YALE PRIMARY SCHOOLr

ANNUAL REPORT2017

ANNUAL REPORT2017

FROM THE PRINCIPALDear Parents, Carers and Community Members

It is with great pleasure that I present the 2017 Annual School Report to the Yale Primary School Community. This Annual report is a summary of the school’s key achievements over the course of the school year of 2017.

At Yale Primary School our vision for the students is to seek to develop the whole student and give them equal access to a range of learning opportunities enabling every student to experience success. We are guided by our core values of respect, responsibility, caring for others and being our best. Staff and community members aim for all students to be empowered to set and reach their goals through actively engaging in the pursuit of knowledge and committing to achieving their potential now and in the future.

Staffing

During 2017 we farewelled Mr Maxwell Fletcher, Mrs Joy Howe, Mr Steve Hancock and Mrs Mary Leito who all retired at the end of their teaching careers from the Department of Education and left us to go to greener pastures.I would like to thank the retiring teachers for all their support whilst they worked at Yale Primary School and for their hard work during their very successful careers. We also saw Mr Gregory Molloy our gardener retire and we welcomed onto our staff Mrs Parveen Chahal.

Existing and New Initatives at Yale Primary School:

• Smith Family Learning Club• School Chaplaincy• Waste Wise (run by Ms Catherine Donaldson)• Synthetic Phonics approach/Soundwaves• Talk for Writing• The EDvance program for school leaders

Some Annual Highlights

• NAIDOC week Activities• Interschool Carnivals in both Summer and

Winter, soccer, football, netball,cricket, the Cross Country Faction Carnival and Interschool Athletics

• The Parent Open Night• The P&C Discos• ANZAC Assembly• Classroom Assemblies• Literacy and Numeracy Week • Book Week• Edu Dance Concert• Year 6 Graduation and Hip Hop performance• Year 6 Lunch at Tompkins on Swan• Positive Behaviour in Schools Program• Mathletics (Computer based learning)• Lexile Reading (Computer based learning)• The Breakfast Program• Rewards Room• Reading Eggs (Computer based learning)

As a school we look forward to continuing to strengthen the relationship between the school and community, working together to obtain the best possible outcomes for your child.

Literacy

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

At the beginning of the 2017 school year and on reflection and analysis of our Year 3 and 5 NAPLAN results for 2016, the Administration team decided that the school should become involved in the Fogarty Foundation, an independent organisation that assists schools to identify areas for improvement and to change their direction to maximise student success. This has been a very intense personal challenge for all members of the school teaching and leadership team as it has made us reflect on our own teaching styles and leadership qualities.

We are aspiring to improve the academic performance of students to be above like schools in both Literacy and Numeracy, by improving the quality of teaching practise across the school, improving the achievement of academic outcomes and engaging the community more.

In the core learning area of Literacy, the school has implemented an explicit teaching framework and begun the process of developing a school based curriculum which is scoped and sequenced in English. We have implemented and consolidated the Talk for Writing program, accessing a mentor from Dyslexia Speld who has worked with teachers across all year levels to implement best practise in this curriculum area.

We have continued to consolidate and implement Synthetic phonics across all learning areas using the Soundwaves program. This is an area that we are continually exploring. Teaching staff across all year levels are embracing change and moving forward. The results we achieved in The PALLS Project during 2016 using the AlphaCheck test and explicit teaching of a target group of children in each classroom allowed teaching staff to acknowledge the importance of a sound Synthetic Phonic base in all children. Our results improved dramatically and therefore our student’s ability to read and decode allowed students to achieve success in an area that they were finding difficult to master.

The Letters and Sounds reading program has continued at Yale, although in 2018 we will be focussing on implementing the program in classrooms in the early years rather than sending children out to receive remediation.

The school is being innovative by using new well researched approaches to literacy like the Talk 4 Write program and the synthetic phonics approach to reading. We are confident that our focus and direction will assist all students at Yale Primary School to reach academic goals through improved teaching practice.

