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WHY A FOUNDATION?
Reflections from the Principal
In 2022 we are celebrating our School’s 120th anniversary and the significant progress we have made in aligning the Perth College Structure with our Vision. We are firmly focused on ensuring that our contemporary, ground breaking programs deliver on the Vision of the Sisters of the Church to prepare our students for a challenging and fulfilling future.
We are excited about the positive impact on our students of our flagship initiatives, including Side by Side (our redesigned Service Learning program), Sports Development and Performance Program and sparc. These programs deliver rich learning, selfleadership, health, wellbeing and collaborative experiences to equip our students with invaluable critical-thinking and problem-solving skills.
The generous support of our community, particularly as we adjusted, changed and postponed activities and campus contact to stay COVIDSafe, has been deeply appreciated.
In 2021 Perth College was ranked seventh of WA secondary schools, achieving a median ATAR of 91. Our Class of 2021 achieved a 99.26 per cent WACE graduation, a top ATAR score of 99.95 and 58 students completed a VET Certificate II or higher. Significantly, our students completed 3418 hours of community service and gained 41 Duke of Edinburgh International Awards.
Other School achievements in 2021 and into 2022 included expanding our Boarding House capacity to 111, developing our now oversubscribed PC Vacation Care program and successfully rehousing our Year 4 to 6 Students in the Beaufort Street wing.
What is Side by Side?
In 2021, we decided to reassess our Service Learning programs to ensure we could measure impact, add meaning and learn. Our new program, Side by Side, has been designed to ensure that Perth College students from Pre-Kindergarten to Year 12, become part of a mutually beneficial partnership exploring and addressing the challenges of our complex world. Side by Side incorporates community collaboration, practical experiences and two-way learning. In 2022 our Year 8 students are working with AnglicareWA to explore advocacy. Each of the three groups is assigned one Anglicare priority advocacy area and will produce a video for Anglicare that either advocates on their topic or informs others about how to advocate.
We are grateful for your thoughtful expressions of encouragement and your financial support.
In 2022, we are celebrating the story of our School, its Founders and the stories of our students past and present. We are consolidating our Vision, growing enrolments and preparing our School for re-registration in 2022–23.
We are futureproofing our School by moving ahead with our Junior School construction project, building up all our flagship programs, which also include InsideOut, STEaM and School Improvement, and developing and caring for our staff.
Generosity of spirit is highly valued by Perth College students, staff and families. Our success depends on the support of our community, which we welcome through the Perth College Foundation or through the School.
Sincerest thanks from all the staff at Perth College for your continued support. Helen Aguiar
PRINCIPAL OF PERTH COLLEGE
Message from the Chair
The essence of this year’s message is to extend sincere gratitude to the ever-generous Perth College community for making 2021 another successful year for the Foundation in spite of all the uncertainties which the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have visited upon us all.
Since 2022 marks 120 years since the founding of Perth College we had hoped to celebrate this milestone year with our wonderful donor community by staging a number of functions throughout the year. It is therefore very disappointing that, once again, COVID-19 restrictions have foiled our plans. In particular we were looking forward to sharing with everyone “in person” the news that 2021 had seen the Foundation reach a net asset position of just over $20.5 million. This has been especially significant for the Board as we had set ourselves a target of raising $30 million by 2028; this was always a very ambitious target and the fact that the generosity of the Perth College community has enabled us to now be two thirds the way along the journey, is enormous encouragement that the goal is now within reach!
As I have reinforced in past communications, this Foundation is a young entity compared with many of our counterparts. We are particularly conscious that the Foundation was launched in 2012 by the then School Council which recognised that strategies needed to be urgently put in place to grow an alternative source of funds for the long-term sustainability of the School. It is for this reason that the Board of the Foundation has remained resolute in maintaining focus on growing the capital base so that, in time, the return on investments in our three Funds will result in reliable, sizeable and ongoing income streams for the benefit of the School. Indeed, the impact of growing returns on funds invested is illustrated in the Finance section of this Report and reinforces the significance of our long-term strategy. However, this necessary long-term focus has not been at the expense of short-term needs of the School which has benefitted by contributions of nearly $2 million since inception, inclusive of an enviable and growing Scholarship Program. After the 2020 State COVID-19 lockdown it was heartening to be able to reconnect with our community at a variety of functions throughout 2021 culminating in a fun filled and very well attended end-of-year function which confirmed the growing interest in the work of the Foundation. This occasion also served as the formal farewell of our long serving Foundation and Alumni Co-ordinator, Natalie Swannell who will be sadly missed by the whole community with whom she had developed a special relationship over the years.
During 2021 we were also delighted to welcome Andrew Harrison as an Independent Director on our Board as he brings a wealth of commercial experience. Andrew is invested in the success of the Foundation and the School as he is married to an Old Girl and has two daughters attending Perth College.
My most important expressions of gratitude however are extended to the many generous Donors amongst the broad Perth College family on whom the success of this Foundation depends. The Board is energised by the indicated alignment of our Donors with the strategies in place to grow our capital base so that we can meet the imperative of securing long term financial security for the School. This will in turn ensure that the School will remain positioned to deliver to future generations of girls a first-class education and accompanying sense of leadership and community responsibility which has always been the central element of the Perth College culture.
Sincere thanks to you all. Karen Field
