2016 Narrabeen Lakes Public School Annual Report · Teachers will also work again with Ian Jukes to...

Narrabeen Lakes Public SchoolAnnual Report

2016

2706

Printed on: 5 April, 2017 of 18 Narrabeen Lakes Public School 2706 (2016)

Introduction

The Annual Report for 2016 is provided to the community of Narrabeen Lakes Public School as an account of theschool’s operations and achievements throughout the year.

It provides a detailed account of the progress the school has made to provide high quality educational opportunities forall students, as set out in the school plan. It outlines the findings from self–assessment that reflect the impact of keyschool strategies for improved learning and the benefit to all students from the expenditure of resources, including equityfunding.

Robert Zappia

Acting Principal

School contact details

Narrabeen Lakes Public School1299 Pittwater RdNarrabeen, 2101www.narrablks-p.schools.nsw.edu.aunarrablks-p.School@det.nsw.edu.au9913 7077

Message from the Principal

Congratulations to all on another very successful year at our school.

The supportive parent body, led by a very active P&C, has seen many changes and improvements this year. Ourprograms continue to thrive and grow. The band program has welcomed new members, and our dance groups and choirhad the opportunity to shine alongside 415 students in our amazing display of artistic talent through ‘Illuminate’ festival.

Student learning continues to be at the forefront of all we do here at Narrabeen Lakes and in 2016 we continued ourspecial focus on improving outcomes in writing from Kindergarten to Year 6. At the forefront of our focus on visiblelearning, was Learning Intentions and Success Criteria in all our classrooms. In addition, teachers continued to integratetechnology into teaching and learning programs as we strive to provide the highest quality 21st century learningenvironment for all classes. Furthermore, our Chinese (Mandarin) language program was developed to further enhancethe Asian culture for all students K–6 – the only primary school in our community of schools to do so.

I would like to thank and congratulate staff, students and parents on their achievements at Narrabeen Lakes in 2016 andI look forward to an exciting and successful 2017.


School background

School vision statement

At Narrabeen Lakes Public School our mission is to provide a nurturing environment where students are valued asindividuals and where they are engaged in purposeful and future focused learning. Teachers and staff work inpartnership with families and the community to set high expectations for success and excellence so that all studentsachieve their full potential as learners, and become responsible, productive, global citizens.

School context

Narrabeen Lakes is a dynamic, medium sized school of 415 students, staffed by professional, dedicated teachersrenowned for their capacity to expertly cater for students from very diverse backgrounds and to provide a wide variety ofexceptional educational opportunities.

Whilst particular emphasis is given to high quality teaching and learning programs relevant to the needs of 21st centurylearners, we provide a range of activities to further enhance educational opportunities in science, dance, drama, choir,music, creative arts, and sport.

An outstanding feature of Narrabeen Lakes Public School is the sense of purpose shared by the school community andthe supportive relationships that underpin this. Our caring and committed staff works in partnership with parents toinspire students to succeed and achieve their personal best.

Self-assessment and school achievement

Self-assessment using the School Excellence Framework

This year, our school undertook self–assessment using the elements of the School Excellence Framework. The schoolwas rated as Sustaining and Growing in the four Learning Elements of: Learning Culture, Wellbeing, Curriculum andLearning and Assessment. The school was rated as Delivering for Student Performance Measures.

The school was rated as Sustaining and Growing in three Teaching Elements: Collaborative Practice, Learning andDevelopment and Professional Standards. The school is Delivering in the elements of Effective Classroom Practice andData Skills and Use.

For the five Leadership Elements we were rated as sustaining and growing in all elements: Leadership, School Planning,Implementation and Reporting, School Resources and Management Practices and Processes Leadership.

We did not have any Elements rated as Developing.

Our self–assessment process will further assist the school to refine the strategic priorities in our School plan leading tofurther improvements in the delivery of education to our students.


Strategic Direction 1

High expectations and quality student learning

Purpose

Where every student is engaged in purposeful and future focused learning to achieve their full potential as a learner, anda responsible, productive, global citizen.

Overall summary of progress

We achieved the implementation of inquiry based learning through direct work with Canadian academic Ian Jukes. Allstudents were engaged in this new style of learning throughout the year.

Improvements in writing were greater than expected. Our initial improvement target for 2016 was 50% improving by onecluster or more in Semester One, but we achieved 60% by Term 2 and by the end of the year we achieved over 90% ofstudents improving by one or more clusters.

