School Staff Members
Cass Disisto – Principal
Cass has worked for the Department of Education for over 30 years in many diverse school settings in both country and metropolitan Perth. This experience has provided Cass with opportunities to build her knowledge and understanding of what good schools do, and to develop her skills in how to go about building effective teachers that in turn build confident, capable students.
Cass was appointed to South Padbury Primary School as Principal in June 2020. As she stepped into the role she was struck by the sense of calmness and community at the school.
Cass understands that happy children, engaged staff and enthusiastic families provide a great foundation for growth and improvement. She continues to focus on this at South Padbury Primary to build on the strengths of the school and to create a challenging and progressive environment that enables everyone in the school community to ‘be the change’ for themselves and each other.
Cass is passionate about early childhood education and reading and hopes this is where families will see most change and improvement in the coming years. Her goal as a member of the Board is to continue to support the School’s sense of community and spirit, while building student achievement and supporting staff to be the best that they can be.
Tasha Donnelly – Deputy Principal
Tasha has worked for the Department of Education for over 25 years, with a range of diverse experiences from working in regional WA to many years teaching in a low-socio economic area Perth. Tasha has taught all primary school years from 1-6 and has also taken on a specialist Indonesian Language teaching role.
Tasha has been a South Padbury PS for 11 years, and in recent years she has taken on a Deputy role. She lives locally and has a son attending a local high school.
As a country girl Tasha loves the sense of community and country feel at South Padbury PS. It is a joy for her to build relationships with the students and their families, with a particular focus on providing pastoral care for all children.
She is passionate about diversity and loves the individuality of all students. Tasha sees herself as an advocate for students who need flexibility, support, or at times more ‘out of the box’ approaches to support their academic, social and emotional needs.
As a mother, an experienced teacher and now a school administrator Tasha brings considerable value to the school board. She enjoys drawing on each of these roles when working with Board members to shape and monitor the school’s objectives, priorities and general policy directions.
Kylie Marple – Senior Teacher
Kylie has now worked for the Department of Education for over 25 years, teaching at schools in the Wheatbelt, Peel district and Metropolitan Perth. In her previous roles she taught primary school students from years one to five, before returning to University to study for her Graduate Certificate in Early Childhood Education in 2016.
For the past 6 years Kylie has taught Kindy and Pre Primary, and she joined the Pre Primary teaching staff at South Padbury IPS in 2022.
Furthering her commitment to the school, Kylie joined the SPPS Board in Term 1, 2023, where she enjoys and contributes to the sense of community and belonging within the school. Kylie believes that building positive relationships with students and their families is essential to providing a safe and supportive environment for children to thrive in. She is also passionate about play, particularly in the early years, and believes that a combination of play based learning and explicit teaching is the key to a successful early childhood environment.
Shannon Radford – Year 4 Teacher – TA9
Shannon brings over 5 years of experience working with the Department of Education, contributing her teaching expertise across schools in Tasmania, Victoria, and presently in Western Australia. Throughout her career, she has taken on leadership responsibilities as a wellbeing leader and representative on staff consultative committees.
Initially teaching in Year 1 and 2, Shannon later relocated to Perth, teaching relief in a diverse range of roles for 12 months. She is now excited to be a Year 4 teacher at SPPS.
Embracing her role as a new member of the SPPS team, Shannon is eager to collaborate with colleagues and the school community in achieving common objectives, particularly in enhancing the overall school environment for our students. As a board member, she aims to leverage her experience from different educational settings to contribute to the advancement of literacy, experiential learning, and individual emotional wellbeing.
Shannon is committed to supporting the school’s pursuit of progress, innovation, creativity, and community engagement, always prioritising the students’ education and happiness.
Parent Community Members
Tyson Rudd – Board Chairperson
Tyson has 15 years experience working in the electrical infrastructure and road service sector for organisations that include Main Roads and Downer EDI. He currently works for EGT, a training organisation that provides employment and training opportunities in the electro technology industry.
Tyson’s daughter, Margot, currently attends South Padbury in Year 3 (2023).
Having built a career outside of the education sector Tyson believes the knowledge and unique skill set that he brings complements the school Board, and allows him to bring new perspective in his role as a Board member.
Tyson felt compelled to join the Board in 2022 to ensure that the decisions made on behalf of the school can achieve the best possible outcomes for all students and for the school community as a whole. He is also passionate about finding ways to help students and families to regain a sense of normality during what have been quite strange and often stressful times.
