Woolomin Public School - Mum back as principal

Mrs McMahon first walked into the school as a parent 17 years ago, helping out in any way she could to support her two daughters in attendance there.

She later became a teacher’s aide and was inspired to obtain her teaching degree. 

It was the best thing in the world for her to take up her first principalship at the Woolomin school, which she says has a warm, supportive school community.

She was around when former principal Barry Burnett and his mate, Danny Spillane, made marimbas with the students.

She has an intimate knowledge of the benefits of small-school education, knowing the one-on-one tuition gives her students the best opportunities in life to further their education.

“Being a small school, we do lots of dynamic things,” Mrs McMahon said.

The school’s vegetable garden and tree-planting program is part of that.

“Parent support is very strong at this school,” she said.

“On Mondays we do our gardening program. We’ve built new garden beds and have plans to get the garden back to how it was when the student council ran it to produce food for the mini-canteen.

“As we get towards summer, that will be used in the student salad bar. It teaches a great lesson – that everything has a purpose, why we grow things, how we do it. It’s thanks to a lot of parents we get to do that. Being a rural community, we have lots of help from the locals – donations of hay, dirt, all the things we need to make our garden grow.”

There’s a lot of pride and enthusiasm in Mrs McMahon’s voice as she speaks lovingly of the wider school community.

“I’ve just come back to Woolomin and feel very lucky to come back to my community as principal,” she said.

“I’ve got a lot invested in this community. My two daughters were both school captains at one stage.  They’ve now gone on to do other things as adults. One of the great things I feel each day is that it’s an absolute joy to work here.”