Water Tree Community School
Board
Water Tree Community School has established an inaugural board comprising of seven members who bring a wealth of experience and expertise to support the setup of our new school.
Dr. Jane Kirkham
Jane Kirkham is an Educational and Developmental Psychologist currently employed by the Association of Independent Schools of Western Australia (AISWA) to provide a range of psychological services at independent schools. Jane also has an extensive teaching background with experience in mainstream, gifted, and inclusive education at primary and secondary levels in Australia, United Kingdom, and in South Africa. Jane has recently been conferred a PhD from the Graduate School of Education at the University of Western Australia where she is now an Honorary Research Fellow. Her research interests lie in the motivation, engagement, and the wellbeing of school students and teachers.
Brendan Murray
Brendan has over 40 years with the Department of Education WA, mainly as a Secondary English teacher, and before retiring, held positions as principal in District High and Primary schools. His career also included Head of Learning Areas in Tonga (Australian Volunteers Abroad) and Singapore. He has authored four novels for young adults, two of his titles, Tev (short-listed, WA Premier's Book Awards 2002) and Tev on Home Turf (2004), were published by Fremantle Press. Jail Road Shadows (Fontaine 2017) was 'Highly Recommended' by Australia's Children's Book Council. Its sequel, School's Out, was published in 2022. As a Secondary English teacher, one of his core aims was to engage reluctant readers, particularly boys. As such, his Young Adult fiction comes with extensive teaching notes, allowing teachers to adapt them for study across the curriculum.
He currently lives in Western Australia's southwest, and when not reading, writing, or sharing ideas in writers' groups, he enjoys pyrography as a hobby.
Daniel Bruce
Daniel is currently a solicitor with the Youth Legal Service Inc, a community legal centre specialising in criminal and civil law for young people. Prior to this, he spent four years at Circle Green Community Legal working in employment law and migration law. Daniel previously taught secondary school humanities and history at Atwell College south of Perth for four years. Daniel graduated the University of Western Australia with a Bachelor in Laws/ Bachelor of Arts in 2015 before completing a Masters of Education at Deakin University through the Teach For Australia program.
Tim Sly
Tim is a seasoned business professional, internationally experienced across financial and commercial roles in a multiplicity of industries. He is accomplished in the interpretation and implementation of international reporting standards for entity processes and procedures. During his career, Tim has worked for French, British, German, and Australian entities producing statutory accounts, management reporting to international reporting standards and local taxation computations. He has gained a wide range of skills in managing an entity, incorporating commercial, financial, business systems, internal and external reporting.
Along with fellowship of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) he is a Certified Accountant of Australia and New Zealand and the holder of a Masters in Business Administration.
Mitchella Hutchins
Mitchella is a prominent Aboriginal business woman and mother of four children. She is the eldest grandchild of Vilma and George Webb who bestowed upon her the responsibility of cultural caretaker and knowledge sharer. Mitchella was a presenter on GWN7’s Milbindi program and has lectured at Western Australian university’s on Indigenous topics and issues. She is a foster parent to over twenty children, manages her business, Waljin Consultancy, and created an online learning package for Indigenous cultural awareness training. Mitchella wants community values to be rediscovered by caring for community and country and believes building a healthy community is essential to tackling many issues affecting people in the South West of Western Australia.
Claire Sly
Claire has worked in education for over the past 27 years in both primary and secondary schools, predominantly as a Science and Mathematics teacher. Since moving to Western Australian in 2010, Claire has worked in both the Catholic and Independent sector, as a classroom teacher and a head of department. She has a First-class honour's degree in Chemistry, a Master of Education specialising in leadership and special educational needs, and a research degree focusing on pedagogy and curriculum. Before embarking on a career in teaching Claire worked as an accountant. Most recently she worked as a consultant, Head of Curriculum and a Lead Manager at the Association of Independent Schools of Western Australia (AISWA), supporting non-government schools with registration and day to day activities. Claire and husband Tim moved to Nannup in 2022 where they established a local business, Nanna’s Pantry.
Maighread Nidheasuna
Maighread has worked as an exploration geophysicist for 15 years. She has extensive experience in project management, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and leadership. She is skilled in managing time-critical projects, developing timelines and milestones, and ensuring efficient allocation of resources. Maighread has also worked as a high school science teacher for more than 10 years, teaching Physics, Aviation, Environmental science, Robotics and Coding. Maighread and her partner, Craig, have recently started a UAV Agricultural Services business in Nannup where they moved to reconnect with the land and their childhood rural upbringing.