School Profile (For privacy of those discussed I have used the pseudonym 'South Primary School' in my discussions)
Student Population - The school contains classes from kindergarten to Year 6 (2 classes across all year levels) - South Primary School is a single stream school. - There are 390 children in the school. - Class numbers are low, lower primary classes have extra support as they have larger class sizes. EA staff are distributed more heavily throughout these classes. - There is a large population of Asian students and a small component of Indigenous Australians (6-7 students) Parent Body - Parents are very involved in the school and through the P&C, raise a lot of money for the school to put back into educational resources - In class parent involvement in the junior school through reading activities etc Staff - Many older staff members who are choosing to work permanent part-time - Staff have been at the school for a very long time so there is usually little to no movement in or out - Specialist Science, PDHPE & ICT teachers School Structure - South Primary School was built in 1963 and contains many asbestos buildings. - As many of the buildings are old there is little to no ventilation. - There is a senior block and a junior block and a demountable that is used by a Year 3 class Programs - Maths Olympiad before school session - River Rangers 2 x week - Chess run at lunch time by chaplain - P&C member running coding session - Sports programs run before school (athletics) - SIMS (Flute, Clarinet, Trumpet and Classical Guitar) - Choir before school for the senior students - PEAC (Wednesday afternoon) Resources - Shared Mac laptops system for upper primary (4-6), enough for one computer per year group. - Intermittent internet supply (slow connection when everyone is using a computer)
Class Profile (For privacy of those discussed I have used the pseudonym 'South Primary School' in my discussions)
The year sixes at South Primary School work in a collaborative, co-teaching environment comprising of rooms’ 9 and 10. There is a total of 54 students in the class, comprising of 29 females and 25 males, with 2 female teachers and a teacher’s assistant a few days a week.
Student Backgrounds There is a high number of students with multicultural backgrounds, with Asian heritage being most predominant. There are also 2 female students with Indigenous backgrounds. Therefore, there are quite a few students who can speak other languages, but none require assistance in the classroom to work in English. South is a middle to high socio-economic area and most students come from this background. There are however, many unit rentals in the area affordable for lower income earners, as well as housing for victims of abuse, so the range of students’ backgrounds flowing into South is quite diverse.
Abilities As indicated by school data, there is a wide range of academic abilities. According to the SAER report from 2016, 16 students have been identified as needing academic support, with documented plans in the form of IEP’s for 4 students and GEP’s for 8 students. One has also been identified as having dyslexia and 4 have been identified as needing social/emotional support. There are case management plans in place for 15 students, while 2 are supported by a tutor during school time and 8 attend PEAC. There are 2 students listed in the disability section, one physical (hearing), and one cognitive (ASD – special needs level 2). There are health plans in place for 5 asthmatics, and 5 others with mild allergies.
Behaviour There are no major behaviour concerns in the classroom, with energy mainly focused on listening to instructions and completing work on time. There is a process in place for students with bad behaviour and this is explained on day one of term one and followed through explicitly.