Progress towards achieving improvement measures

Improvement measures(to be achieved over 3 years)

Progress achieved this year Funds Expended(Resources)

100% of students demonstrateskills in inquiry based learning ieintegration of literacy andnumeracy skills with 21st centuryfluencies.

95% of students K–6 will haveimproved in the areas of writingby one cluster and 70% by 2clusters (taken from PLAN data).

Next Steps

In 2017, teachers will further engage with the Seven Steps to Writing Success program with specific professionallearning in this area. This, combined with a focus on students setting goals on the bump it up wall and literacy continuum,should see a continued improvement in writing outcomes that exceeds our current stated target. Parents will be invited toattend an information evening in Term Two to see how teachers are implementing the Seven Steps to Writing Successprogram.

Teachers will also work again with Ian Jukes to further enhance their skills in teaching the 21st century fluencies. In2017, they will learn how to write their own inquiry based learning units of work in history and geography using the 6Ds.



Promoting quality teaching and leadership

Purpose

Building capacity through targeted professional learning and development in which every staff member participates inongoing, relevant and evidence based learning and practice.


The teachers began a twin track of inquiry based learning using the 21st century fluencies, as well as a focus onevidence based writing improvement using bump it up walls and the literacy continuum.

Students and staff both reported improvements in the teaching of writing and in their explicit understanding and evidenceof student progress and achievement.

Teaching inquiry based learning required significant professional learning, as it is major shift in pedagogical practice.

Professional Development Plans were implemented with staff expected to select a maximum of three goals in 2016, thatwere supporting the School Plan and connected to the Teaching Standards.




A clear, well developed wholeschool scope and sequence forcurriculum delivery thatincorporates the BOSTESsyllabus documents, 21st centuryfluencies and relevant evidencebased teaching practices.

Teacher professional learningplans identify areas of need forprofessional learning with definedlinks to the Australian TeachingStandards and school plan.

Next Steps

In 2017, teachers will continue to develop skills in 21st century fluencies, as well as data collection and analysis of theirbump it walls for the literacy continuum. Inquiry based learning will be integrated into Key Learning Areas to maximiseefficient use of class time.

Teachers will share professional learning experiences with appropriate members of staff in dedicated times. Teacher’sbuilding their professional knowledge is always a high priority.



Quality systems

Purpose

To develop organisational practices and systems which enhance effective communication, administration and communitypartnerships.


The school continued its use of SENTRAL, particularly for attendance, messaging and reporting.

In addition to communicating to parents via our app, the school continued the use of an online newsletter service withSchoolzine. Evaluation of its impact will take place in 2017–8, but informal feedback has so far been overwhelminglypositive.




100% of staff using SENTRAL tomonitor, track, assess andevaluate students at NarrabeenLakes. In particular, studentlearning, studentwelfare, behaviour, attendanceand reporting.

To improve communication withall community members so thatmore than 85% of staff andfamilies report that they receiveclear and accurate information.

Next Steps

The school will continue to use Schoolzine but will retain additional communication streams such as email, PrimaryParent Planner and schoolinterviews.com.au

In cooperation with a highly supportive P&C, the school will strive to improve communication with all stakeholders in theschool community.

We will investigate the utility of tracking student learning data on SENTRAL in 2017.


Key Initiatives Impact achieved this year Resources (annual)

