The budgeted net operating loss for the year

ended 31 December 2018 was $302,444.

The actual 2018 result was a net operating

loss of $128,656, being $173,788 below

budget.

Given the difficult situation faced by the

school 2018 this result is positive and has

seen the school performing better than

forecast. This result is directly related to the

targeted financial approach to tighten

operational expenditure.

Operating Income

The following represents a summary of the

income analysis for the 2018 financial year:

Fee Income was $155,920 less than

budgeted. The budgeted number of

students for 2018 was 130 and the

actual number of students as at the

end of the year was 131.

Government grant income was $222,036

higher than budgeted. This is a direct

reflection of student numbers at time

of reporting.

Non-recurrent Income was $4,286 higher

than budget, due to the timing

associated with non-recurrent

income.

Operating Expenditure

The recurrent expenditure for the 2018

financial year was $39,427 lower than

budget. There were small variances across

the expenditure cost centers but there was a

strong and successful focus on lowering

operating expenditure during the second half

of 2018 to ensure an improvement in the

financial situation.

Overall Movement

In summary, operating income was 8.9%

higher than that in 2017. Expenditure was

1.3% lower than that in 2017.

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Finance Report 2018 continued

2019 Overview

As previously mentioned, The Board

determined to implement a decrease in the

annual College fees of $1,000 per student

for the year ending 31 December 2019. You

will recall that as a result of the Board’s

governance and implementation of the

Forward Planning Model established in 2009,

the Board has attempted to realign this

model with a more current competitive

financial structure, taking into account the

student retention and enrolment challenges

currently faced by many independent

schools. This further enabled the Board to

recognise the significant and continued

financial contribution and commitment made

by families over the past years, to ensure

the College’s financial stability.

The budgeted 2019 result gives an expected

net operating profit of $132,630 after the

depreciation add-back has been applied to

the calculations.

The resulting budget EBITDA as a % of

income is 8.3%. The benchmark required by

DES, Financial Institutions and AISWA is 4-

5% which means the College is meeting

those requirements. The focus of the Board

during the year ending 31 December 2018

was purely financial in nature to ensure the

College would be able to meet its financial

requirements. By ensuring the College is

satisfactorily meeting its financial

benchmarks for both funding and

sustainability, the Board has set up the

potential for the College to focus on asset

development and improvement in the next

financial period..

Summary

The College has continued to experience a

difficult economic climate over the past

several years, and the whole College

community needs to be recognized and

commended for the support, work and

commitment taken to ensure the College’s

success.

The College has further experienced great

change in leadership and direction and it has

to be recognized that there is a financial

impact of such change.

The Board and Executive continue to focus

on the importance of maintaining a

financially sound and secure financial

grounding to ensure financial sustainability,

which will enable the College to embrace

future change.

I am personally extremely proud to be part

of such a committed and passionate College

community, where we are all invested in the

future of the College and the students.

Alongside the community I want to ensure

the College continues to flourish, as I

genuinely believe the College to be

something so special that it should be

closely nurtured and respected for our

current community and the future.

I am excited to welcome the new Principal to

the College community and having been part

of the interview process. I feel sure that the

Board, the staff and the community, will

work alongside her in strengthening the

position of the College for long term

sustainability.

Jo-Anne Robinson

Finance Director

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Board and Auditor’s Statement

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Board and Auditor’s Statement (continued)

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Board and Auditor’s Statement (continued)

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