Principal keen to join community

HARVEY Primary School welcomes its new head this week, with principal Jason Romeo looking forward to joining the school community.

Mr Romeo comes to Harvey from Amaroo Primary School in Collie, with 18 years in public schools and 11 years as a principal at a number of schools.

No stranger to the area, Mr Romeo lives with his family in Australind and served as principal at Brunswick Primary School until 2013.

“I know the area well,” he said.

Mr Romeo said it was the community atmosphere of the school that drew him to apply for the post at Harvey Primary School.

“I thought it would be a school to suit my leadership style and what the school needed as well,” he said.

“What really drove me to it was the understanding of the community, there’s a strong sense of community you feel around the school.”

“They’re proud of their school and I want to keep that.”

Pastoral care was an aspect of education which Mr Romeo said was very important to him.

“Definitely my strong area is pastoral care and that relationship, so my first thing for me is the relationships that I build with staff and students and the parents in the school community,” he said.

Mr Romeo said he was still familiarising himself with the school but was looking forward to identifying areas to grow.

“They’ve had lots of successes with curriculum, such as with early childhood and just focussing on that and thinking, what’s the next step, where can we go to keep that success up,” he said.