Wellington Public School

Wellington Public School 2016 We believe in the strength of a shared vision where education is the key to ensuring all students become active, informed citizens. We strive to harness and broaden community collaboration to expand opportunities that will provide rich and diverse educational experiences that will enable every student to achieve personal excellence. Wellington Public School, with a growing population of approximately 520 students, provides a caring, friendly environment in which students experience a variety of activities that are designed to cater for the different learning styles of the students. Our students are drawn from a complex and diverse range of backgrounds that relate to the nature of the community we serve. Our resource allocation model (RAM) provides funding due to low socio-economic factors (a Family Occupation and employment index of 139) and where fifty percent of our students identify as Aboriginal. We are entering the second year of our current planning and the three strategic areas we have identified are aimed at supporting programs that best cater for the needs of the children attending our school. These areas are Quality Care, Quality Relationships and Quality Curriculum. Each overlap one-another and are managed through the organisational structures we operate within our staffing, where more than eighty teachers and support staff work collaboratively and within specific roles, to provide a stimulating learning environment. These systems and teams are also constructed for programs to be sustained over time and cater for succession planning well into the future. Positive Behaviour for Learning underpins our core values.  This program specifically teaches what being safe, respectful learners look like in different contexts and settings. KidsMatter is delivered to support and grow positive mental health, Drumbeat promotes social emotional development, the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden program gives students knowledge of producing foods and healthy eating strategies and our Breakfast program promotes the Care concept. These are but a few examples. Quality Relationships and community engagement are fostered through the development and use of our community room, the Yarning circle, the Stronger Smarter philosophy and the inclusion of building a knowledge of culture and heritage and a belief in becoming the best you can be. The Wiradjuri Language program is expanding as is the relationship with the Language Nest. Future moves looking at alternative career development options is an example of another partnership forged with the Charles Sturt University. Profiling student achievement against Literacy and Numeracy continuums and finding best practice in teaching has strengthened with the Early Action for Success program and has also introduced Language, Learning and Literacy across the junior school and it's now growing into the primary. Spelling Mastery is another program introduced to lift student outcomes. With a strong emphasis on Wellbeing and a focus on the School Excellence framework we are constantly changing and improving the education we are able to provide for our students. Establishing and maintaining High Expectations Relationships will continue to be an emphasis across everything we do. This year we are running 27 classes inclusive of five Special Education classes and a preschool.