Aboriginal background loading

English language proficiency

Low level adjustment for disability

Socio–economic background

Support for beginning teachers

Targeted student support forrefugees and new arrivals


Student information

Student enrolment profile

Enrolments

Students 2013 2014 2015 2016

Boys 192 208 229 216

Girls 153 166 182 193

Student attendance profile

School

Year 2013 2014 2015 2016

K 96.1 96.1 93.5 94.7

1 95.3 97 92.2 92.9

2 95.9 95.9 95 93.3

3 95.4 96.6 92.6 95.4

4 94.3 96.5 94.7 93.8

5 95 94.4 94.6 95.1

6 94.2 95.7 88.7 93

All Years 95.3 96.1 93.2 93.9

State DoE

Year 2013 2014 2015 2016

K 95 95.2 94.4 94.4

1 94.5 94.7 93.8 93.9

2 94.7 94.9 94 94.1

3 94.8 95 94.1 94.2

4 94.7 94.9 94 93.9

5 94.5 94.8 94 93.9

6 94.1 94.2 93.5 93.4

All Years 94.7 94.8 94 94

Class sizes

Class Total

KS 18

KMH 19

KL 19

1D 20

1S 20

1J 20

1GH 19

2A 25

2CT 24

2CN 23

3MJ 27

3M 28

4/5P 30

4B 31

5K 29

5/6 C 29

6Z 29

Workforce information

Workforce composition

Position FTE*

Principal 1

Assistant Principal(s) 3

Classroom Teacher(s) 15.41

Teacher of Reading Recovery 0

Learning and Support Teacher(s) 0.6

Teacher Librarian 0.8

School Administration & SupportStaff

3.12

Other Positions 0.15

*Full Time Equivalent

Teacher qualifications

All teaching staff meet the professional requirementsfor teaching in NSW public schools.


Teacher qualifications

Qualifications % of staff

Undergraduate degree or diploma 100

Postgraduate degree 11

Professional learning and teacher accreditation

During 2016, teachers at Narrabeen Lakesdemonstrated their ethos of being life–long learners.Professional learning is critical to improve studentlearning. All teachers were involved in professionallearning aligned with the NLPS School Plan and theNSW Quality Teaching Framework. This includedtopics such as 21st century fluencies (ModernLearning), Visible Learning, bump it up walls andWriting. Further to this, individual teachers participatedin a variety of professional learning courses includingmovie making, debating, visual arts, sports, history,Aboriginal education, gifted and talented and learningsupport. This professional learning was then shared atour weekly professional learning meetings. Teachersalso performed classroom observations together. Thisencouraged colleagues to collaborate to improveteacher practice and student learning.

See Strategic Direction information above for moredetails about professional learning in 2016.

We have a number of New Scheme Teachers whohave gained accreditation or maintained accreditationthis year. All teachers who commenced with theDepartment of Education after October 2004 are NewScheme Teachers. All teachers will be accredited underthe same system from 2018 onwards. All teachers nowhave developed a Professional Development Plan toassist with setting goals and aspirations for thefollowing years. This was a requirement of the NSWDepartment of Education for 2016.

Financial information (for schoolsusing both OASIS and SAP/SALM)

Financial information

The three financial summary tables cover 13 months(from 1 December 2015 to 31 December 2016).

The financial summary consists of school incomebroken down by funding source and is derived from theschool Annual Financial Statement.

Income $

Balance brought forward 280 807.50

Global funds 237 348.05

Tied funds 203 570.70

School & community sources 221 288.74

Interest 4 421.67

Trust receipts 2 688.50

Canteen 0.00

Total income 950 125.16

Expenditure

Teaching & learning

Key learning areas 37 580.54

Excursions 54 206.12

Extracurricular dissections 48 176.29

Library 4 946.72

Training & development 27 160.11

Tied funds 158 705.61

Short term relief 66 351.19

Administration & office 89 046.92

School-operated canteen 0.00

Utilities 28 949.07

Maintenance 44 983.28

Trust accounts 27 812.72

Capital programs 0.00

Total expenditure 587 918.57

Balance carried forward 362 206.59

The information provided in the financial summaryincludes reporting from 1 January 2016 to 31December 2016.


2016 Actual ($)

Opening Balance 0.00

Revenue 466 661.67

(2a) Appropriation 370 787.40

(2b) Sale of Goods andServices

1 214.50

(2c) Grants and Contributions 65 840.36

(2e) Gain and Loss 0.00

(2f) Other Revenue 28 091.48

(2d) Investment Income 727.93

Expenses -271 221.93

Recurrent Expenses -271 221.93

(3a) Employee Related -138 226.21

(3b) Operating Expenses -132 995.72

Capital Expenses 0.00

(3c) Employee Related 0.00

(3d) Operating Expenses 0.00

SURPLUS / DEFICIT FOR THEYEAR

195 439.74

Balance Carried Forward 195 439.74

There is no opening balance recorded in the SAPfinance table. The opening balance for the school forthis reporting period is recorded as the BalanceBrought Forward in the OASIS table.

The OASIS Balance carried forward amount (ie, fundson date of migration) is included in the (2a)Appropriation amount in the SAP table.

Any differences between the OASIS Balance carriedforward and (2a) Appropriation amount is the result ofother accounts and transactions being included in the(2a) Appropriation amount.

Financial summary equity funding

The equity funding data is the main component of the'Appropriation' section of the financial summary above.

