School lauded for excellence

Mt Lockyer Primary School is officially the best in WA after the school was presented with an Excellence in Public Education award at a school assembly last Wednesday.

Director general of Education Sharyn O'Neill travelled to Albany to make the presentation after an extensive review of the independent school's operations, its staff and student performance.

Ms O'Neill said Mt Lockyer was a "fantastic school" with an extraordinary learning standard.

"Compared to everyone else in WA, you are doing a good job," she told students, staff and parents.

Ms O'Neill said the learning results the school had shown, the "exceptional teachers" and the caring feeling shown by students had led to the award.

She said she was particularly impressed by students she had met on a short tour before the assembly.

Principal Maxine Augustson thanked the school community for helping turn the school around from its previous poor reputation.

"We wanted the children to achieve their absolute potential," she said.

"We saw the only way to do this was to en- gage the community when challenging strategies were implemented.

"This was the single most important factor that turned the school around.

"It (the award) is fantastic but we will not sit on our laurels."

The excellence award is only the 10th handed out to a public school in the past three years.