Newmarket State School ANNUAL REPORT 2019 Queensland State School Reporting Every student succeeding State Schools Improvement Strategy Department of Education Contact information Postal address PO Box 225 Alderley 4051 Phone (07) 3552 7222 Fax (07) 3552 7200 Email [email protected] Webpages Additional information about Queensland state schools is located on: the My School website the Queensland Government data website the Queensland Government schools directory website. 2019 Annual Report 1 Newmarket State School From the Principal School overview Newmarket State School is a small inner-city school with a proud history. Our motto is "Over 100 years of Learning and Caring". Enrolments have been steadily growing over the past few years. Excellence in learning and strong community values are two distinctive features of our school. The core business of our school is having quality programs to allow students to achieve in the eight key learning areas, and within these programs, a commitment to literacy and numeracy is fundamental. A supportive, tolerant and active community is characteristic of our school. The active role of parents in the Parents and Citizens association and in daily school activities strengthens our community and contributes to the range of opportunities available to our students. We believe in providing an excellent academic education combined with the development of an individual's self-esteem. These two goals provide the basis for lifelong learning and success. The "You Can Do It" program and "The Newmarket Mindset Manifesto" programs provide a strong foundation for learning at Newmarket SS. Extracurricular activities and community involvement in our school are additional aspects of our school that add value to students' learning. Extra-curricular activities include Years 5 and 6 camps, Student Council representation, leadership roles and responsibilities, inter-school and representative sports, choir and band participation and STEM activities. A strong focus on environmental education through our links with Brisbane Urban Environmental Education Centre is another feature of our school. Parents, students and teachers alike believe that 'this is a good school'. Introduction The intent of this report is to provide parents and the wider school community with information that is common for all state and non-state schools throughout Queensland. It provides an overview of the programs and achievements of Newmarket State School during the 2019 school year. This report also includes important information about student performance as well as links to further information on the MySchool website. I trust that you find the information contained in this report about our school of interest. Should you require any further information, please contact the Principal as indicated above. School Progress towards its goals in 2019 In 2016, Newmarket State School completed its four-yearly review (QSR) and 2019 was the third year of the four-year cycle. Newmarket State School continued with a sharp and narrow explicit improvement agenda: Continued to develop staff understanding of the relationship between the Australian Curriculum and C2C units Continued to develop and refine the school’s Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Plan Continued to provide opportunities for high achieving students to participate in U2B programs Continued to embed a Whole School Approach to the teaching of Reading and Writing Developed consistency and expertise in pedagogical practices through collegial collaboration Continued to develop consistency in judgments through school-based and City Cluster moderation processes Continued to develop a framework for teachers to improve pedagogical practices in the teaching of reading that includes feedback from colleagues and supervisors and aligns with the school’s pillars and givens and regional quality standards Continued to implement and embed the school’s Pedagogical Framework with a focus on Explicit Instruction Implemented NAPLAN online All teachers were given opportunities to further develop skills in coding and the use of other digital technologies. A teacher continued in the role of E-Learning teacher to assist with this process. Our curriculum focus was on implementing and embedding the Australian Curriculum in English, Mathematics, Science, HASS and the Digital Technologies Curriculum. Newmarket SS teachers continued to use the EQ produced C2C units in all curriculum areas, which included lesson plans as well as a range of resources including many digital resources for use on the IWB. We also continued to focus on our spelling program, “Words Their Way”. The success of these programs was highlighted in the pleasing results our students achieved during NAPLAN. 