Binalong Public School

Binalong Public School is situated on Ngunnawal country an hour north-west of Canberra. The school's motto "Towards a Higher Place", is the meaning of the word Binalong in the Ngunnawal language. The school was established in 1861 and has a long and proud history of delivering quality education with the school's most famous student being AB 'Banjo' Paterson. The school is a small TP2 school set on approximately 2.5 hectares, surrounded by native trees and shrubs in an attractive setting that is set back from the main road. Students have access to green areas with large grassy playing fields, playground equipment and outdoor learning spaces all connected with WiFi technology. The school provides education for students predominantly from the Binalong town and surrounds, which historically has been an agricultural community. There is a strong community focus and connection for our school and students. The school and community are proud of the inclusive and harmonious relationships experienced by students, staff and community and the opportunity for small multi-stage classes with individualised learning for all students. Students from Binalong Public School make life-long friendships and share in a variety of educational and extra-curricular opportunities across all key learning areas. Students at Binalong Public School are provided with a rich and diverse educational experiences with enriching literacy and numeracy learning experiences. The school has established a Professional Learning Community with Bowning Public School and Wee Jasper Public School supporting educational experiences for both students and staff. The school Strategic Directions are: Student Growth and Attainment, Whole School Wellbeing and Educational Leadership. There is a rigorous focus on reading and comprehension and the explicit and systematic teaching of evidence-informed teaching practices and the inter-connectedness between reading, writing and spelling success. In numeracy the focus is on strong foundations in consolidation of place value concepts and additive and multiplicative thinking and mathematical reasoning. Student wellbeing remains at the centre of our core values with a focus on individualised needs in literacy, numeracy and personal/social emotional learning. The school hosts an Out of School Hours Care program which offers before and after school care and vacation care for primary aged children within the community. There is an established playgroup that operates from the school for children 5 years and under supporting successful transitions to school for local students. There are strong partnerships with the local pre-school and feeder high schools as well as partnering universities, supporting the successful transitions across all areas of education.