Educator and Secondary Principal
Karen Woods attended Cyril Jackson Senior High School from 1968 to 1971 and finished her career as Principal of Cyril Jackson Senior Campus in 2017. What a journey!
Karen completed an Arts Degree in languages, undertook teacher training and was posted to Bentley SHS in 1976, teaching English, Literature and French. A series of teaching positions followed where she continued to advocate for social justice and gender equity. Believing she could make a greater difference to school policy and management she followed the promotional pathway achieving Head of Department, Deputy Principal and Principal roles. Her love of learning saw her complete a Masters Degree in Arts in the 1980s at Murdoch University.
Newly arrived from Leicester in England along with her parents and siblings, she was part of the wave of ‘10-pound poms’. Adjusting to a new country is never easy but she was welcomed by her classmates, in particular Leigh Hotchkin with whom she shared a love of languages. Both went on to study them at UWA after serving as a school prefect. Lunchtimes were often spent sitting on the stage in the main quadrangle. She remembers fondly Miss Samantha Bosworth, who taught French and German with passion and Mr Brian Wolfenden, who taught English and Literature and encouraged her to perform in school drama productions. She found the staff to be very committed to social justice and encouraging of all students to build their confidence to achieve their goals.
As a Deputy and Principal, she introduced many innovative programs. Examples include alternative programs for at-risk and indigenous students which are now part of the secondary schooling landscape as well as specialist programs in Cricket and Netball at John Forrest SHS. She pioneered alternative non tertiary pathways for Years 11 and 12 students at Swan View SHS in the late 1980s, culminating in the co-creation of the Swan District Vocational Studies Alliance. She strengthened this alliance through acting as a Director of the Swan Education District. Her work with at-risk students highlighted the need for better mental health support for students and she successfully advocated through her professional associations for the creation of Student Services positions to focus on student welfare.
In her role as Deputy Principal at Central Midlands SHS, a regional school, she forged collaborative links with the local Aboriginal community including their elders. This led to the implementation of Nyungar language classes into the curriculum, the development of on-country experiences for students and the creation of an annual NAIDOC cook-up.
A career highlight for Karen was her selection as Director of the proposed College of Teaching, a new body to regulate the teaching profession (now the Teacher Registration Board). Her meetings with Ministers of Government and policy advisers helped shape this key educational legislation.
It is fitting that Karen was able to finish her career at CJSC as the Campus embodies her core values of social justice and equity, promotes life-long learning and the empowerment of students and self. Retired now for seven years, she has been a volunteer at the Fremantle Maritime Museum, assisted in primary schools and undertaken virtual mentoring with students in the Pilbara and is a current adult literacy tutor. For her long and renowned career in Western Australian public schools, Karen Woods is today named a Champion of CJ.