Gulgong Public School Annual Report

Gulgong Public School Annual Report 2018 2097 Page 1 of 15 Gulgong Public School 2097 (2018)

Introduction The Annual Report for 2018 is provided to the community of Gulgong Public School as an account of the school's operations and achievements throughout the year. It provides a detailed account of the progress the school has made to provide high quality educational opportunities for all students, as set out in the school plan. It outlines the findings from self assessment that reflect the impact of key school strategies for improved learning and the benefit to all students from the expenditure of resources, including equity funding. David Lewis Principal School contact details Gulgong Public School Belmore St Gulgong, 2852 www.gulgong-p.schools.nsw.edu.au gulgong-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au 6374 1622 Page 2 of 15 Gulgong Public School 2097 (2018)

Message from the Principal It has been my great pleasure to be Principal of Gulgong Public School this year. In what has been a very busy year I have thoroughly enjoyed coming to school each day to see the smiling, hardworking and friendly students. The staff have been very supportive and open to change and we are blessed to have such a dedicated staff who always put students and their learning first. So to the staff Thankyou. The community have also been so welcoming to my family and I and we have greatly appreciated that support. Our mission statement suggests we are a happy community school striving for excellence in a caring, modern environment. We work in partnership with parents and community members to produce the Leaders of Tomorrow. In my short time at the school I can assure you that that is what Gulgong Public School produces. 21st century learners who are ready to tackle the challenges that Gulgong High School and life throws at them, knowing that they have the support of the Gulgong community behind them. We still have our aims, to increase the academic achievement across the school utilising programs such as Early Action for Success and Visible learning. We still have a focus on student wellbeing and ensuring that all students are catered for. The breakfast club has been a huge hit with Mrs Richards and Mrs McPhail feeding up to 70 students every morning, even if they have already had breakfast. I am happy to inform you that these programs have led to significant improvement in academic performance. This year we have over 85% of our students on track in Literacy and Numeracy. We also had over 60 students achieve in the top two bands for NAPLAN in a first for Gulgong Public School. We have used school funds to ensure all students have access to the best possible education and that teachers have the opportunity via professional learning to improve their teaching practice. The school has provided extra curricular opportunities including PSSA Sport, Dance camps, Public Speaking competitions and Canberra and Dubbo Zoo excursions. The P&C has been a great support and their donations this year have helped with excursions and the purchasing of new home readers and classroom resources. They are extremely giving of their time and have helped with numerous projects including the new school garden. We have had numerous opportunities for our community to come into the school and they never disappoint with great turnouts at, The Welcome BBQ, Book and Education Week celebrations, NAIDOC week, Athletics and Swimming carnivals, Easter at picnics, ANZAC day and P&C meetings. It is a wonderful partnership we have and will continue to have into and beyond 2018. David Lewis Principal Gulgong Public School Page 3 of 15 Gulgong Public School 2097 (2018)

Message from the school community Our P & C is made up of yourselves; parents, carers and citizens that reside in our community, along with our teachers and David. We are a small but dedicated group that volunteer to work throughout the year to raise funds for the purpose of donating them back to the school to benefit the students here at Gulgong Public School. The P & C Committee this year have been able to donate over $4500 to the school which has been used to assist with the purchase of new home readers for Stage 1, $1000 was donated towards the year 6 major excursion and most recently the P & C have contributed to the new school hats that each student will receive next year. None of these donations would have been possible without the generosity and support of events like our P & C Mothers & Father's Day Stalls, the athletics carnival BBQ, various raffles and all the fundraising events that are held during the year. So, I thank each and everyone of you for purchasing from our stalls, ordering your children and yourselves lunch from the BBQs and for buying our raffle tickets, you have made these donations to our school all possible. Above all, a huge thank you to our P & C committee that meet once a month to make it all happen. Sonya Hamson P&C Vice President Page 4 of 15 Gulgong Public School 2097 (2018)