2016 Actual ($)

Base Total 2 666 711.20

Base Per Capita 22 483.42

Base Location 0.00

Other Base 2 644 227.78

Equity Total 114 268.47

Equity Aboriginal 5 401.55

Equity Socio economic 15 675.05

Equity Language 9 010.34

Equity Disability 84 181.53

Targeted Total 71 560.01

Other Total 15 886.13

Grand Total 2 868 425.82

A full copy of the school’s financial statement is tabledat the annual general meetings of the parent and/orcommunity groups. Further details concerning thestatement can be obtained by contacting the school.

School performance

NAPLAN

In the National Assessment Program, the results acrossthe Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 literacy andnumeracy assessments are reported on a scale fromBand 1 to Band 10. The achievement scalerepresents increasing levels of skillsand understandings demonstrated in theseassessments.


Parent/caregiver, student, teachersatisfaction

Each year schools are required to seek the opinions of

parents, students and teachers about the school.

Their responses are presented below:

In 2016 the school sought the opinions of parents,students and teachers about the teaching of writingNarrabeen Lakes, viaSurvey Monkey.

Their responses from parents and students arepresented below: • 58 parents responded to the survey, with 96%

feeling that writing is an important life skill. 128students in Years 3–6 completed the survey.80.65%of students felt that writing will be animportant skill once they leave school.

• 46% of parents felt they were fairly well informedabout their child’s progress in writing, while 36%felt well informed.

• 54% of students felt their teacher always or nearlyalways provided feedback about their writing,36% said their teacher gave feedback sometimesand 9.6% said their teacher rarely providesfeedback.

• 82.% of students enjoy using the class Bump ItUp Writing wall, only 25% of parents were familiarwith how these work. 45% of parents wereunfamiliar with the Bump It Up Writing walls.

• 84% of students knew which writing cluster theywere in and 65% felt they could explain theirpersonal writing goal to someone else.

• 89% of parents felt either comfortable or verycomfortable to discuss their child’s writingprogress with the classroom teacher. 60% ofstudents felt that the Bump It up Writing wallshelped improve their writing outcomes.

• 98% of parents stated that their children had theopportunity to write at home. However, only 41%of students stated they always or often wrote athome, 40% said the sometimes write at home,while 19% stated they rarely or never wrote athome.

• 66% of parents expressed that they would beinterested in attending a parent informationevening about writing, while 32% felt unsure.

We look forward to hosting a parent evening in 2017and presenting them the strategies used across theschool.

Policy requirements

Aboriginal education

Aboriginal perspectives are included in all key learningareas at Narrabeen Lakes Public School.

Two of our teachers attended a professional learningday about ‘Acknowledgement of Country’ which bringsa better understanding of connection to country andrespect for learning on Aboriginal land. Students andteachers are creating meaningful, personalacknowledgements for use at assemblies, specialfunctions and in the classroom each morning.

Personalised learning programs have been put intoplace in partnership with students and their


parents/carers. They are a meaningful way ofmaximising students’ learning outcomes.

History units trialled in Term 4 encompassed Aboriginalheritage and the impact of colonisation on Aboriginaland Torres Strait Islander people. 20th Centuryinspirational Aboriginal people were also studied.

The PCS NAIDOC Week celebrations were held atWheeler Heights Public School. The theme was‘Through Our Eyes’ and incorporated Aboriginal games,dancing and music as well as a sleepover. The artexhibition was highly successful with the work includedin the travelling art show being used for the PCS schoolcalendar.

Multicultural and anti-racism education

Acceptance, tolerance and inclusion of various culturalgroups are highly valued principles at NarrabeenLakes. Students’ values are developed through a rangeof studies in all curriculum areas.

Our community highly values the range of culturalbackgrounds within our family groups.

The English syllabus has a strong focus on Asian andAboriginal texts, while many HSIE units of work havemulticultural themes. As an example, Year 2 studentsstudied the culture of Japan and enjoyed a terrificexcursion to a Japanese restaurant, sampling a varietyof Japanese cuisine.

The study of the Olympics afforded the opportunity forstudents to learn about the host city, Rio de Janeiro, aswell as many countries participating in the games.Stage 3 students, working in groups as part of theirInquiry Based Learning projects, selected a country tostudy and created a proposal for that country to hostthe Games.

