Bourke High School
Key features
Raising the educational achievement of students in rural locations.
School context
Bourke High School is located in the north west third of NSW, 360km from Dubbo and 750km from Sydney. The school consists of 170 students enrolled in Years 7 to 12. Fifty five per cent of students are Aboriginal.
The school is characterised by a relatively young staff that are enthusiastic, committed and passionate about making a difference in the lives of the students. A feature of the school is the encouragement for all staff to contribute to and therefore own the educational programs and initiatives currently occurring.
The school is increasingly supported by the local community through a variety of expanding linkages on a formal and informal basis. The following are some of the community connections developed during 2006:
- introduction of collaboratively developed personalised learning plans for students in the senior years of school incorporating career goals, aspirations, traineeships, VET and academic studies. The plans are compiled following meetings with teachers, parents and carers
- creation of a senior student mentor role to further increase student support, engagement, attendance and retention
- regular involvement in community events such as Sorry Day, Anzac Day, Alice Edwards Park Opening, Yaama Festival and Remembrance Day activities
- establishing community celebration in the school such as the Nibble and Natter – mothers’ day event, Boys’ Bowlo Bonanza – fathers’ day celebrations, NAIDOC activities and cultural workshops
- introduction of the Wangkumarra Aboriginal language at Bourke High School for 2007. Work has commenced on unit and lesson development in partnership with the local community
- student performance data are closely analysed and staff develop strategies to respond to student needs. This has resulted in improved results
- training of teachers in the Scaffolding Literacy program with David Rose. This project is funded by the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) and is called Reading to Learn in Murdi Paaki.
What was the school aiming to achieve?
The community of Bourke demands and expects a quality school. The wider community firmly believes that students at Bourke High School deserve a standard of education equal to or better than a metropolitan educational institution.
Based on state wide data comparisons this has not always been the case. Therefore the driving force behind the PAS funded programs outlined below has been to enhance the quality of the educational delivery, to ensure students who attend school in a rural and isolated setting are not further disadvantaged.
A feature of the school is the strong emphasis on ensuring success for all students and in particular raising the achievement and esteem of Aboriginal students. During 2006 the school employed an additional six Aboriginal staff as literacy and numeracy tutors and student mentors. Most have these staff have lived in Bourke for most of their lives and have strong connection with the wider Bourke community and its history.
The 2006 English Language and Literacy Assessment (ELLA) results for Aboriginal students showed growth of 2.8 from Year 7 to Year 8. The Secondary Numeracy Assessment Program (SNAP) results for Aboriginal students showed growth of 3.6 from Year 7 to Year 8. Both results were above the state average for all students.
The improvement process
The PAS program has operated at Bourke High School for the last five years. The regular turnover of principals is a defining feature of this PAS program journey as the program has had three very distinct emphases correlating with three different principal leadership styles.
While frequent changes in leadership could be seen as a negative, the different foci have enabled the cultivation of different areas of quality teaching and learning practice with the key now being to ensure all parts retain their currency.
The following is a snapshot of the PAS program at Bourke High School over the last five years.
Phase One - Learning Styles
Bourke High School had a very strong focus on the development of themed units of work across Key Learning Areas (KLAs). The units were carefully planned and developed incorporating a wide range of learning styles, multiple intelligences and six hat thinking strategies.
The school had at its core a strong focus on catering for the needs of the wide variety of individual student learning styles. Some of the programmed units of work and staff professional learning are still evident and benefit new staff at the school.
Phase Two – Literacy and numeracy
A strong focus on literacy and numeracy was seen to be essential if all students were to be confident and successful lifelong learners. The second phase of the PAS program centred on the development of comprehensive literacy and numeracy units of work in Stage 4.
These units were planned and written down to lesson plan level. They were written to ensure that non specialist teachers could effectively teach the content as obtaining maths teachers in particular was difficult at this stage. These units are still used today, however one of the challenges is to ensure their continual renewal and improvement. The very structured nature of the units has resulted in more experienced teachers and specialist staff finding the programs restricting.
