Waroona’s award-winning primary school principal says farewell to ’wonderful community’

The award-winning principal of an award-winning primary school in Waroona has said goodbye to the community as he prepares to leave town.

After five years at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School principal Michael O’Dwyer will head to Perth to lead a bigger metropolitan school.

Mr O’Dwyer said while he was sad to be leaving a “wonderful community” he was excited about the new challenges a bigger school would bring.

Having joined St Joseph’s in 2020, Mr O’Dwyer lifted the school to national acclaim with a host of awards.

In 2022, Mr O’Dwyer was recognised as one of the nation’s top educators after winning non-government primary school Principal of the Year.

Just last month Mr O’Dwyer accepted the Teaching Excellence Award at the 2024 7NEWS WA Community Achievement Awards for the school’s standout STEM programs.

Mr O’Dwyer said the success was only a reflection of the staff, parents and community he leaves behind.

“I started at St Joe’s in 2020, during the pandemic, and over that journey we’ve made our way though the grey area and fog of the pandemic, but also improved student achievement and student voice,” he said.

“One of the big changes we did here was to adopt an evidence based approach to reading and learning, which has shown some really good impacts in our students’ learning.”

Mr O’Dwyer said the school also had a big push to build child agency across the school, giving students more input into what happens in their classroom.

“Students have been able to provide a lot of feedback into improving our playground, care team, and they’ve even made recommendations that have adjusted our school uniform,” he said.

“This is about is developing a whole child who can be responsible and involved in the community and have an active voice in their future as well. That’s been one of the real successes here.”

“Yes, I have won the Principal of the Year award, but that’s not what brings me the joy.

“It’s the joy of our students realising that, despite being in a regional country town, they have the ability to achieve and do anything.”

Mr O’Dwyer said he was honoured to have been selected for his new role.

He said the new school, while bigger, also had an educational care facility to cater for students with additional needs — something he believes will be a great opportunity for him to develop his skills in catering for a diverse group of students.

“That’s something that brings me joy, it’s part of what motivates myself in Catholic education, helping the most vulnerable achieve and creating opportunities for everyone,” he said.

Also leaving the school is award-winning STEM teacher Sharni Silvestri — the driving force behind the school’s STEMathon event — as well as one of the school’s Aboriginal educators Jennifer Turner.

Mr O’Dwyer said while their departure would be a loss for the community, the school was already prepared to fill the roles so STEM learning remains a staple for the school and wider community.

Mr O’Dwyer will be replaced by Boyup Brook’s St Mary’s Catholic Primary School principal Ronan Kelly.

“Ronan is an experienced principal, so that’s a good next step in our school journey of experienced leadership choosing to come here,” he said.

“It just reflects all the good work of the school and the staff as well as its reputation within the educational landscape.”