School background School vision statement Our School Mission: "to provide a safe & happy community school striving for excellence in a caring environment" Our Vision NSW public schools deliver quality education to develop the individual talents, interests and abilities of students. Our aim is to provide a vibrant and responsive public education system that produces well educated citizens with the capability and confidence to succeed in the 21st century. School context Gulgong Public School has an enrolment of around 327 students with 10% Aboriginal population and has a proud tradition of providing quality public education. The School has an expanding enrolment base and serves a diverse rural community. The school focuses on providing a safe, innovative and challenging curriculum, supported by a professional, highly motivated, talented and committed staff. Teachers work collaboratively in a variety of teams to maximise quality teaching and learning and the school is a foundation member of the Cudgegong Learning Community. The students at Gulgong Public School achieve consistent success in academic, social, sporting and cultural endeavours, promoting positive self esteem, independence, motivation and tolerance. Both the staff and the community are dedicated to providing excellent educational opportunities for students and are equally valued in the educational partnership. Self-assessment and school achievement Self-assessment using the School Excellence Framework This section of the Annual Report outlines the findings from self assessment using the School Excellence Framework, school achievements and the next steps to be pursued. This year, our school undertook self assessment using the School Excellence Framework. The framework supports public schools throughout NSW in the pursuit of excellence by providing a clear description of high quality practice across the three domains of Learning, Teaching and Leading. We started the year with thorough Professional learning around the School Excellence Framework, so that all staff were active participants in the self evaluation process. We then made judgements against the excellence framework. Our judgement in relation to Learning was that as school we were delivering in 2018. We have many Professional Learning opportunities planned for 2019 to drive our school forwards towards Sustaining and Growing in this element in 2019. In the elements of Teaching we evaluated that Gulgong Public School was Delivering. We are implementing John Hattie's Visible Learning comprehensively in 2019 to ensure teaching practice is in a state of continuous improvement. In the final element of Leading the school was judged to be Delivering. We have done a thorough evaluation of our leadership strategies for 2019 and will continue to re evaluate our school plan and milestones so we move towards Sustaining and Growing. Our self assessment process will assist the school to refine our school plan, leading to further improvements in the delivery of education to our students. For more information about the School Excellence Framework: https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching and learning/school excellence and accountability/sef evidence guide Page 5 of 15 Gulgong Public School 2097 (2018)

Strategic Direction 1 CONNECT Purpose Through inspired learning Gulgong Public School will create resilient, well informed learners who have strong skills in Literacy and Numeracy. Students will embrace a culture of high academic achievement that encompasses evidence based learning. Overall summary of progress In relation to our school goal of connecting, we achieved all our Milestones in this area in 2019. Effect size data showed that all teachers had an average or above average effect size for the school year. Progress towards achieving improvement measures Improvement measures (to be achieved over 3 years) Every student will achieve expected or above expected growth in both Literacy and Numeracy each year. Increase the number of students reporting a sense of belonging and a love of school by 10% over the three year cycle. Funds Expended (Resources) Instructional Leader $163000 Progress achieved this year We achieved this goal in term 3 and since then teachers have been working on implementing Success Criteria into their teaching and learning programs. We will report back through the IL the successes and shortcomings of PLAN 2 and Phase 2 of EAfS Suspension numbers have been growing this year from last year, with a change in expectations. We held a wellbeing week in term 4 which was extremely successful with both students and staff. We will be continuing this every term in 2019. Next Steps At Gulgong we will continue in 2019 with Visible learning and the use of effect size data. We will also track against the school milestones to ensure we are on target to fulfil our goals. Page 6 of 15 Gulgong Public School 2097 (2018)

Strategic Direction 2 SUCCEED Purpose Gulgong Public School will build teacher capacity to understand and implement evidenced based teaching practice. Staff will be skilled in the use of data to inform teaching and programing practice. Overall summary of progress The school was very successful in the area of Succeed. All staff embraced the changes that the school made and staff took to using Learning Goals and Success Criteria very quickly. The quality of teaching improved dramatically at the school this year, with all teachers showing an effect size of greater than the average 0.4. Progress towards achieving improvement measures Improvement measures (to be achieved over 3 years) All teachers will embed Visible Learning into teaching and learning programs. Walkthroughs will show 100% of teachers are using Learning Goals in their lessons. All teachers will use data to reflect on teaching effectiveness and meet student needs. Funds Expended (Resources) Rural and Remote Grant of $20000. Progress achieved this year Staff have been observed during formal and informal lesson walks. Teaching and Learning programs have been evaluated by supervisors and SEF SAS will be completed at staff meeting and P&C meeting. All staff to have an effect size of 0.4 or greater. We achieved this aim with all teachers having an effect size of 0.4 up to 0.9 this year in both Reading comprehension and Spelling. Next Steps This element of he school plan will continue to be a focus in 2019 as we improve teacher quality and clarity. QTSS funding will be use to release staff to complete walkthroughs and further develop their knowledge ad ability to implement Visible Learning. Page 7 of 15 Gulgong Public School 2097 (2018)

