At Newtown State School, staff are continually examining ways to refine both their pedagogy and curriculum offerings in order to ensure that the diverse learning needs of students are addressed whilst meeting the expectations of the Australian National Curriculum. Year level teaching teams meet regularly with the school’s leadership team and key support staff to plan for engaging, relevant and worthwhile learning opportunities.
All prep to year 6 classes participate in a 30 minute music lesson and a 30 minute physical education lesson with specialist teachers. Weekly library lessons are aligned with current units of work for each year level. Students in years 5 to 6 also engage in a weekly Languages lesson with a specialist teacher in Indonesian.
With the benefit of an onsite pool, a School Swimming Program is implemented as part of that curriculum follows:
- Two lessons per week in terms 4 for Prep students
- Two lessons per week in terms 1 and 4 for students in years 1 – 6
Instruction is provided by suitably qualified staff using appropriate staff to student ratios. These lessons occur at no cost to parents and all students are expected to participate. In instances where students are unable to participate for a medical or health reason, parents must provide a written note to the physical education teacher.
Students with English as an Additional Dialect/Language (EALD)
At Newtown State School, we often welcome students arriving from overseas and some who have been born in Australia but speak their parents' native language.
Students at Newtown may come from a variety of backgrounds, including Islander, immigrant and refugee backgrounds. Families move to the region for a variety of reasons. Some, for example, have come as part of Australian migrant work programs. Currently Newtown State School has students from Brazil, India, Ghana, Sudan, Kenya, Liberia, Vietnam, China, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Fiji and Papua New Guinea. These students add a wonderfully multicultural dimension to the school.
Students with a first language other than English need to develop a high degree of competence in Standard Australian English to succeed in our Queensland school system. For those students where English is an additional dialect or language, a program taught by our specialist teacher and teacher aides, provides English language support to these students. The program aims to develop these students' language skills to enable them to participate fully in mainstream classrooms and to enhance their learning outcomes.
Data collection
Teachers collect student progress and achievement data using a range of assessment tools. This data is used to both monitor student progress and to inform teaching/learning practices.
Moderation
Class teachers regularly engage in focused professional dialogue to discuss and analyse how closely the evidence in student work matches the year level achievement standards. Whilst teachers undertake internal moderation of student work samples each semester, they also participate in external moderation where they meet with their year level counterparts in other schools of the local cluster to moderate in one or more key learning areas. This process ensures consistency of teacher judgement and the grading of work across district schools.
Parent/teacher interviews
Face to face interviews between class teachers and parents are offered and conducted in term 1 and term 3 each year. These meetings provide an opportunity to discuss each student’s progress and ongoing goals.
School Based Reporting
Parents are provided with a report of their child’s achievement, effort and behaviour for the semester twice per year; at the end of term 2 and term 4.
National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN)
Reports are issued to the parents/carers of all Year 3 & Year 5 students who have been involved in the national assessment program.
School Review
With a moral imperative to improve student learning in Queensland state schools, School Reviews are regularly conducted in every Queensland state school using the National School Improvement Tool to provide quality feedback on what the school is doing well and how the school can improve across a range of domains. This feedback is used to inform school planning. The Executive Summary provides a summary of the school’s most recent review.