NumeracyDuring 2017 the staff at Yale identified specific areas for focus in the mathematics learning area from analysis of data collected by a variety of methods

After discussions, staff decided a whole school approach to teaching mathematics should be used in 2018. Cambridge Mathematics was chosen as the program to adopt after staff reviewed a variety of modern resources. Cambridge mathematics provides a strong scaffold for all learning and allows teachers to differentiate their teaching. Along with an interactive online platform called “HotMaths” which allows teachers to set differentiated tasks for groups.

In addition to these initiatives we have implemented a whole school approach to teaching basic facts.

With all staff sharing the same focus Yale aims to improve outcomes for all students with a co-ordinated and targeted teaching strategy derived from grounded research basis.

Digital Technology

Digital technology has seen an exponential growth during 2017 at Yale Primary. In addition to a significant increase in the quality and quantity of devices available at school, a curriculum area leader was designated and allocated time to support the staff in utilising this for teaching and learning in classrooms.

Students from K-6 can now augment their learning within all curriculum areas with over 200 devices including ipads, notebooks and workstations.Creativity in using these devices is further advanced with a variety of robotic and electrical engineering learning kits available to all classes.

The development of a strong IT committee provides solid direction and focus to the ongoing development of Digital Technologies learning area at Yale.

Science

Students at Yale Primary School are enthusiastic about attending science classes and they demonstrate this by actively engaging in the learning during the lessons and recording their work in a clear and concise way. Students are encouraged at all times to participate in science investigations. Science investigations are a strategy that is favoured in the science program. It is also the teaching/learning strategy supported by the curriculum. Language acquisition, aural, written and oral, is important in all science knowledge and skill use. Using the most accurate language to describe a science outcome, tools and procedure appropriate to each year level is important for strong science understanding. This approach expands the students’ knowledge of scientific terminology. Students also participate in a science general knowledge quiz related to the topics they have been studying throughout the year.

Students are also expected to demonstrate their understanding and knowledge of the tasks undertaken during class time by utilising story maps, science reports, recounts, diagrams, picture boards, power point and oral presentations as well as active participation in tasks and the recording of results.

The Science Program• REMIDA – member – incursion at class level (ECE

and mid primary) in 2017. • STAWA – member. There were 7 submissions to

Science Talent Search in 2017 from year 2-6 - all received merit recognition.

• Waste Wise - 5 students in Ms Baker’s class continue the tradition of collecting the recycling paper bins from all school areas weekly and emptying them into recycling skips. This was overseen by Ms Donaldson and the requirements of identifying paper products and procedures for allocation taught in Science classes. This was done in conjunction with Ms Baker and Ms Donaldson as an ongoing teaching topic in both classrooms.

• Worm Farm - fruit collection from C Block and A block continued for worm feeding and continued to include the scraps from the canteen. The canteen collection has now been included in the year 5 waste paper collection to help continue the worm program. There are now three worm areas. One behind the canteen to collect worm water. The other two are in the Pre-Primary fruit tree area to help support tree growth and in the science garden near the reward room. Year 5 collectors are now also more engaged with the worm program.

• Yale continues to collect empty hair product bottles, coffee pods, batteries and dental packaging to send to Terra cycle.

• Gosnells Council and Landcare - Year 6 students continue to participate as part of the Sustainability curriculum and in aiding the regeneration of Aylesford Reserve, an ‘A’ class reserve, located to the NE of the school. This program complements the sustainability area of the Curriculum for year 6. Students begin a transect study throughout the year to note changes to conditions of plant and animal/bird activity over the time. In term 3 Landcare provided seedlings for the regeneration of the Reserve. During lunch, students with Ms Donaldson ensure seedlings are watered and surviving. A continued thanks to Gosnells Council, Community and Armadale Gosnells Landcare Group

Incursions/excursions• Science week – SciTech – very well received

and re-booked for 2018• Year 6 regeneration of Aylesford Reserve and

Friends of Aylesford as part of the Year 6 and community activities

• STEM - use of recyclable material for year 6 to make Electrical Circuit Games.