2019 Annual Report 2 Newmarket State School As a school, we were above the State and National mean for every domain in each year level. Results were as follows: Year 3: Reading 92.0%, Numeracy 67.0% in the top two bands. Year 5: Reading 69.0 %, Numeracy 50.0 % in the top two bands. We continue to maintain excellent results which I attribute to: An explicit improvement agenda, dedicated staff, community involvement and a supportive school community. Our excellent results ranked us at 32 out of 869 primary schools across the state. On several occasions, staff met with other teachers in the cluster to participate in moderation activities. This gave them the opportunity to discuss and analyse student work and to make consistent judgements by matching evidence in student work to the standards. Another element of QCAR is the Reporting Framework. This was continued with twice yearly written reports to parents on student achievement on a five-point scale (A-E). Further development was undertaken on our school’s Information Communications Technology for Learning Agreement. This plan ensures we have a replacement schedule for all of our IT hardware and a future plan. It also illustrates how we will prepare our students for the technologically rich world in which they live. In 2019, teachers participated in professional development sessions to increase their skills in the use of online literacy programs, the use of IPads and coding and robotics skills in order to enhance learning for their students. Several of our year, 5 and 6 students attended the City Cluster High Achievers Program which gave them automatic selection into the Young Scholars Program. This program is offered through the Queensland Academies to provide extension to our high achieving students. Three of our talented Year 6 students were selected to participate in Show Camp, which ran for the duration of the Royal National Show. Students from all over the state came together for this wonderful opportunity. The students further developed their writing and ICT skills, as they were involved in writing articles for the daily editions produced over the show period. Newmarket State School hosted Creative Sparks – Mini Writers Festival and Mini Scientists Festival. Two of our talented writers from Year 4 attended the writing festival and had the opportunity to work with a local author. Two of our students attended the Mini Scientist Festival run by BUEEC, two of our students attended a Design Thinking Program and two students attended the Mini Coders Festival. These programs provided extension opportunities for our more capable students. The appointment of an E-Learning teacher was crucial in enhancing the STEM agenda. Our students participated in STEAM Days at EPHS, which exposed them to a range of STEM activities. Competitions and workshops were highlighted and students were encouraged and mentored by our teachers. Our Year 6 Robotics teams entered a regional schools competition and gained much experience. Musically, our band and choirs entertained us on several occasions throughout the year. The choirs also had several performances at community events which were well received by the audience. Three of our students were chosen to attend the prestigious Honours Music Camp. Mrs Battersby, Miss Shannon Becquigny and Miss Harris did a wonderful job developing the musical talents of our students. Several of our classes nurtured our vegetable gardens under the guidance of parent, Sarah Jane Wicks. Classes had the opportunity to cook simple meals from the produce grown. A highlight of the year was gaining second place in the biggest pumpkin competition at the RNA. The same pumpkin was also placed second at the Marburg Show. In the area of art, many of our students won prizes in the Multicultural Centre’s art competitions and several students won prizes in the QTU Peace Awards. Once again, a Newmarket SS student was a winner in the Trevor Evans MP Christmas Card Design Competition. In the sporting arena, Newmarket State School excelled, winning the District Athletics (Small Schools Division) and winning in the District Cross Country (Small Schools Division). Our students also completed winter sport fixtures in soccer and netball, T-Ball, Baseball and AFL. These fixtures were played over three Gala Days in summer and winter. One of our Year 6 male students did us proud by representing Met North in the Primary Schools Queensland Hockey Championships held in Townsville where Met North Region came second. We further embedded the ‘Mindset Manifesto’, growth mindset program throughout the school and offered the “You Can Do It Program” to assist students in further developing life skills. 2019 Annual Report 3 Newmarket State School The success our school has achieved over the past 12 months has been reflected in us maintaining enrolments for the 2020 school year. Our current enrolment is 308. A number of facilities issues were addressed during 2019. These included: Air conditioning for the whole school Murals in the Prep area (Year 6 Legacy Project) A covered walkway built between B Block and the hall School electrical safety upgrade Louvres replaced in A Block toilets A covered walkway extended between A Block and the Prep Room Interactive data projector and whiteboard replacing old hardware in Year 2 and Year 3 classrooms New relocatable classroom for our Year 4 class All of these improvements have greatly enhanced our school and further improvements are planned for 2020.