Strategic Direction 3 THRIVE Purpose At Gulgong Public School, the community, every student, every teacher and every leader is committed to the school's strategic directions and practices. School and student links to community ensure access to resources for the purpose of enriching the learning opportunities for our students. Our educational priorities will be enriched by wide community support. Overall summary of progress We developed very strong bonds with the High School and transition programs now run with the assistance of music, sport and technology programs between the two schools. Events we held were very heavily attended by our community and parents and the P&C have been very supportive in our transition phase this year. Progress towards achieving improvement measures Improvement measures (to be achieved over 3 years) Increase parent participation in school learning activities by 15% as indicated in TTFM surveys Increase community involvement in student learning. Funds Expended (Resources) Grants of $7500 were spent getting the Garden and Playground equipment up and running. We also got a lot of community support and help with these projects. Progress achieved this year The school garden is up and running with sponsorship from 9 local businesses. TTFM surveys indicate that the community is generally very happy with the school. Next Steps This will continue to be a focus for 2019. We will be inviting the community in to help run an initiative called read aloud. Parents will be involved in reading to their own and other students to increase literacy levels. Page 8 of 15 Gulgong Public School 2097 (2018)

Key Initiatives Resources (annual) Impact achieved this year Aboriginal background loading $29505 Premiers Priorities were reached this year at Gulgong Public School with an increase of 11% of Aboriginal students achieving in the top two bands of NAPLAN. English language proficiency We also used some funding to purchase hearing systems within classrooms for Aboriginal students with hearing issues. Low level adjustment for disability $ 114524 Learning and Support Teacher Learning and Support Teachers were used for Reading Recovery and small group work to help support those students deemed most "At risk". We had 90% of students graduate off Reading Recovery successfully and our NAPLAN results trended upwards for the first time in years. Quality Teaching, Successful Students (QTSS) 0.54 staffing allowance We used this staffing allowance to release executive from class and conduct Professional Learning walks. This evaluated the impact of Visible Learning within our school. All staff valued this time to see their colleagues teaching and their use of Learning Goals. Socio economic background 0.3 Staffing and $296607 Flexible funding. Gulgong Public School used substantial Socio Economic background funding to employ School Learning Support Officers to help the learning of students at GPS. Over the year this reduced the gap between our middle and lower performing students academically. For the last 14 weeks of the school year we employed a Deputy Principal using SEB funding to ensure the smooth running of the school. Page 9 of 15 Gulgong Public School 2097 (2018)

Student information attendance rates and a reduction in the suspensions these students received. Student enrolment profile Enrolments Students 2015 2016 2017 2018 Boys 147 143 156 169 Girls 142 145 148 162 Student enrolment jumped dramatically in 2018 with the changes in staffing and leadership at Gulgong Public School. This lead to the introduction of another full time class an teaching position. This will be hard to maintain into 2019. Student attendance profile School Year 2015 2016 2017 2018 K 92 93.1 95.2 91.9 1 93.4 91.3 95.6 92.8 2 93.2 92 94.9 93.7 3 93.2 91.8 95 92.3 4 93 92.6 94.9 92.3 5 93.6 92.6 95.5 92.4 6 89.8 92.4 95.3 91.5 All Years 92.6 92.2 95.2 92.4 State DoE Year 2015 2016 2017 2018 K 94.4 94.4 94.4 93.8 1 93.8 93.9 93.8 93.4 2 94 94.1 94 93.5 3 94.1 94.2 94.1 93.6 4 94 93.9 93.9 93.4 5 94 93.9 93.8 93.2 6 93.5 93.4 93.3 92.5 All Years 94 94 93.9 93.4 Management of non-attendance Student attendance at Gulgong Public School is good. We liaised with the HSLO to ensure that students with lo or worrying attendance were followed up on as per DoE policy. We developed an Adapted Education Program for disengaged boys at GPS. This lead to improved Page 10 of 15 Gulgong Public School 2097 (2018)

