How Wesley College grew its scholarship program while giving staff their time back

15 Apr 2026
Scholarships

Wesley College is one of Perth’s most respected independent schools, with a scholarship program that has grown significantly in recent years.

As one of the Enrolments Managers at Welsey College, Aleksandra Gajda oversees the program, and partnering with Academic Assessment Services (AAS) has been central to keeping it running smoothly, fairly and at scale.

The challenge

When the program was managed entirely in-house, the pressure on Wesley’s staff mounted. Developing tests, invigilating examinations and marking results all fell to internal teams. As demand grew, so did the strain.

“The scale and scope of our scholarship testing program was growing, and the time pressure that placed on internal staff to develop the tests, invigilate the examinations and mark them was becoming a bigger challenge.”

Aleksandra Gajda, Enrolments Manager, Wesley College

The College decided to engage an external specialist to manage their scholarship testing program, choosing AAS as their provider.

Our solution

The impact on staff time has been transformative. With AAS managing test development, invigilation and marking, Wesley’s team has been freed up to focus on something equally important: getting to know their prospective students.

Nowhere is this more visible than on scholarship testing day itself:

“For many years the scholarship testing day was held on a Saturday with minimal staff available, as most were involved in overseeing the examinations. For the past ten years or so, the testing day has been held on a Friday with AAS staff invigilating the examinations.

This freed up Wesley staff to be involved in additional activities with potential students on the day to assess their overall compatibility with the Wesley community.”

Aleksandra Gajda

The time savings extend well beyond Wesley College’s scholarship testing day. Results are made available online for both College staff and families, removing the administrative burden of posting or emailing individual outcomes. And with AAS running the process independently, there’s far less need to field questions from parents after results are released.

“There is a transparency to the process. The independence of the testing means there are few queries from parents after results are released. The test results being available online for both the College staff and parents is also beneficial. There is no need to post or email the results — again a time saver.”

Aleksandra Gajda

Staff across the College have felt the difference. Where testing day once pulled people away from students, the partnership with AAS has given them time back. This has led to a better experience for every family going through the process.

AAS has also helped Wesley reach families who might otherwise have found the program difficult to access. Western Australia’s vast geography means that for some applicants, travelling to Perth for a test is no small undertaking. AAS’s remote testing option has made participation possible for families living far from the city.

“The remote testing is a useful option for families that live really far from Perth, especially in consideration of how large WA is.”

Aleksandra Gajda

For Aleksandra, the partnership works because of the people behind it as much as the systems.

“Wesley College would recommend working with AAS. The team both in the office and on the ground at testing are supportive and solutions-focused.”

Aleksandra Gajda

The results

Since partnering with AAS, Wesley College has seen its scholarship program grow in ways that reflect both the school’s reputation and the confidence that comes from running a process that families trust.

“AAS helped Wesley College to take a large leap forward with our scholarship testing years ago, and now enables the College to maintain the scale, scope and standard of our scholarship program.”

Aleksandra Gajda

That growth is measurable. Year 7 academic scholarship applications have nearly doubled in less than a decade — from 55 in 2018 to 105 for 2027 entry.

“What we hear time and again from schools is that the biggest win isn’t just the testing itself— it’s what they can do with the time they get back. For Wesley, that’s meant their staff can spend scholarship testing day actually engaging with prospective students, which is where their expertise really lies and knowing the process is managed by a specialist provider, it builds confidence in the results.”

Kim Elith, Head of School Assessments & Partnerships, Janison