Water Tree Community School Meeting(s)
Nannup Town Hall, Tuesday 3rd February 2026
Welcome/Intro - Claire Sly:
- Background/history of the Water Tree Community School initiative
- After a long process (described) to demonstrate the viability of establishing an alternative school in the region, we have now been granted Advanced Determination
- Introduction of the Board members present and not present.
- We are now at the stage of seeking Registration, which involves Building site approval, staffing, numbers, policies and procedures and Fund raising etc
- Five things necessary before we can move forward with registration:
1) Venue (discussed current land and building options: Old Jasper Lake project on Baker Road; Barrabup Sanctuary (includes buildings and sheds); or Rent in town on short term lease).
2) Finances: funding does not begin until after 6 months of operation, based on (either February or August) census data from the first semester after opening. (Government funding allots $18K-$20 per annum, per child). We are therefore looking to raise $300k to cover the first 6 months of operational costs.
3) Establish Policies and Procedures: AISWA (non-Government/Independent school body) to support. (*Claire to act as business manager moving forward)
* Question previously posed: Do independent schools detract from Government funding for other Government funding schools? Answer – No.
4) Staffing – 10 applications have been received for potential staff positions to date.
5) Children (numbers) – currently 80+ individual children registered as “expressions of interest”. Staff ratios to children will be small, class sizes will be kept small. We ideally want to start with two class groups of a maximum of 16 children (employing two teachers plus a floating EA). Thus, we need to fundraise somewhere in the realm of $300K to fund our first six months of operation.
- Re fundraising: We currently have a person with experience in fundraising for large projects interested in working with our team. There is also the option of offering investment opportunities (promissory notes/ debenture shares) to interested private individuals, to provide working capital to get the school up and running. These are term deposits, over 2 to 5 years with investors receiving a set annual interest (TBC) payable on maturity of the deposit.
- For this project to be successful, moving forward we need more people to be involved (on a volunteer basis) to assist in the above-listed 5 areas required for full registration.
- Curriculum: We have stipulated (for registration) that our pedagogy is based on the Forest School working philosophy. All schools must follow the Western Australian curriculum in order to be granted registration. We are registered as operating under the Forest School philosophy, which dictates not “what” but HOW the W.A. curriculum will be administered at Water Tree Community School - but this is still an open topic for discussion within the interested parent and staff body.
Q&A from morning meeting (10:30-11:10am):
Q: With the Water Tree training, what are the fundamentals for teachers?
A: To use the natural environment. We want to work with the local indigenous community members, including instituting the Ranger program, working “on Country”, and using the local environment in our teaching.
Q: What will be the classroom ages?
A: We will need to group different ages together at first, so that we have enough children in each group.
Q: Could you give us a breakdown of how a child would progress through the school structure?
A: Same curriculum and same assessment as any regular school. Children will be able to easily transition between other schools and Water Tree. Children will still meet all requirements for assessment tasks, they will just be doing most of it immersed in the natural environment.
Q: So children will always need to be able to pick up a pen and paper to complete assessment tasks?
A: Not necessarily, it depends on the age and developmental ability of each child, as well as the nature of the task being assessed. We will employ the right people who have the ability to administer the curriculum as well as cater to the needs of individual children.
Q: Do you have any idea how quickly it will take to get the funding and the building for the school?
A: It depends on the amount of support, and on many factors. We have two and a half years to demonstrate our ability to create a working school before the registration period runs out.
Morning meeting concluded at 11:10am.
Q&A from evening meeting (5:30-6:10am):
Q: If there was a decision to change the ethos of the school, would the Board oversee this decision?
A: Yes, though the current Board is transitional, and will be changing over the next six months. Once we are at operational stage, there will be movement of members, including some parents joining the Board, while also maintaining the necessary level of expertise amongst members.
Q: Did you need a constitution to get Advanced Determination?
A: Yes, we did need to supply a constitution in order to gain that. We have a working constitution.
Q: What kind of age-groups are you thinking of starting with?
A: Ideally, starting around year 2 and 3 level, and growing up and growing down, in terms of age groups. We had a lot of interest initially but because of the long time frame while waiting for Advanced Determination, we may have lost some families from our original list. We need to re-visit the numbers.
Q: On the issue of Promissory notes – if kids come and go, how does that work out?
A: Term deposits will be a written up as per the correct protocol.
Q: How is it going to work in terms of recruiting volunteers?
A: Ideally we want to establish a group of 20-25 people, working in different areas, and on different tasks, depending on individual skills and areas of expertise (eg, people looking at curriculum, financing, admin, building etc). We will be setting up a working committee under the Board, to oversee every area.
Q: What happens if we don’t gain registration within the two-and-a-half year time-frame?
A: It is unlikely we will be granted Advanced Determination again, so we need to fulfil all requirements within that time-frame.
Meeting concluded at 6pm