Mrs Chen taught Mandarin lessons to all classes inYears K – 6. Children not only learn the Mandarinlanguage, but also take part in calligraphy, art anddance lessons. They also learn about Chinese cultureand festivals. As part of ‘Illuminate’, each child createda lantern decorated with Chinese characters. Childrenlearnt about the significance of lanterns in China andhow they are used in a variety of Chinese festivals,such as the Moon Festival.

Children in all stages participated in a range of activitiesto celebrate Harmony Day.

The quartet, ‘The Chambermaids’, part ofthe MusicaViva Program, performed for the students during Term4. The ensemble performed a variety of chamber musicfrom around the world.

Other school programs

Achievements in Sport

In 2017, Narrabeen Lakes participated in the Pittwater

Zone Primary School Sports Association (PSSA)inter–school competition. Teams were fielded inSoftball (Boys and Girls), Tee–ball, Cricket, Netball,Pittwater Tag and Soccer (boys and girls). AustralianRules Football (AFL) was introduced in a competitiveformat as well, generating greater interest in this area.

The Pittwater PSSA continued running their own app,available through both Android and iTunes, which givesparents and students unprecedented access toinformation. Through this app, players and parents canaccess results, documents and wet weather informationat the touch of a finger!

After our major school carnivals, Narrabeen Lakes sentrepresentatives to the Pittwater Zone Carnivals inswimming, cross country and athletics. We areextremely proud to announce we had students in eachof the disciplines selected into Pittwater Zone team tocompete at the Sydney North Regional Championships.Kiahni, Olivia and Gabrielle participated in the SydneyNorth Swimming Carnival at the Homebush AquaticCentre. Marissa, Gabrielle and Indi also representedPittwater in cross country and competed at GosfordRace Track. Congratulations to these wonderfulathletes!

During the course of the year, external trials areconducted to provide students, who have a talent inspecific sports, with the opportunity to represent thePittwater Zone at regional championships. We arethrilled to have had several selections across a range ofsports. Ellie for water polo, Breanna for soccer, Nathanand Kiana for basketball and Marissa for touch football.Breanna’s soccer team finished runners up andMarissa’s touch team won their respective SydneyNorth Championships.

Concluding the Sydney North BasketballChampionships, Nathan was also chosen to thenrepresent the Sydney North Region at the statechampionships!

Narrabeen Lakes also took out its’ first ever golfchampionship! Competing amongst private and publicschools, we managed to finish top of the group! Wealso fielded teams in the Brad Dalton Public SchoolBasketball Championships with our boys team finishingrunners up!

The 3–6 school sports program continued this year,offering a range of skill development activities forchildren not in PSSA. Year 6 took a major role in theorganisation of these afternoons, selecting teams,organising equipment and giving out sports awards atthe sports assembly.

We were involved with the Australian Government‘Sporting Schools’ Initiative this year, in which we weregiven grant money to help forge alliances with sportingorganisations and coaches within the area. We havebeen lucky enough to have received expert coachingfrom Jack Newton Junior Golf, Hockey NSW, LawnBowls Australia and Warringah T–Ball to help furtherdevelop our in–school sports program.


K–2 was again involved in the gymnastics program, runin conjunction with the Northern Beaches Gymnasium.This was supplemented by a school–baseddevelopment program which is overseen by theteachers.

We entered a school team in the Pub to Pub Fun Runraising money for the Sydney Children’s Hospital. Wefinished second in the challenge, based on the numberof entrants which I am extremely proud of.

Narrabeen Lakes also participated in the Premier’sSporting Challenge (PSC). We began in Term 1 bysending a select group of Year 5 and 6 children toNarrabeen Sports High School as part of a ‘Learn toLead’ day. They were given coaching by the highschool children in how to create and run sportingsessions within the school. The PSC leaders weregiven the responsibility of organising our school fitnesschallenge that was run between Term 2 and 3.

As part of this challenge, the school received $3000 ingrant money. This was used to purchase equipment forthe school (including boxing gloves and pads for schoolsport), as well as upskilling of our staff by paying forprofessional learning courses.

Finally, stemming from the success of our Athletics andSwimming Carnivals this year, we are pleased toannounce that we have bookings for 2017 at both theAcademy of Sport and the Andrew ‘Boy’ Charlton pool.These venues have given us the opportunity to createschool Athletics and Swimming records with their use ofelectronic timing systems. These are placed on theschool website.

