Ensuring students’ interests always come first will be the focus of new West Busselton Primary School principal Jamie Adair.
Mr Adair took up the position during third term after fulfilling an acting principal position at Tuart Forest Primary School in Dalyellup.
His career has taken him through the state, from Port Hedland to the Swan Valley.
This will be his first substantive principal role.
He said West Busselton was the challenge he had been looking for.
“I don’t enjoy getting get too stale,” he said
“I’ve never spent longer than nine years in a school and I’m not going to be the sort of person that does 20 years in one spot.
“If I do nine years here, that will make me 66 so this could be it but I don’t like to use the ‘r’ word as it sounds like I’m slowing down and that is not the case.”
Mr Adair said it was an exciting time for the school, which was coming to the end of its current business plan.
“While our numbers and area aren’t in growth, what’s happening within the school is about growth,” he said.
“We are never sitting still, we are re-examining a lot of our pedagogy and a lot of our planning.
“It is all about children first, all of our decision making is prefaced around what’s best for the students, first and foremost.”
Mr Adair found his niche working as a classroom teacher in difficult and complex low socio-economic areas.
He said this experience taught him community and relationships played a huge role in a child’s education.
“It didn't matter how what you had or what you came with or what happened at home,” he said.
“When the children came to school, it was about building good relationships with parents and students.
“It doesn't matter what social class you move through, parents love their children and have expectations for their children.”