AS the Member for Riverton and a member of the Lynwood Senior High School Board, I categorically refute the report published in the Canning Times on June 26 headlined “More psychologists needed in schools”.
In particular, I object to the sub-heading “Lynwood SHS has worst ratio in WA, says union”, as claimed by the Riverton Labor candidate Hannah Beazley and her union and Green mates.
This statement and the headline are untrue.
Ms Beazley didn’t even have the courtesy to contact Gary Anderson, the principal of Lynwood Senior High School, or the Department of Education to check whether her claims were right.
If she had bothered to do so, she would have been advised she was wrong. For the record, Lynwood SHS definitely does not have the lowest allocation of psychologist FTE to student numbers.
Her mischievous and incorrect claims have done Lynwood Senior High School a great disservice in the community.The school, in fact, is fully staffed to meet the needs of its students in accordance with the Department of Education guidelines.
The school’s student services team has a school psychologist, a nurse, a chaplain and full-time managers of the Lower and Senior School, as well as a full-time deputy principal from the school’s recent addition of an Intensive English Centre.
Ms Beazley also ignored the fact that the State Government has increased the number of school psychologists by 30 per cent over the past three years and as a result, WA now has the highest ratio of school psychologists to students in Australia.
Lynwood is an independent public school so it has the flexibility to make its own decisions regarding staffing levels and to augment staffing allocations if they are needed.
In times of crisis, the school can also tap into the Region’s Critical Response plan to provide additional support staff for students and staff. This support service is available to all schools.
Lynwood Senior High School is a leading local high school with a 100 per cent graduation rate. The school is a credit to its principal and his teachers, staff and students.