2009 Annual School Report
Willow Tree Public School
NSW Public Schools – Leading the way
15
Our school at a glance
Students
Our school population is drawn from rural families and families from the township of Willow Tree and surrounding areas. Our school has a friendly community school atmosphere.
The school had 56 students enrolled in 2009.
Messages
Principal's message
“ Aim High” is Willow Tree Public School’s motto and I am very proud of how everyone involved in the school this year kept this at the forefront of their minds in setting and achieving their personal goals in a safe, caring, supportive environment.
The school programs provide every child with the best possible educational opportunities where we strive to provide a stimulating, challenging learning environment where risk-taking in an educational sense is encouraged.
We continue to monitor school programs and children’s progress to ensure they achieve the highest educational outcomes.
I once again take this opportunity to thank all staff, parents and community members who have helped make Willow Tree Public School a fantastic educational facility.
I certify that the information in this report is the result of a rigorous school self-evaluation process and is a balanced and genuine account of the school's achievements and areas for development.
Karen Clark
School Council message
President’s Report 2009
In my eight years of being involved at Willow Tree School, this past year has been my first experience of being involved with the school council. Along with me, new members to the School Council are Robbie Cropper as the President of the P & C, Ms Kate Nicoll as a staff representative and our Community Representative Mrs Lorraine Reilly. Other members of school council are Karen Clark, Wendy Barnett and our parent representative Mrs Deb Tydings.
It has been quite a learning experience to hear first hand and be involved in how our school operates on a day to day basis. I was astonished to learn the amount of planning, work and effort which goes into the successful running of our children’s school. Behind the classrooms where our children learn everyday is an extremely busy and hardworking team of teachers and staff. It is their efforts along with the wonderful parent and community base we are so lucky to have which make Willow Tree Public School the exceptional School that it is.
The head of this wonderful team is our Principal Karen Clark. Karen is always enthusiastic about the children and their needs in providing them with the best possible learning outcomes, in a safe and happy environment. This enthusiasm reflects onto the children, staff and parents alike. Karen is always full of praise for her students and staff and I would like to thank her for her wonderful dedication.
2009, like previous years has been another extremely busy one around our school. We have seen lots of improvements to our buildings and playground which include
· The painting of the whole school
· The removal of old dangerous trees
· New stairs and landing for the main building
· Restumping of the main building
· Installation of our Interactive White Board
· More recently the works starting on the removal of the existing year 2 and library rooms. Our new modern classrooms should be arriving later this month ready for when school recommences in 2010.
Staff and students have also enjoyed a busy year of learning and participating in what are the requirements of our broad curriculum. It is these wonderful opportunities and experiences that form our students with the guidance of their teachers into confident, educated and well balanced young people.
Shaz Harris
Student representative's message
I was so proud to represent as captain of Willow Tree Public School along with Oliver Smith in 2009. We had a fantastic year, enjoying many achievements and successes across many fields.
2009 saw many of Willow Tree Public School students represent at state level in swimming, athletics and soccer. The opportunities were endless for us, there was cross country, horse sports, ANZAC Day Parade, Spring Show, Canberra excursion and whole school outings to musicals.
Willow Tree Public School has very supportive parents, community members and teaching staff. This makes it possible for all the students to experience so many opportunities.
I would like to thank Principal Mrs Clark and all of the staff for making my time at Willow Tree so memorable.
Annabel Duddy
School context
Student information
It is a requirement that the reporting of information for all students must be consistent with privacy and personal information policies.
Student enrolment profile
Structure of classes
The school in 2009 comprised of three classes consisting of K/1, 2/3 and 4/5/6.
Student attendance profile
In 2009 the school maintained their average attendance rate as in previous years.
Year / 2006 / 2007 / 2008 / 2009School / K / 94.2
1 / 91.8
2 / 91.3
3 / 93.8
4 / 96.2
5 / 90.9
6 / 94.7
Total / 94.5 / 94.3 / 92.4 / 93.5
Region / K / 92.0
1 / 92.0
2 / 92.5
3 / 92.0
4 / 92.3
5 / 92.2
6 / 92.0
Total / 92.3 / 92.5 / 92.1 / 89.9
State / K / 94.3
1 / 93.7
2 / 94.0
3 / 94.1
4 / 94.0
5 / 94.0
6 / 93.6
Total / 94.0 / 94.0 / 94.1 / 92.1
Management of non-attendance
School non attendance is closely monitored by the school following the school attendance policy. The school refers non attendance to the Department of Education Home School Liaison Team for further follow up. Non attendance is closely monitored by both school and DET HSLO team.
Class sizes
In March 2003 the Government announced its commitment to publish primary class sizes in annual school reports in order to provide parents with as much local information as possible.
The following table shows our class sizes as reported at the 2009 class size audit conducted on Wednesday 18 March 2009.
Roll Class / Year / Total per Year / Total in Class2/3 / 2 / 8 / 14
2/3 / 3 / 6
3/4/5 / 4 / 11 / 24
3/4/5 / 5 / 6
3/4/5 / 6 / 7
K/1 / 1 / 6 / 14
K/1 / K / 8
Staff information
It is a requirement that the reporting of information for all staff must be consistent with privacy and personal information policies.
There was Three (3) permanent teaching staff.
Teaching staff in 2009 comprised of:
Karen Clark: Principal
Heather Jenkins: Class Teacher
Kate Nicoll: Class Teacher
Sally Fitzpatrick: Relief RFF/Librarian/Support
All teaching staff met the professional requirements for teaching in NSW public schools and one staff member identifies as Aboriginal.
Position / NumberPrincipal / 1
Classroom Teachers / 2
Support Part Time Teacher / 0.168
Teacher Librarian / 0.168
Teacher of ESL / 0.2
Teacher RFF / 0.126
School Administrative & Support Staff (SASS) / 1
Total / 4.662
Teacher qualifications
All teaching staff meets the professional requirements for teaching in NSW public schools.
