Narrabri West Public School

Narrabri West Public School is a Pre School to Year 6 learning community. We have 326 students attending, 15% being Aboriginal. Narrabri is a rural town with its student base coming from a range of social and economic backgrounds. Our committed and professional staff team reflects a balance of ages and experiences. Narrabri West strives to be recognised as a school that sets the standard in educational and professional excellence. We continue to build the skills and knowledge of our teachers. All understand the need to establish strong learning goals and success criteria for each lesson. Emphasis has also been placed on ensuring each lesson concludes with a reflection by students on their success in achieving the stated lesson goal. This makes learning and progress visible and by doing this we empower our teachers, students and parents. We are committed to improving the learning outcomes of students through enhancing teacher quality and we share the following beliefs: - Students are our priority, are at the centre of everything we do and our practice reflects their best interests; - Teachers and school leaders are the key to making the difference to student learning; - Teacher quality and instructional leadership are the key drivers for continuous school improvement; and - The coherent alignment of teacher, leader and student learning has the greatest impact. We allocate significant funding to professional learning for staff, additional teaching support and resources for school learning programs. Being part of the 'Local Schools Local Decisions' program has given opportunities for increased decision making at the school level based on specific school needs and priorities, which have also enhanced the schools learning environment and the professional practice of the teaching staff. Our Pre School is a unique feature of the school allowing the provision of early childhood education and comprehensive transition to Kindergarten programs. The Early Years Learning Framework and National Quality Standards form the basis of our Pre School learning program. These enable us to focus attention on building a solid foundation so that students are ready to engage in quality learning experiences in Kindergarten. While academic excellence is highly valued, we are committed to encouraging all students to participate in a wide range of learning activities - musical, cultural, sporting and social. Our performing arts programs include a full music program, recorder and percussion instruction, beginner and advanced recorder, concert band, guitar band and percussion drum group. We also believe that an attractive and practical school environment assists children in developing pride in their school and in becoming committed members of the 'school team', which then manifests itself in their learning. Considerable effort, community involvement and finances have been placed into improving the school grounds and our school environment generates considerable pride amongst the school and its community.