Strategic Plan 2017-2020 / Endorsement
Principal:Amanda Elliot Tuesday 28th March 2017
School council: Cameron Gilles Tuesday 28th March 2017
Delegate of the
Secretary:Alby Freijah Tuesday 28th March 2017 / Re-Endorsement(if a Goal, KIS or Target is changed)
………………………………………[name]...... [date]
………………………………………[name]...... [date]
………………………………………[name]...... [date] / Re-endorsement(if a Goal, KIS or Target is changed)
………………………………………[name]...... [date]
………………………………………[name]...... [date]
………………………………………[name]...... [date]
School vision / School values / Context and challenges / Intent, rationale and focus
“Wangaratta Primary School is committed to developing creative thinkers with a curiosity to learn.
We strive to personalise the learning for every child by developing their skills, passions and interests. This keeps the child at the centre of everything we do.” / Our Values: Respect, Personal Best, Tolerance & Inclusion, Ready to Learn
Our Work Habit Keys:Confidence, Persistence, Organisation, Getting Along & Resilience / Wangaratta Primary School is at the edge of the Wangaratta CBD near the junction of the Ovens and King rivers. There are few residences nearby, rather we serve families who work and study in town, as well as families from across Wangaratta and in surrounding rural areas who are attracted to what the school has to offer.
Wangaratta Primary School has a strong reputation as a connected and caring learning community. Teachers and families build great partnerships to support the development of every child, and parents involve themselves in the school community in many different ways. We are also highly involved in our immediate community, engaging well with CBD, the Rural City of Wangaratta, The Centre, Rotary, The Care Van, Local kindergartens, and many, many more.
We have great reputation for the arts and a growing reputation in STEM. Student visual art is displayed around the school, with year 6s leaving a permanent artistic memento each year. Our artworks are also displayed at the Hospital, in local shops, during the jazz festival, and the local show. Our choir sings at cafes and kinders and has participated in productions, Count Us In, and Carols. We are a champion ‘Musical Futures’ school. Our science program is growing in strength and our community garden and nature activities enrich our STEM learning.
Over the past 3 years our school population has grown by 20%, well above the demographic trend. Unfortunately our aging facilities will have difficulty coping with this growth. Council took the proactive step of developing a masterplan to meet the demands of growth and maintenance. Significant funds need to be dedicated to the master plan to continue this work.
An increase in both teaching and ES staff, as well as significant staff turnover, has created challenges in maintaining the integrity of our learning programs. Instructional leadership has been limited, as teacher leaders have minimal time, and the principal has limited support with the other leadership demands of the school. Fortunately in 2017 the school is in a position to employ a 0.6 Acting Leading Teacher, and to increase the time allowance for other leadership areas. Assuming enrolment projections are accurate, this should be able to be maintained or even expanded during the life of this strategic plan. / Next Steps from the Review:
The school has demonstrated a capacity and willingness to embrace changed practice, processes and programming. Empowering leadership by building capacity and role clarity will enable such change. There was also recognition that stronger staff mutual accountabilities and professional learning would need to occur in order to ensure that this caring and supportive school would make the transition to a best practice, high performing learning community.
Key Findings from the Review:
- Non–negotiable expectations related to Teaching and Learning and program delivery have not been established across the school.
- Staff accountability processes have not been effectively linked to the pedagogical non–negotiables and expected approaches in the teaching of Literacy and Numeracy across all year levels.
- A greater understanding of evidence based and point of need teaching, assessment moderation and data literacy and usage has not been embedded across all PLTs.
- Leadership role clarity, mutual accountability and capacity building were limited. As a result, strong instructional leadership was not driving ongoing school improvement.
- Whilst the school created an inclusive, safe learning environment, consistency in behaviour management was not always evident across the entire school.
- The school was well connected to its parent community and some broader community groups. However creating a stronger reputation as a high performing learning community was still at the evolving stage.
- Student empowerment structures had been implemented at the school. However, involving students in the Teaching and Learning programs, particularly in areas such as critical thinking, social responsibility and global understanding had not yet been established.
