Principal S Message s8
Messages
Principal’s message
Black Springs Public School is located in the small village of Black Springs. It had 21 children enrolled at the end of 2011 from both the village and the surrounding district. Black Springs Public School is a friendly and supportive school that develops the skills, knowledge and values that students need to lead productive and rewarding lives. The children learn in a safe, caring, stimulating, individualized, challenging and picturesque environment and are encouraged to reach their full potential. Quality academic programs, excellent facilities, abundant resources and professional, dynamic, caring and highly dedicated staff offer the students the very best opportunities for success. Black Springs Public School prides itself on delivering outstanding educational programs. The school has a well supported Parents and Citizens Association with a highly developed sense of collaborative spirit. Black Springs Public School is well resourced in all curriculum areas and additional curricular activities are offered to all students. The school is well equipped with the latest of technologies that prepare every student for the future and the use of computers occurs across all key learning areas.
The school’s focus on anti bullying and peer support, through the Alannah and Madeline Foundation’s Better Buddies Program, has been very successful and will be maintained in 2012.
I certify that the information in this report is the result of a rigorous school self-evaluation process and is a balanced and genuine account of the school’s achievements and areas for development.
Karolyn Blackburn - Principal
P & C message
This year the Black Springs P&C has had great success in trialling some new fundraising ideas.
We greatly appreciated the opportunity of catering for a car rally that took place in May. This will now be an annual event, and we hope to see it grow bigger each year. We also took advantage of our new BBQ, which was kindly donated to us by Bunnings Warehouse, with a couple of sausage sizzles - the major one being held at the Oberon Christmas Street Party.
The P&C also organized a disco which was profitable as well as being thoroughly enjoyed by our children.
Great thanks go to Katie Maher who donated gifts for a Christmas toy raffle run by the P&C. We also held smaller raffles throughout the year.
The profits from all our fundraising went toward helping with the cost of the major school excursion to Narrabeen, as well as providing other educational benefits for our children.
The P&C extends a big thank you and much appreciation to the Black Springs Progress Association for the funding of the swim school once again this year.
A final special thank you is also extended to all our teachers, members of the community and the families of Black Springs Public School for your continuous support of our school.
Katie Paahi – P&C President
Student representative’s message
In 2011 the Student Representative Council (SRC) ran, with the assistance of staff, Monday lunches. The SRC also ran the Milo program throughout the year. The Easter egg hunt, hat parade and sausage sizzle was again a huge success raising funds for our World Vision sponsor child. We organised St Patrick’s Day, Earth Hour, NAIDOC Week and Better Buddies events and celebrations. Year five and six students participated in leadership training.
Sian Evans SRC President
School context
Student information
It is a requirement that the reporting of information for all students must be consistent with privacy and personal information policies.
Student enrolment profile
Gender / 2007 / 2008 / 2009 / 2010 / 2011Male / 11 / 8 / 6 / 11 / 12
Female / 16 / 9 / 5 / 8 / 8
Enrolment figures have been maintained from 2010 to 2011. Two students will be entering high school and possibly three will enrol in kindergarten for 2012.
Student attendance profile
School / Year / 2008 / 2009 / 2010 / 2011K / 100.0 / 97.5 / 96.2
1 / 98.9 / 96.5 / 94.9
2 / 91.3 / 93.1 / 92.4
3 / 96.8 / 95.8 / 94.6
4 / 89.5 / 95.2 / 96.1
5 / 98.4 / 91.0 / 95.7
6 / 96.8 / 95.2 / 92.9
Total / 95.0 / 96.2 / 95.2 / 95.1
Region / K / 92.6 / 92.6 / 92.5
1 / 92.1 / 92.3 / 91.9
2 / 92.3 / 92.3 / 92.5
3 / 92.2 / 92.4 / 92.3
4 / 92.4 / 92.4 / 92.3
5 / 92.3 / 92.4 / 92.2
6 / 92.2 / 92.2 / 92.0
Total / 92.2 / 89.9 / 92.4 / 92.2
State DEC / K / 94.3 / 94.7 / 94.7
1 / 93.7 / 94.2 / 94.2
2 / 94.0 / 94.4 / 94.2
3 / 94.1 / 94.5 / 94.4
4 / 94.0 / 94.5 / 94.3
5 / 94.0 / 94.4 / 94.2
6 / 93.6 / 94.0 / 93.8
Total / 94.1 / 92.1 / 94.4 / 94.3
Management of non-attendance
Black Springs Public School is supported by the Home School Liaison Officer who assists with identifying students with high absenteeism. Parents are made aware of their responsibilities to ensure their children attend school through regular communication including notices in the school newsletter, P & C meetings and telephone calls. Students are required to supply a written and signed explanation following any absence.