Qualifications / % of staffDegree or Diploma / 100
Staff retention
In 2009 Miss Kate Nicoll joined our staff as our valued third permanent teacher. Miss Nicoll also received her teaching certificate at our Easter Assembly.
SAS Staff
Wendy Barnett: School Administrative Manager
Kristy McCarthy: School Learning Support Officer
Gwen Cone: School Cleaner
Howard Matthews: General Assistant
It is a requirement that the reporting of information for all staff must be consistent with privacy and personal information policies.
Staff establishment
Willow Tree Staff comprises of:
· A teaching Principal
· Two full-time teachers
· One part-time RFF/Librarian/Support
· One full-time Senior School Assistant
· One part-time Learning Support Officer
· A general assistant who works one day a week
· A cleaner who works 8 hours per week
Staff Development
During the year staff attended professional development days. Some of the courses attended:
Connected Classroom, Counting On, N.A.P Teacher Support, Finance Management Course, ESL, CPR, Audit Requirement Course, Annual Financial Statement training, Covey and Best Start.
School performance 2009
During 2009 Willow Tree Public School has enjoyed a great deal of success academically, in the arts and on the sporting field.
Achievements
Arts
2009 saw the students of Willow Tree Public School display their artistic talents to audiences within and outside the school community.
Quirindi Show & LPS Council Creative & Practical Arts Competition.
Student’s entered Artworks in the local Quirindi Show & Council Arts Competition. Their work made a fantastic display which presented the public with an opportunity to see the outstanding talent Willow Tree Public student’s have. The children were rewarded for their efforts by gaining a number of first places in their respective sections and many minor places.
Yvonne Winer Memorial Award
Lexie Bernard represented our school in the Yvonne Winer Memorial Literary Award. Lexie also received a certificate for this award in 2008.
Sport
The Willow Tree Physical Education and sport programs are developed in conjunction with the K-6 Personal Development, Health and Physical Education Curriculum. The children are provided with a balanced program which emphasises fundamental movement skills, healthy lifestyle choices and the development of the whole child.
The children participate in PE lessons three times a week with the emphasis on developing individual skills using minor games and individual skill development activities.
The sport program, which runs on Fridays, allows children to participate in major games and was made more successful through the use of community facilities for athletics training after school, the Quirindi Pool for swimming every Friday for sport in Term 1 and Term 4. Parental help enabled us to have smaller groups to better concentrate on specific skills.
Sports Carnivals and Representation
This year Willow Tree Public School had many highlights on the sporting field both in individual and team events.
These highlights include:
One student competed at State in the PSSA Soccer.
Willow Tree Public School Soccer team progressed through to the third round of the Small Schools Soccer Knockout competition.
Four students represented Quirindi Zone at the Regional Touch Carnival.
Six students competed in the North West Team at State for swimming.
Six students represented North West at State for Athletics.
A number of students successfully represented the school at Inter School Horse Sports days during the year.
Academic
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 the assessments.
Yr 3: from Band 1 (lowest) to Band 6 (highest for Year 3)
Yr 5: from Band 3 (lowest) to Band 8 (highest for Year 5)
Literacy – NAPLAN Year 3
Results are unable to be reported on as they would identify individual students. These results have been conveyed to parents. The school’s results were favourable when compared with state averages.
Numeracy – NAPLAN Year 3
Results are unable to be reported on as they would identify individual students. These results have been conveyed to parents.
Assessment drives teaching. Information from the NAPLAN and class based assessments is analysed and programmed into classroom practice.
Literacy – NAPLAN Year 5
Assessment drives teaching. Information from the NAPLAN and class based assessments is analysed and programmed into classroom practice. From the combination of these results it has been determined that we need to continue to address the following areas in reading comprehension and vocabulary.
Writing and Spelling: Writing was identified this year as a concern. We need to continue to address all areas of writing to improve results for all students
Grammar and punctuation: pronouns, verb forms and correct punctuation.
To address this we will continue to use NAPLAN teaching strategies and further develop teacher capacity by involvement in professional development activities that focus on specific areas of identified need.
Numeracy – NAPLAN Year 5
Results are unable to be reported on as they would identify individual students. These results have been conveyed to parents.
Minimum standards
The Commonwealth Government sets minimum standards for reading, writing, grammar and punctuation, spelling and numeracy for years 3, 5, 7 and 9.
The performance of the students in our school in the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy is compared to these minimum standards. The percentages of our students achieving at or above these standards are reported below.
Percentage of Year 3 students in our school achieving at or above the minimum standard in 2009
Percentage of Year 3 students achieving at and above minimum standardReading / 100
Writing / 80
Spelling / 80
Punctuation and grammar / 80
Numeracy / 83
Percentage of Year 5 students in our school achieving at or above the minimum standard in 2009
Percentage of Year 5 students achieving at and above minimum standardReading / 67
Writing / 100
Spelling / 83
Punctuation and grammar / 100
Numeracy / 100
Note: Because exempted students are included with students not meeting the minimum standard the percentages above will not necessarily correspond with those reported in the band percentage tables
Significant programs and initiatives
In 2009 we have invested a lot of time and energy into making our school an even better place for students to attend.
Aboriginal education
Each year at Willow Tree all students participate in Human Society and Its Environment units which specifically educate students about Aboriginal history, culture and current Aboriginal Australia. Staffs incorporate Aboriginal perspectives into other key learning areas as mandated. This is in accordance with the Department of Education & Training’s Aboriginal Policy.
Multicultural education
Multicultural perspectives are included and highlighted in class programs. Our children are taught to respect and appreciate differences between people and cultures.