Phase Three – Individual learning
During 2006 the school employed a learning styles head teacher, who has led the development of personalised learning plans for students at risk of not completing their secondary education.
The development of these plans or contracts occurred in close consultation with parents and carers and aimed to ensure the attainment of the highest educational standard possible. During 2006 approximately 20 plans have been implemented with a high level of success as evidenced by improvement in attendance by up to 40%.
What were the results?
The funding from the PAS program has been integral in ensuring the success of the above initiatives. Without this support it would not have possible to employ staff with expertise in learning styles, literacy and numeracy or personalised learning plans.The people employed have been experienced, highly competent professionals who have made a valuable contribution to the development of young and enthusiastic teachers.
Teachers who have worked in the school during the development of these innovative programs have definitely benefited from the sharing of expertise and used this knowledge as they have gone on to teach students in other areas of the state.
The data for the learning styles phase of the PAS program are hard to quantify in terms of statistics. However it is obvious that the professional learning by the staff was meaningful as evidenced by the comprehensive development of teaching and learning programs during this time. There is still hard evidence of posters promoting learning styles around the school and remaining staff speak of the valuable lessons learnt during the program.
The focus on literacy and numeracy produced some significant results. In the 2006 ELLA results, students achieved a value adding result of 2.1 compared to a state-wide average of 1.9 while for numeracy a value adding result of 2.9 was achieved.
The personalised learning focus has resulted in significant enhancements to individual student attendance and school completion rates. All 20 students with an individual personalised learning plan were still enrolled in education at the time of writing. The following table describes examples of improved attendance for students following development and implementation of personalised learning plans. These plans focused on attendance, literacy, numeracy and completion of set work.
| Student | Term 1 Attendance | Term 2 Attendance | Term 3 Attendance | Increase in Attendance T1 – T3 |
| Student 1 (Yr12) | 40% | 56% | 60% | 20% |
| Student 2 (Yr12) | 67% | 74% | 84% | 17% |
| Student 3 (Yr 7) | 42% | 47% | 82% | 40% |
| Student 4 (Yr 7) | 63% | 70% | 87% | 24% |
| Student 5 (Yr7) | 75% | 58% | 93% | 35% |
| Student 6 (Yr 10) | 58% | 49% | 80% | 31% |
One of the most significant issues in rural schools is the retention of staff for longer than their incentive years. The PAS program during 2006 has been a contributing factor to the development of a cohesive and empowered staff team that is committed and able to make a difference in the lives of students at Bourke.
As evidenced by the table below out of 10 staff eligible for incentive transfer only one staff member has chosen to take up this option. This will ensure a continuity and consistency in current programs.
| Staff eligible for incentive transfer at year end 2006 | 10 | Staff choosing to activate incentive transfer at year end 2006 | 1 |
| Number of temporary teachers at BHS in 2006 | 4 | Number of temporary teachers seeking appointment at BHS 2007 | 4 |
| Number of practicum students at BHS in 2006 | 5 | Number of practicum students seeking appointment to BHS in 2007 | 5 |
Reflections
While it would be simplistic to say that the PAS program alone has produced the dramatic turnaround in student achievement at Bourke High School, it is a vitally important factor. The flexibility with which the funds can be and are used mean the programs can be altered to reflect and support the changing needs of schools as they develop.
Future directions
Phase Four – Bringing it all together
The aim for 2007 and 2008 is to bring the learning styles work, literacy and numeracy programs and individual learning approach together to form a complete package. It is envisaged this will occur through the appointment of a learning support head teacher, who continues to oversee the ongoing individual planning work and a second additional head teacher with a focus on further developing quality teaching across the school. This will include updating and refreshing the work on learning styles, themed units, multiple intelligences, literacy and numeracy.
The successful programs outlined above would not have occurred at Bourke High School without the vision and leadership of the previous two principals, David Silcock and Nigel Brito.
Contact: David Lloyd, Principal