Class sizes
Primary class sizes are included in the annual school report in order to provide parents with as much local information as possible. The following table shows our class sizes as reported at the 2011 Class Size Audit conducted on Monday 21 March 2011.
Roll class / Year / Total per year / Total In classK-6 / K / 4 / 18
K-6 / 1 / 3 / 18
K-6 / 2 / 2 / 18
K-6 / 3 / 1 / 18
K-6 / 4 / 5 / 18
K-6 / 5 / 1 / 18
K-6 / 6 / 2 / 18
Structure of classes
Students at Black Springs Public School are taught in one multi-stage class. The class is made up of students in Early Stage 1 (Kindergarten), Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2)), Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4) and Stage 3 (Years 5 and 6).
Staff information
It is a requirement that the reporting of information for all staff must be consistent with privacy and personal information policies.
Staff establishment
Position / NumberPrincipal / 1
Part-time Teachers / 0.084
Teacher Librarian / 0.084
Teacher RFF / 0.042
General Assistant / 0.17
School Administrative & Support Staff / 0.896
Total / 1.006
The National Education Agreement requires schools to report on Indigenous composition of their workforce.
Black Springs Public School does not currently have staff of an indigenous composition within its workforce.
Staff retention
There was no change in staffing between the 2010 and 2011 school years.
Teacher qualifications
All teaching staff meet the professional requirements for teaching in NSW public schools.
Qualifications / % of staffDegree or Diploma / 100
Postgraduate / 0
Financial summary
This summary covers funds for operating costs and does not involve expenditure areas such as permanent salaries, building and major maintenance.
Date of financial summary / 30/11/2011Income / $
Balance brought forward / 49798.74
Global funds / 41739.98
Tied funds / 64104.14
School & community sources / 13170.59
Interest / 2015.88
Trust receipts / 757.40
Canteen / 0.00
Total income / 171,586.73
Expenditure
Teaching & learning
Key learning areas / 15369.23
Excursions / 5296.08
Extracurricular dissections / 6380.20
Library / 300.49
Training & development / 3670.52
Tied funds / 25984.39
Casual relief teachers / 987.82
Administration & office / 35465.44
School-operated canteen / 0.00
Utilities / 6873.91
Maintenance / 5337.47
Trust accounts / 2128.26
Capital programs / 0.00
Total expenditure / 107,793.81
Balance carried forward / 63792.92
A full copy of the school’s 2011 financial statement is tabled at the annual general meeting of the parent body. Further details concerning the statement can be obtained by contacting the school.
School performance 2011
Achievements
Arts
Black Springs Public School offers a range of Arts activities.
Music highlights of the year included:
· K-6 performance of a major musical production called ‘The Selfish Giant’ for presentation night at the end of the year;
· Attendance at Musica Viva performances;
· K-6 choir performance at local high school Education Week assembly;
· Weekly music lessons, with a specialist music teacher, learning keyboard, drums, guitar and percussion; and
· Achieving 1st place for Small School’s percussion, 2nd place for Small School’s choir, highly commended for Small School’s verse speaking and infants percussion sections at the Bathurst Eisteddfod.
Five students achieved place awards in the Bathurst Show Junior Scrapbooking section.
Three students were selected to compete in the Premier’s Spelling Bee at the regional level.
All students participated in a pottery workshop to make plaques for National Tree Day and a climate change art workshop.
