The Leaning Tree Community School Project

By Anne-Maree Hopkinson and Wendy Watters

It was an interest in alternative schooling that brought us together. We discovered we shared similar beliefs over a cuppa on a nice summer’s day in early 2004. We both loved the lifestyle Geraldton offered, the beaches, the small community, the weather and most of all it was where we wanted to raise our family. 

Deciding the only draw back to living in the Midwest was the lack of schooling options, we started chatting about alternative schools we had heard of and some we had seen. Before long, over another cup of tea, we started to write down what we wanted in a school. This was the start of our great friendship and like-minded partnership.

We were thinking of something a little alternative, where the whole child is nurtured - a school with a warm, home-like feel; a small community environment where parents play an active role; where education is project based within small class sizes. All this in an eco friendly, maybe even sustainable environment . . . the list goes on.

Worried about looking like two modern day hippy mums trying to convince interested parents we were serious, we informed ourselves about alternative education through extensive reasearch. We knew we wanted something different but did not really know where to go from our initial ideas. We made phone calls, searched the internet and discovered we were not alone. There were many like-minded parents in Australia wanting the best for their children. We collected information from similar schooling systems all over Australia: reading, discovering, networking, discussing, learning . . . 

We became quite excited and wanted to see if an alternative school would be well received in Geraldton. Having been advised by an alternative school group in Cairns to: "Make sure you have at least 6-10 keen people to help you or don’t even start", we placed an advertisement in the local papers and issued press releases looking for people interested in education alternatives for the children of Geraldton. We asked people to come forward and together we would form our ‘Community School for Geraldton Working Party’. We wanted to find -

1. People interested in becoming dedicated members of our team.
2. People with experience in alternative schooling or skills we could utilise. We had already identified the need for a diverse range of skills if we were to get this off the ground.

The first open public meeting was held on 25th May, 2004 and we had 17 people attend. We outlined what was required and told it as it was - the journey to success would be long and challenging. We found 10 others to join us and our Working Party was formed, all women. 

We have often been asked: "Why is your group all women?" This is because our beautiful, supporting husbands are at home watching the kids whilst we work away into the night. So thank you to the men in our lives.

The Working Party never ceased to amaze us, our group bonded and we became great friends. We were like-minded and charging down a path to fulfil our dream of Mid West children benefiting from an alternative education. The Leaning Tree Working Party was an inspirational and focused bunch of women, all of whom are mothers, wives, workers and more.

We love the motivational quote: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure..." by Nelson Mandela. This always inspired us and kept us on track.

The Working Party and supporters held a second Open Public Meeting in December, 2004. We had approximately 40 parents in attendance and subsequently 20 new student enrolments! We knew were we on the right track.

We began to build a data base of interested families from all over the Mid West. Calls came from as far as Northampton and Mullewa with excited parents asking lots of questions. We even had calls from families thinking of moving to Geraldton from the Eastern States and Perth seeking alternative education options for their children. Interest in our project had exceeded our initial expectations.

The Working Party met on a monthly to bimonthly basis, working on our ‘Advance Determination’ application to the Minister for Education. It was a hard slog, but with the help of our amazing team, the Advance Determination was lodged at the end of January, 2005. The application was a culmination of an intense eight months of research, investigations and liaisons. The document began to tell the story of what we have come to call the ‘Leaning Tree Community School'.

The Application for Advance Determination was rejected, but we continued on to lodge our Application for Registration. This too was rejected by the Minister for Education. We felt the rejections were based on unfounded grounds and decided to appeal the decision. With the support of local agencies, businesses and our Working Team, we presented a professional and thorough presentation to the Perth Appeal Team and successfully overturned the Minister's original decision. 

With great excitement the Leaning Tree Community School opened its doors in January, 2007. We are a low fee, independent school registered with the Association of Independent Schools of WA and follow the Curriculum Council's 13 Overarching Educational Statements. We offer Kindy to Year 7 with a maximum enrolment of 150 students to ensure the School is economically sound whilst maintaining a community environment.

Some have asked us why we had bitten off such a large task. At the end of the day, someone had to do it for our children, so it may as well be us. 

Another point worthy of note . . . what is life all about? For us it’s about our children, their future, our future, and our planet's future. We want to raise our children to be well-rounded individuals in every way. It's all about the children, it's always been about the children.

Schooling is more than a place of education. At Leaning Tree, our community encourages the virtues of love, courage, generosity, strength, patience, truth, respect and peace.