Heckenberg Public School

Key features

Building a learning community

School context

Heckenberg Public School (HPS) is situated in the South Western Sydney region and is part of the Liverpool area. The school has 265 students organised into 11 classes. The students who attend the school come from a wide variety of backgrounds and family situations. The school experiences a high mobility rate of 30 to 35% annually. Forty eight per cent of students come from language backgrounds other than English and seven per cent are from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds. The school has experienced significant executive staff changes since 2003.

What was the school aiming to achieve?

Building a learning community through:

• promoting an environment which fostered the development of curriculum within a culture of continuous improvement
• providing effective and ongoing professional development for staff
• ensuring that all stakeholders were involved in the decision making process
• catering for individual student needs
• promoting positive staff morale
• establishing positive, productive learning environments and appropriate student welfare programs
• providing relevant learning programs and experiences for students and members of the school community
• maintaining, valuing and encouraging community participation in all aspects of school life
• maximising the use of the human, physical, financial and technological resources of the school and the community.

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The improvement process

The identified goals were based on informed decision making involving all key stakeholders. Data were collected from a range (2 varieties in one sentence) using a variety of tools. Student focus groups have been one of the most valuable ways of collecting internal data. Data analysis gave the school priorities to address through the PAS program. The school’s priorities are:

• professional learning: effective professional development for staff leading to improved student educational outcomes and enhanced staff morale
• student support: to develop a safe, caring, harmonious school in which students are nurtured to learn
• organisation for learning: improved student learning outcomes through co-ordinated early intervention programs and effective support for students in classrooms
• community partnerships: enhanced home school partnerships, access to community networks and improved attendance rates.

The school employed two teachers and a community liaison officer (CLO) to provide:

• an additional two hours release per week for teachers to meet in learning teams to discuss and reflect on their teaching, devise and trial new ideas and participate in group projects
• time for planning, implementation, administration and evaluation of PAS programs and initiatives in the identified priority areas including teaching and learning and student welfare
• time to develop initiatives to support and improve home-school partnerships.

Professional learning

Professional learning provides staff with the opportunity to work in two formats:

stage teams (led by school executive members) allow staff to work in collegial groups on aspects relating to their students’ stages of learning

professional learning teams (led by staff, regional consultants, university lecturers) centre on student engagement. The staff has the opportunity to select from a variety of workshops that foster student engagement.

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Community learning

To build a learning community the school wanted to provide positive, non-threatening learning opportunities and experiences for parents and caregivers. The Community Expo in 2003 brought community groups and agencies into the school. These groups offered services that would benefit students, families and community members. It was a way of linking people together to support the school.

Since 2003 many groups and agencies still offer their free services to the school, some including Adult English Classes, Miller TAFE, Burnside Playgroup, first aid training with St. John Ambulance and nutrition classes. To complement this the school also provided extra learning opportunities for parents and caregivers at their request. Some courses have included Families in Cultural Transition, technology workshops, CV writing courses and Family Wellness Programs. These courses are run by experienced staff both in and out of the school.

Parents and caregivers are also invited to be part of the professional learning teams.

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Student learning

Both internal and external data guide the school in providing appropriate learning experiences for students. The most valuable data are from student focus groups:

What do you like to learn?
Why?
Who helps you to learn?
How?
How do you like to learn?
What do you want to learn?

Answers from these questions drive the planning of quality teaching and learning experiences for the next year. Playground initiatives where teachers train students to lead lunch time activities, such as art, drumming and games have developed student leadership across K-6.

To ensure that students are given the best possible start to school and learning, the school also has a commitment to provide high levels of support for students in K-3. At the same time the school wanted to provide adequate support for teachers and students K-6.

What were the results?

Basic Skills Test The table below reveals the percentage of matched students that increased one or more skill bands from Year 3 to Year 5 in Basic Skills.

Staff engagement – School data indicate that staff absences have been reduced by 62%. Staff mobility has been low as evidenced by only one permanent classroom teacher transferring in the last four years.

Positive staff engagement in all professional learning experiences both internally and externally has led to staff promotion, executive lateral transfers and permanent appointments for many of the school’s temporary teachers.

Community learning opportunities – twenty nine per cent of parents accessed professional learning opportunities in 2005. The end of Term 3 2006 saw HPS community learning opportunities increase to 35%.

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Reflections

In 2006 many new staff and new families joined Heckenberg Public School. To ensure that everybody had a good understanding of the PAS funded initiatives, the school needed to provide opportunities for staff, students and community members to gain a deeper understanding of these initiatives. This ensured a shared vision and understanding of the equity programs within the school.

Future directions

Professional learning opportunities for staff will continue to ensure that all staff members have time to engage in opportunities that support the school culture of continuous improvement, critical reflection, discussion, planning, sharing and learning together.

Initiatives for including parents as learning partners will remain and the school will continue to find different ways to welcome and support parents and the wider school community in all aspects of school life. Student learning will continue to be supported through the school’s commitment to early intervention and quality teaching.

Contact: Kathy Powzun, Principal