• STEAM Extensions groups – started in 2017 for students years 3-6 weekly on topics that require perseverance

• Year 4 created toys that were then tested by younger year levels. Their brief saw them plan and create a working toy using simple machine principles.

• Flame Challenge – this year’s topic “What is Energy?” in 2017.

• The butterflies came to visit and metamorphose in 2017.

• Our Yale Community continues supporting Science at the school from Motorbike Frogs to Stimson pythons coming to be observed through 2018.

Physical Education

Physical Education at Yale during 2017 continued to focus on improving the health and wellbeing of all students.

The faction cross country was the closest competition yet, with just 30 points separating the lowest and highest scores. This shows very consistent levels of physical fitness and participation across the school. Yale went on to win both outright and handicap shields at the interschool cross country, an impressive achievement that culminated from all the effort and perseverance from the students and teachers at Yale Primary School.

The athletics carnival had a similar close result, and at the conclusion of the event it was announced the factions would be renamed in 2018 to represent the language of the local indigenous communities.

Yale continues to provide effective leadership of the Southern River Sports Association (SRSA), adapting the hockey and football (soccer) formats that created higher quality competitions and improved students from all schools participation according to the ethos of the SRSA.

Music

At Yale Primary School during 2017 students from years 1-3 were provided with two 30-minute sessions of music per week and students from years 3-6 attended two 45-minutes sessions per week. We at Yale take a developmental learning approach to Music and the Arts. In 2017 students participated in a number of programs including Upbeat, Koday, Orff, Black Belt Recorder and Ukulele.

The Music program provides opportunity for moving, creating, reading, playing, singing and responding to different genres of music. The focus is on enjoyment, participation and performance while developing the musical elements of beat, rhythm, pitch, tone, dynamics, melody, tempo, form, style and texture. At Yale we believe the benefits from music education are reflected in the students’ self-confidence, self-discipline, team work, auditory judgements and application to other subject areas. Research clearly shows that learning music can help students engage in school and learning, improve school attendance and even help students make healthy life choices.

The Year 1 and 2 students cultivate an appreciation of Music as they develop their skills through beat, rhythm and pitch activities. They learn how to play different instruments and perform as part of a team. In Years 3 to 6 the students develop their Music reading skills and musicianship as they learn to play the recorder. Their playing is enriched by backing tracks, provided by our music specialist.Students in years 4-6 start on ukulele, djembre and/or cajon drums.Students in Year 6 who successfully enter the SIM program, again choose lessons on guitar or flute.

Yale continues our long-term association with the national “Music Count Us In” program and has done so since the start of the program in 2006.Music 2018 will see a greater focus on developing movement in the area of dance accompanying our program, as we strive to expand and enhance our curriculum for our students.

Aboriginal EducationChaplaincyIn 2017 Chaplaincy at Yale Primary School supported a number of areas. Chaplaincy support programs included the following:

• Breakfast Club• Smith Family Scholarships - homework classes• CVE timetabling• Ed Connect Mentors• School Volunteer Program• Parent morning teas after assemblies• Self-esteem programs• Protective Buz program

Breakfast club operates for 2 mornings each week and provides breakfast, recess and lunch to many students.

Ed-Connect mentors are involved with classes and students and run sewing and knitting classes during lunchtime.

Harmony Day activities were organised giving students the opportunity to dress in their National costume.

Special projects included:• Liaising with Life City Church to provide

stationery packs and subsidised school events• Christmas shoeboxes• Raising funds for our World Vision child• Packaging stationery items and first aid supplies

for our sister school in Bali

As the Yale school chaplain my door is always open to students, parents and staff who would like to discuss their concerns. I always find time to listen to students and encourage them to find strategies to cope with various challenges in their life.