2015 has truly seen Narrabeen Lakes blossom inregards to sporting endeavours. Once again, weparticipated in the Pittwater Zone Primary SchoolSports Association (PSSA) inter–school competition.Teams were fielded in Softball (Boys and Girls),Tee–ball, Cricket, Netball, Pittwater Tag, AustralianRules Football (AFL) and Soccer (boys and girls).

For the first time in around 35 years, Narrabeen Lakeswas able to field a team in the rugby leaguecompetition. The Parents and Citizens Association(P&C) very kindly contributed the fundsraised throughtheir ‘Entertainment Books’ fundraising initiative to ourfantastic new uniforms.

Drama

Once again our school participated in the Arts AliveFestival of Drama at the Seymour Centre. Class 4/5Ppresented a play entitled “Peter Perfect – The Story ofthe Perfect Boy”; an adaptation of the picture book byBernard Waber. It told the story of Peter, the perfectboy, who, it transpires, is actually a wind–up robot!

The class performed to capacity audiences and wasvery well received, garnering much applause andlaughter. The quality of individual student performanceswas commented on by many who saw theperformance.

The piece was also performed at a school assembly.

During the year several other classes presented dramaitems at school assemblies. Many of these were basedon HSIE units being studied in class. Children adaptedthe knowledge gained in lessons to construct a play.Drama was also employed as a teaching strategy indrug education and child protection lessons, as well asbeing part of the creative arts curriculum.

Dance

During 2016, children at Narrabeen Lakes were able tochoose to participate in extra–curricula dance. Beforeschool and at lunchtime, we offered classes in Hip Hop,Jazz and Contemporary.

The all–inclusive philosophy of our school means we donot audition students for our groups as this may lead tothe exclusion of children who may have a physical,social or intellectual disability. Although a user–payersystem exists, we believe in extending the opportunityof attending a dance class should be open to allstudents. Sometimes, this is the only dance class thatstudents are able to access.

Throughout the year we were able to offer three dancegroups which included 75 students from Years 2 to 6.

Throughout 2016, the dance students had a lot of funparticipating in weekly classes which involve skillsdevelopment and learning choreography. They alsogained a lot experience performing at the PeninsulaMusic Festival, Open days and Orientation days. Thereis an open class during the last week of term so thatparents can attend to watch their child, if they wish.

Students With Disabilities

Narrabeen Lakes, for many years, has integrated intoits mainstream classes, students who have intellectual,social or physical disabilities, as well as students whohave chronic and/or severe health conditions. Thestudents’ inclusion in all aspects of our mainstreamschool is supported by personalised learningplans. Most classroom teachers have some help from aStudent Learning Support Officer (SLSO) for a fewhours each day. This support ensures each child hasequitable access to all learning opportunities our schoolhas to offer.

All members of staff are part of a very active LearningSupport Team (LST) which meets weekly to monitor,recommend, plan, share, adjust and implementappropriate strategies to support all students.

The LST monitors all learning programs which supportstudents’ various curriculum, social, welfare andphysical needs. Funding for this support enables theschool to employ SLSOs and is provided through thefollowing DEC programs: Every School, Every Student(ESES), Learning and Support Teacher (LaST) andIntegration Funding Support (IFS).

Student Welfare


The staff and community of our school is particularlyproud of the strong welfare focus we offer. Strategieshave been devised and implemented to ensure theongoing and emergent needs of students and theirfamilies are addressed to the best of our ability, in acalm and non–judgemental manner.

It is our intent that no child should miss out oneducational opportunities due to family circumstances,for example: • all staff have been trained in Positive Behaviours

Engaging Learners (PBEL). During 2016, theseexpectations were refined to include all classroomexpectations,

• the school has revised and implemented a newDiscipline Policy based on the PBEL expectationsof Behaviour– ‘Respect, Responsibility and HaveA Go’. This levels system is above all fair,transparent and based on positive outcomes forall students,

• increased staff presence in the playground atbreak times,

• specific allocations of school funds to supportfamilies in need of assistance with uniforms,excursions, textbooks, school fees, sport fees,band fees, dance fees and school camp,

• sandwiches and milk for children whose parentshave not been able to provide food,

• setting up of a Pastoral Care system among staff,providing a little extra TLC for children identifiedas needing some extra emotional support,

• use of a washing machine and dryer to enablestaff to wash uniforms when necessary,

• collection of a range of uniforms, socks andundergarments to lend to ensure children are notembarrassed by their circumstances.