Four-year goals
(for improving student achievement, engagement and wellbeing) / Improvement Priorities, Initiatives and/or Dimensions / Key improvement strategies / Targets
(for improving student achievement, engagement and wellbeing)
Develop an agreed Instructional Framework with clear non-negotiable expectations and build teacher capacity to utilize data and evidence-based point of need teaching strategies. / Excellence in teaching and learning:
Building practice excellence & Evaluating Impact on Learning / Build the instructional practice of every teacher.
Actions:
-develop an agreed Instructional Framework with clear non-negotiable expectations.
-Build teacher capacity to utilize data and evidence-based point of need teaching strategies. / Teacher judgement-
Mathematics prep to 6
30% of student in Band A &B / Measurement and geometry
40% of student in Band A &B / Number and algebra
30% of student in Band A &B / Statistic and probability
English prep to 6
40% of student in Band A &B / Reading and viewing
25% of student in Band A &B / Speaking and listening
40% of student in Band A &B / writing
Naplan
41% year 3 top Bands- at state level 2016 / Numeracy
45% of year 3 top 2 bands similar schools 2016 / Reading
50% of year 3 top 2 bands- similar schools 2016 / writing
Relative growth year 3 to year 5 Numeracy
25% or more of year 5 top 2 bands- state 2016
25% or less of year 5 lower 2 bands
Relative growth year 3 to hear 5 Reading
25% or more of year 5 top 2 bands- state 2016
25% or less of year 5 lower 2 bands
Relative growth year 3 to year 5 writing
25% or less of year 5 lower 2 bands
25% or less of year 5 lower 2 bands
ATSS
Teaching and learning- mean factor score
2016 / @ state or above
Learning confidence / 4.11 / 4.13
School connectedness / 4.16 / 4.36
Stimulating learning / 3.79 / 4.09
Student motivation / 4.41 / 4.55
Teacher effectiveness / 4.06 / 4.38
Teacher empathy / 4.09 / 4.41
Leadership module staff opinion survey 2015- school leadership
Instructional leadership / 79% / 85%
Leading change / 90% / 95%
Leaders support for change. / 80% / 85%
Improve student engagement and motivation to learn by increasing their critical thinking, social responsibility and global understanding / Positive Climate for Learning: Empowering Students and Building School Pride and Setting Expectations & Promoting Inclusion / Strengthen the whole school approach to wellbeing and student behaviour management to ensure a safe, secure and inclusive learning environment
Actions:
-Enhance the opportunities for student voice and involve students in the Teaching and Learning program, particularly areas of critical thinking, social responsibility and global understanding / ATSS- mean factor score- student relationships
2016 / @ state or above
Classroom behaviour / 2.54 / 3.36
Connectedness to peers / 4.25 / 4.31
Student safety / 4.25 / 4.35
Parent opinion survey – mean factor score
2016 / @ state
Student behaviour management / 4.8 / 5.5
Student safety / 4.8 / 5.3
Classroom behaviour / 3.6 / 4.2
Staff opinion survey- school climate- % endorsement whole school
Collective efficacy / 68% / 85%
Academic emphasis / 60% / 85%
Collective emphasis on student learning. / 84% / 85%
Attendance data- % of students absent by days to stay @ state averages
< 10 days / 47%
10-19.5 days / 33%
20-29.5 days / 12%
30 + days / 9%
Reduce % of students with unexplained absences from 33% to 10%
Build the school’s reputation based on higher levels of student performance. / Community Engagement in Learning: Building Communities and Global Citizenship / Develop and implement community outreach program based on an ethos as a high performing learning community / Parent Opinion data- mean factor score
reporting / 5 / 5.5
Extra curricula / 4.5 / 5
Staff opinion- % of endorsement whole school
Parent and community involvement / 80% / 85%
Increase the capacity of the school to function as a strategic organisation / Professional Leadership: Building Leadership Teams / Develop strong instructional leadership to drive school improvement.
Actions:
-Build the capacity of the school leaders to develop and implement strategies for school improvement
-Create a whole school culture of mutual accountability and feedback
Enhance the school’s capacity in Instructional and Shared Leadership / Staff opinion survey- % of endorsement whole school
Guaranteed and viable curriculum / 77% / 85%
Parent opinion survey- mean factor score
Stimulating learning / 5.9 / 6
Connectedness to peers / 5.5 / 6
Published: February 2016