Beverley Pabedinskas

Yale Primary School is proud to be a Positive Behaviour School (PBS)

Attendance 2017

Yale Primary School attendance rate figures indicated that students attended close to the State average for public schools. Parents were encouraged to maximise the children’s attendance to give them every chance of succeeding. Children are rewarded for their regular attendance and staff work closely with families of children with low attendance.

At Yale, we place a high expectation on behaving appropriately. Students are expected to consider the needs of others and treat them as they wish to be treated. To support this, we have policies in attendance, bullying and behaviour management. High expectations are placed on our students in this area and we find they rise to the occasion.

Through positive reinforcement, modelling and explicit teaching your child is encouraged to consider the choices they are making before acting and then to reflect on their choice and the impact on themselves and others.

Staff at Yale believe every child has the right to learn in a safe, caring, harmonious environment that has very few behavioural issues. There are effective techniques in place to manage any that may occur, with an emphasis on respect. In 2016 “The Swarm was introduced for those students that always show the values Yale adhere to. In 2017 “The Hive” was introduced as a special play area to reward those students that constantly exhibit school values.

The relationship between parents, students and staff is extremely important and a strong partnership is needed for the children to reach their full potential. Yale prides itself on its friendly, welcoming approach.

Department of Education

Government of Western Australia

Yale Primary School

Attendance Overall Primary

SchoolWA

PublicSchools

Non-Aboriginal Aboriginal Total

LikeSchools

LikeSchoolsSchool

WAPublic

Schools

LikeSchoolsSchool

WAPublic

Schools

2015 92.9% 85.1% 91.1% 92.7%91.8% 93.8% 81.8% 81.2% 91.7%

2016 93.1% 84.1% 91% 92.6%91.9% 93.7% 87% 80.7% 92.6%

2017 93.2% 84.2% 91.4% 92.7%92.2% 93.8% 80.9% 81.2% 91.9%

Page 1 of 1Printed 05/10/2018

PBS Reward Activity Meeting Djugida

Curriculum and Assessment NAPLAN 2017Percentage of Students Above, At and Below National Standards.

School Budget And Annual Accounts 2017

Student Centred Funding 2017

Prefects 2017 Our Staff 2017

A s a t | 29/03/2017 12:51 PM P a g e | 1

O p e r a t i o n a l - D e c 2 0 1 6

Student-Centred Funding Statement

Issued on 29 March 2017

School: Yale Primary School School Year: Dec 2016

Region: South Metropolitan Region Aria: 0

Student-Centred Funding - Dec 2016

Per Student Funding: $ 3,505,796.00Student and School Characteristics: $ 886,631.20Disability Adjustments: $ -13,514.95Targeted Initiatives: $ 73,829.38Operational Response Allocation: $ 52,779.90Regional Allocation: $ 0.00

Total Dec 2016: $ 4,505,521.53Transition Adjustment: $ 0.00Total After Transition Adjustment: $ 4,505,521.53

Per Student Funding - At Census Student and School Characteristics Funding –

At CensusFunded Student FTE Amount

Per Student

Kindergarten 39.00 $178,932.00

Pre-Primary 65.00 $511,225.00

Year 1 59.00 $464,035.00

Year 2 63.00 $495,495.00

Year 3 81.00 $637,065.00

Year 4 64.00 $419,456.00

Year 5 69.00 $452,226.00

Year 6 53.00 $347,362.00

Total 493.00 $3,505,796.00

Funded Student FTE

Amount

Student Characteristics

Aboriginality 55.00 $102,470.25

Disability 91.92 $383,669.17

English as an Additional Language 36.00 $99,037.41

Social Disadvantage 195.09 $171,712.81

Sub Total $756,889.64

School Characteristics

Enrolment-Linked Base $129,741.56

Locality $0.00

Sub Total $129,741.56

Total $886,631.20

Sage RoadThornlie WA 6108T: (08) 9493 2088F: (08) 9493 2038W: yale.wa.edu.au