Workforce information Workforce composition Position FTE* Principal(s) 1 Assistant Principal(s) 3 Classroom Teacher(s) 12.97 Teacher of Reading Recovery 0.42 Learning and Support Teacher(s) 1.1 Teacher Librarian 0.8 School Administration and Support Staff *Full Time Equivalent We have no teaches wo identify as Aboriginal. Teacher qualifications All teaching staff meet the professional requirements for teaching in NSW public schools. Teacher qualifications Qualifications % of staff 4.12 Undergraduate degree or diploma 100 Postgraduate degree 0 Financial information Financial summary The information provided in the financial summary includes reporting from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018. 2018 Actual ($) Opening Balance 43,414 Revenue 3,524,662 Appropriation 3,395,416 Sale of Goods and Services 43,524 Grants and Contributions 85,145 Gain and Loss 0 Other Revenue 0 Investment Income 577 Expenses -3,510,173 Recurrent Expenses -3,510,173 Employee Related -3,064,912 Operating Expenses -445,261 Capital Expenses 0 Employee Related 0 Operating Expenses 0 SURPLUS / DEFICIT FOR THE YEAR 14,489 Balance Carried Forward 57,903 Professional learning and teacher accreditation All teachers participate in Professional Learning and all teachers are Proficient or gaining proficiency as determined by NESA. A financially challenging year a Gulgong Public School. We introduced new policies and governance structures to ensure that we were following DoE financial policy requirements. We had substantial overspending due the amount of long term sick leave taken by staff this year. We also invested significantly in human resources to ensure student learning was a priority. Financial summary equity funding The equity funding data is the main component of the 'Appropriation' section of the financial summary above. Page 11 of 15 Gulgong Public School 2097 (2018)

2018 Actual ($) Base Total 2,349,018 Base Per Capita 59,948 Base Location 47,217 Other Base 2,241,852 Equity Total 519,187 Equity Aboriginal 29,505 Equity Socio economic 327,840 Equity Language 0 Equity Disability 161,842 Targeted Total 200,025 Other Total 259,601 Grand Total 3,327,831 Figures presented in this report may be subject to rounding so may not reconcile exactly with the bottom line totals, which are calculated without any rounding. A full copy of the school's financial statement is tabled at the annual general meetings of the parent and/or community groups. Further details concerning the statement can be obtained by contacting the school. School performance NAPLAN In the National Assessment Program, the results across the Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 literacy and numeracy assessments are reported on a scale from Band 1 to Band 10. The achievement scale represents increasing levels of skills and understandings demonstrated in these assessments. From 2018 to 2020 NAPLAN is moving from a paper test to an online test. Individual schools are migrating to the online test, with some schools attempting NAPLAN on paper and others online. Results for both online and paper formats are reported on the same NAPLAN assessment scale. Any comparison of NAPLAN results such as comparisons to previous NAPLAN results or to results for students who did the assessment in a different format should take into consideration the different test formats and are discouraged during these transition years. We have shown significant growth over the past 3 years in Literacy growth. This continued in 2018, with many students achieving in the top 2 bands of NAPLAN. Page 12 of 15 Gulgong Public School 2097 (2018)

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Numeracy results have improved this year, however, it will continue to be a focus for improvement over the coming years. Percentage in Bands: Year 3 - Numeracy Band 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 Percentage of students 2.5 15. 0 30. 0 30. 0 17. 5 5.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 School avg 2016-2018 3.2 15. 5 27. 5 31. 1 17. 9 4.8 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Percentage in Bands: Year 5 - Numeracy Band 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 Percentage of students 0.0 0.0 10. 6 29. 8 19. 1 19. 1 19. 1 2.1 0.0 0.0 School avg 2016-2018 0.0 0.0 10. 8 27. 2 28. 6 18. 9 12. 0 2.4 0.0 0.0 We fulfilled the Premiers Priorities for our school in 2018 of increasing the % of students in the top two bands of NAPLAN by more than 4%. Our Aboriginal students also performed very well in NAPLAN in 2018. Page 14 of 15 Gulgong Public School 2097 (2018)

Parent/caregiver, student, teacher satisfaction Surveys indicate that as a whole, parents are very happy with the school and the job we do here as educators. Increasing enrolments are a testament to the job we are doing at GPS. Policy requirements Aboriginal education We fulfil the requirements of the Aboriginal Education Policy. In 2019 we will be employing an SLSO with Aboriginal heritage to further develop our strong community links with Elders. Multicultural and anti-racism education We fulfil the requirements of the Multicultural and anti racism Education Policy. Page 15 of 15 Gulgong Public School 2097 (2018)