We strongly believe a partnership of mutual respectand open communication between the school andfamily is essential to the well–being of our students.

Technology

Our school’s continued focus this year was on theintegration of wireless technology. Our entire school issetup on a wireless network. Every classroomthroughout our school has the capability of being awireless computer room. With this, we now have a setof 16 iPads for each grade from K–3 across the school.These are timetabled out to ensure equitability. Theschool has also acquired class sets of Chromebooksfor all classes Years 4–6.

This year our staff implemented lessons to explorevarious applications. With this 21st century learning,our school regularly holds Appy Hour sessions forinterested staff when an ‘expert’ teacher shares an app.

Our total number of computers and laptops hasreached 150. Our dedicated computer room is used byall classes for approximately one hour per week.Students engage in various programs both online andon our school network. Primary classrooms areregularly engaging in cloud based programs to workcollaboratively across the school.

This year, Narrabeen Lakes bought subscriptions to

Mathletics and Reading Eggs/Reading Eggspressonline software. This software enables the teacher toassign lessons to the individual students needs and is afantastic supplement to the regular classes program.

The school’s video conferencing room is regularlyutilised by both classes participating in an incursion andteacher professional learning.

The school utilises Beebots, Probots and NXT roboticson a class by class basis. All students have access tothis equipment throughout the year. A Robotics groupstarted in Term 3 and 4 for interested Stage 3 students.We designed robots to carry out simple and morecomplex tasks.

Science and Sustainability

All students at Narrabeen Lakes participated in regularscience lessons. Each stage level worked with aspecialist teacher to cover the outcomes set out in theNSW Science and Technology Syllabus K–6 for theAustralian Curriculum.

The Narrabeen Lakes science program is structuredover a two year scope and sequence. In 2016, studentsdeveloped skills in the areas of Working Scientificallyand Working Technologically to broaden theirknowledge and understanding of the natural and madeworld within the scientific strands of Physics, BuiltEnvironments, and Biology.

Students participated in lessons designed to foster asense of curiosity, investigation, discovery, creativityand collaboration whilst broadening their knowledgeand understanding of scientific concepts. PrimaryConnections units of work from the Australian Academyof Science were combined with inquiry–based learningunits of work to provide a solid foundation for learningscientific concepts.

In September, eight Stage Two students representedNarrabeen Lakes at the Peninsula Community ofSchools annual science fair held at Narrabeen SportsHigh School. The 2016 theme was ‘Robots, Drones andDroids’. Eden, Austin, Rory, Jasper, Taylor, Rebecca,Erin and Mariana of 4/5P were all selected to bestudent presenters at the fair.

They created electric cars and their stall hosted the‘Lakes Derby’ electric car race. They demonstratedtheir understanding of electrical circuits and the conceptof energy transfer and transformation by showcasingelectric cars that they had designed and built. Studentsfrom other schools participated in races with ourstudents’ cars. The stall was a huge success and ourstudents received praise from students, teachers andparents from many different schools.

In Term 4, Liam, Oliver, Josh and Kalan were selectedto represent Narrabeen Lakes at the Youth Eco Summitsustainability festival held at Sydney Olympic Park.Students from NLPS, along with other PCS studentrepresentatives, were able to view interactive displaysand exhibits, attend workshops and participate in ecoexperiences for the day.


Environmental sustainability education was embeddedin science lessons throughout the year. Recycling ofpaper/cardboard, batteries and containers and the useof compost bins was promoted and encouragedthroughout the school community. Recycling collectionpoints were provided at school and students givengreen merit awards for contributing to the recyclingprograms.

Environmental sustainability has been embedded in allkey learning areas and encompasses a whole schoolapproach to all tasks involved in building a sustainablyviable program.

Recycling of paper/cardboard, batteries, printcartridges, mobile phones, corks and containers waspromoted and encouraged throughout the schoolcommunity.

Our composting and worm farm system suffered aninfestation of redback spiders and had to be totallycollapsed until the problem was rectified. This led toresearch based problem solving by our schoolenvironment team.

During 2016, two vegepods were installed in ourplayground. The first harvest was used to make ricepaper rolls (student made). During Term 2, producewas grown to sellto the school canteen. Profits gainedwere used to buy soil and seeds to continue thisprocess. Four more vegepods were installed duringTerm 3. Teachers and students experimented withdifferent herbs and vegetablesto see which ones grewbest. The school became a member of the StephanieAlexander Kitchen Garden Foundation. Theenvironment team surveyed the canteen to ascertainwhich crops were best suited for their use. The nextgrowing cycle includes vegetables which are suited tothe canteen menu.

