Centre up for State gong

Rockingham Beach Education Support Centre, along with Rockingham Senior High School’s Michelle Dirksz, will have the chance to be recognised among some of the State’s best educators, after they were nominated as finalists in the 2017 WA Education Awards.

This week the Telegraph caught up with the friendly team at Rockingham Beach Education Support Centre, to catch a glimpse into how the much-loved local school had made it as a finalist for WA Primary School of the Year.

A community favourite since 1987, Rockingham Beach Education Support Centre is based on the same site as Rockingham Beach Primary School.

With 54 students, the centre provides support for students with identified disabilities such as intellectual disability or autism, with high educational needs.

Principal Margaret Keen said everyone at the centre was delighted to have made it this far. “We are quite amazed and thrilled that we made it through as finalists,” she said.

Ms Keen said the centre placed a real focus on communicating with families to get the best for the students and their individual needs.

“There’s often a lot of challenges that we need to consider,” she said.

“We have a little saying that when we enrol a student we don’t just enrol the student; we enrol the whole family because it affects them too.

“Everyone here believes they can make a difference in the child’s life — we love what we do.”

Ms Dirskz, meanwhile, has been nominated as a finalist for WA School Services Staff Member of the Year.

All finalists will receive an invitation to the WA Education Awards presentation dinner to be held on Friday, November24, at Crown Perth.