The students were all involved in specialist art and poetry lessons provide by a local bush poet and artist.
Sport
The students had a very successful year competing in a variety of sports. The students joined with students from the Bathurst Small Schools Association to compete in a variety of winter and summer sports. Students are encouraged to participate in inter school and Primary School Sports Association (PSSA) opportunities.
Significant individual performances included:
· Alicia Maclure who competed at District Cross Country and Meka Paahi who competed at District Athletics level this year; and
· Our other sporting stars included Madison Pincott and Jessica Maclure, who competed in the Bathurst Small Schools netball team.
Students participate in daily fitness, the Premier’s Sporting Challenge, in which they achieved ‘gold’ level, and the Sports Commission sponsored Active After School’s program with an aim to increase an appreciation of the need for regular healthy activity but to also provide skill development. The Active After Schools program was held two afternoons a week and provided the students with a healthy afternoon tea and sixty minutes of tennis, golf and dance activities.
The school maintained its commitment to providing swimming lessons for all students at the Oberon Pool.
Other
Two students represented Black Springs Public School at the Country Women’s Public Speaking Competition.
Year 6 students participated in the i-learn program at Denison College – Kelso High Campus. The transition program offered Year 6 the opportunity to spend five days at Kelso in preparation for their secondary education.
The school held two special scripture services throughout the year. One for Easter and one for Christmas.
Visitors, Camps and Excursions
The students went on a number of excursions which supported the achievement of learning outcomes across all Key Learning Areas. Apart from the learning stimulus the opportunities for social interaction and leadership were invaluable. The students from Black Springs Public School joined with the students in Stages 2 and 3 from other schools in the Bathurst Small Schools Association.
The camps and excursions in 2011 were:
· Student leadership conference;
· Small Schools Athletics Carnival;
· Musica Viva;
· Health Havoc performance by final year Charles Sturt University drama students;
· My Gandma Lives in Gooligulch Show;
· High School Transition Days;
· Eisteddfod performance;
· Swimming Carnival;
· Pet Ownership workshop;
· Oberon Library reading sessions;
· Book Week celebrations;
· Telstra Beach to Bush;
· Stage 2 camp to Dubbo;
· Stage 3 camp to Broken Bay;
· Gala Sports days;
· Swimming Lessons; and
· Kindergarten to Year six visited Narrabeen Sport and Recreation Centre for three days and two nights in term 4.
Academic
In the National Assessment Program, the results across the Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 literacy and numeracy assessments are reported on a scale from Band 1 to Band 10.
The achievement scale represents increasing levels of skills and understandings demonstrated in these assessments.
Yr 3: from Band 1 (lowest) to Band 6 (highest for Year 3)
Yr 5: from Band 3 (lowest) to Band 8 (highest for Year 5)
The small cohort of students does not allow discussion or comparison of results due to reporting protocols that could identify students.
However an analysis of results has enabled individual programs of support for students and also set some further direction for school planning and staff professional learning. All students demonstrate improved outcomes.
The school follows the Western NSW Region Assessment Framework to ascertain student improvement over the year.
Progress in literacy and numeracy
Schools with larger enrolment intakes are able to display average growths between Years 3 and 5. Due to the small cohorts in Years 3 and 5 Black Springs Public School is unable to report on this information.
Minimum standards
The Commonwealth Government sets minimum standards for reading, writing, grammar and punctuation, spelling and numeracy for Years 3, 5, 7 and 9.
The performance of the students in our school in the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy is compared to these minimum standards. The percentages of our students achieving at or above these standards are reported below. When interpreting the information keep in mind that they are small cohorts.
Percentage of Year 3 students achieving at or above minimum standard (exempt students included)Reading / 100.0
Writing / 100.0
Spelling / 100.0
Grammar & Punctuation / 100.0
Numeracy / 100.0
Percentage of Year 5 students achieving at or above minimum standard (exempt students included)
Reading / 100.0
Writing / 100.0
Spelling / 100.0
Grammar & Punctuation / 100.0
Numeracy / 100.0
Significant programs and initiatives