Student Leadership

School life provides many opportunities for youngpeople to develop leadership and representation skills,including as leaders in school governance.

Formal student leadership and student representationprograms provide important benefits for individualstudents and schools. Student leaders have thepotential to influence the school environment and thebehaviourof their fellow students by becomingadvocates for positive change in the school community.

At Narrabeen Lakes Public School, students have avariety of ways to become leaders within the schoolsetting. The school encourages these leadership rolesto be spread amongst the student body. However,students can take up more than one of the leadershiproles if capable.

With this rationale, Narrabeen Lakes undertook a newleadership program with the aim to get students moreactively involved in the school ethos and get to knowteachers that they may not know well, better.

In Term Three, all of Year Five engaged in a leadershipday involving team building exercises and anintroduction to a leadership logbook and project that ispart of the essential criteria to be eligible for aleadership position. The project asked the children tochoose someone who inspired them and create adisplay about this person and present a 2 minutespeech as to how they are an inspiration. Theleadership logbooks asked children to complete 4simple tasks, particularly for teachers they didn’t knowas well as well as an ongoing task. This task must gofor at least 4 weeks. We felt that this program was aresounding success and the standard of speeches atthe nomination assembly was of high quality.

We formed our first Student Representative council(SRC) this year. Students eligible for election to theSRC are from Grades Two to Six. The SRC meetstwice a term to discuss and implement strategies toimprove the school in many different areas, includingfundraising, social events and general ideas. Thethoughts put forward were inspiring and we lookforward to a successful 2017 for our leadership groupand SRC.

Debating

In 2016, Narrabeen Lakes provided students withenrichment opportunities for groups of talentedstudents to extend themselves beyond the classroom. As part of the enrichment program, a selection of Stage3 students participated in the school’s debatingprogram. Over the course of Term 4, students engagedin a variety of activities to build confidence in publicspeaking and prepare them to participate in astructured debate.

Towards the end of Term 4, students were given theopportunity to compete in an inter school debatingcompetition against Narrabeen North Public School. We had two teams of students compete in friendlydebates under the topic of health and fitness. Our firstteam presented a well–informed argument against junkfood being banned in school canteens. The NarrabeenLakes students achieved a convincing win against theopposing team with their strong arguments andrebuttals. Following on, our second team were narrowlydefeated debating the negative stance of sport beingcompulsory at school.

Overall the program allowed students to buildconfidence with public speaking in a friendly andcompetitive setting. It enabled students to improve theircritical speaking and listening skills aswell as theirability to respond with rebuttals and essentially ‘think ontheir feet’. The Narrabeen Lakes students thoroughlyenjoyed this experience and were commended on theirefforts.

Tournament of Minds

For the very first time Narrabeen Lakes took part in theannual Tournament of Minds competition held atRoseville College in Term 3. A team of students fromStage 2 competed against various other schools in theSydney North division. The students collaboratively


worked together to devise a solution to the long termLanguage Literature Challenge.

Tournament of Minds is a creative problem solvingprogram designed for students to work collaborativelywithin a team in areas of Language Literature, SocialScience, Maths Engineering and ScienceandTechnology. The inquiry–based program aims toenhance student potential by developing diverse skills,enterprise, time management, and the discipline towork collaboratively within a competitive environment.

Students enjoyed working on their long–term challengeover a 6 week period and couldn’t wait for theopportunity to present their solution to a panel of judgeson Tournament Day. The Narrabeen Lakes teampresented a well–rehearsed, humorous play involvingfour characters from various genres of literature. Theteam acquitted themselves very well, having theaudience in stitches with their character representation.Students also participated in a short spontaneouschallenge on the day that required rapid interchange ofideas, the ability to think creatively and well developedgroup cooperation skills.

Overall the program was a fantastic opportunity forstudents to develop a broad range of skills, learn howto work collaboratively as a team and most importantly,have fun!


2016 Narrabeen Lakes Public School Annual Report · Teachers will also work again with Ian Jukes to...

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Transcript of 2016 Narrabeen Lakes Public School Annual Report · Teachers will also work again with Ian Jukes to...