Danielle Bignell – Parent
Danielle joined the South Padbury IPS Board in Term 1, 2022, and currently has three children attending the school in Years 1, 4 and 6. She is passionate about building on the sense of community and belonging that already exists within the school, and also hopes to continue to foster the school’s culture of open, positive, constructive and inclusive communication.
Professionally Danielle has over 20 years of experience working in marketing and communications roles ranging from graduate through to Associate. She currently works freelance as a writer and communications consultant.
She was a member of the Parent Committee for her local Community Kindergarten each time her children attended there, which included serving as Secretary to the Committee and redesigning the Kindy website in 2018. She is deeply community minded and enjoys being an active member of the communities in which she belongs.
Since 2011 Danielle has coordinated a local festive food drive, which has grown to become great community builder and conversation starter for her own family, and for those who contribute. She takes great enjoyment from giving back behind the scenes, and sees her role on the Board as an opportunity to do just this.
Erin Templar – Parent
Erin joined the South Padbury IPS Board for Term 1 in 2022. With 15 years experience working in community relations and marketing in the independent school sector, she brings invaluable experience to this role.
From working in independent schools across Perth, Erin has extensive knowledge and experience in social media, websites, apps, community relations and engagement, graphic design, event management, student services and admissions. Erin has always enjoyed developing these areas within a school community and is looking forward to working with the Board to showcase the amazing work the School does.
Erin enjoys working with others to collectively achieve a goal. It is this that attracted her to joining the Board – to be part of a team working together to develop a positive and nurturing school environment for all children at South Padbury PS.
With a son, Hudson, in Year 1 (2023) she is thankful to be a part of the South Padbury community.
Nicky Garside – Parent
Nicky joined the South Padbury IPS Board in Term 1 of 2022, bringing over 15 years of international secondary school drama teaching experience at classroom and management level to her role.
Nicky combines a contemporary understanding of primary and secondary educational issues with her genuine passion for education, Literature and the Arts. As a member of the Board she also draws on considerable school committee experience and an unwavering commitment to optimise student outcomes and to help the school achieve success.
During Nicky’s time at SPPS she has taken a keen interest in supporting the school and its development, serving as parent rep and becoming a member of the executive committee through the school’s P&C.
As a member of the board Nicky hopes to use her experience of the arts to further the schools development of literacy, experiential learning and the emotional wellbeing of the individual. She will also continue supporting the school in striving to be progressive, innovative, creative and community driven, and in keeping the student’s education and happiness as the primary focus.
Above all else Nicky is a passionate parent, who like all other parents wants only the best for her children. She is a mum of two, with Rosie currently in TA1 and Callum joining the school Kindy in 2023.
Jacqueline Crew – Parent
Jacqueline joined the South Padbury IPS Board in Term 1, 2023. She has two daughters attending the school in Pre-Primary and Year 2 (2023).
Jacqueline’s professional background is in teaching English as a Second Language and Student Support Services (she is currently completing her Masters of Teaching). Working at several language schools and colleges in Perth and in Auckland, the need to support students’ mental health became her focus and motivated her to complete a Diploma in Counselling.
As a member of the Board Jacqueline uses her skills to support the school in working towards its goals, in particular creating a positive community where students and parents feel like they belong, and students are inspired to learn and develop their unique strengths.
Dawn Pascoe – Parent
Dawn joined the SPPS IPS Board in Term 1, 2023.
Having run her own business for 17 years, Dawn has a wide range of skills, especially when it comes to making things happen – and she has developed many creative ways to work outside the box. She also brings a wealth of experience in performing arts (as the director of the aerial-circus- theatre company Natural Wings), and contacts in the performing arts and permaculture sectors – even some who work in both!
Dawn has toured internationally and regionally, giving her a huge appreciation for nature, connection and community. Feeling drawn to belong to a community closer to home she recently joined South Padbury Primary School, where her daughter now Zara attends in Year 2 (2023).
In her spare time Dawn is an avid gardener who loves to share her passion with the neighbours, and enjoys helping kids learn where their food comes from. She also champions waste reduction – just ask her about her composting systems, regenerative farming and bulk food shopping, and how to make these things attractive, inspiring and easy – without shaming or belittling.
Dawn enjoys part of being part of the SPPS community, and serving a member of the Board, so that she can listen, share and grow.