DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
Queensland State School Reporting – 2011
Albert State School (0038)
/ Postal address / 210-220 Albert Street Maryborough 4650
Phone / (07) 4120 0888
Fax / (07) 4120 0800
Email /
Webpages / Additional reporting information pertaining to Queensland state schools is located on the My School website and the Department’s Right to Information site.
Contact Person / Greg Noble .

Principal’s foreword

Introduction

Thank-you for taking the time to read our school’s Annual Report for the 2011 School Year. We have continued to strive to live up to our motto “Only My Best” during the year. Our students continued to perform well in the academic, social and sporting arenas and our staff members have remained true in their commitment to assisting student hearts and minds to achieve their hopes and dreams. In this report you will find information regarding our school’s scores on national tests, the programs that we offered in 2011, a small snapshot of the work of our staff members, attendance data for our students and on our school’s climate.

School progress towards its goals in 2011

In 2011 we made the following progress towards our goals:
2011 saw the operation of the School-Wide Achievement Team, made up of a teacher aide (Jill Donaldson), a teacher (Kylie Beaven) and the principal (Greg Noble). This group worked with the data that was collected about student learning and analysed it with teachers and other education professionals (e.g Support Teacher: Literacy and Numeracy, Guidance Officer etc.). This was so that improvements to the learning experiences being offered to students could be made. This information also served to assist the operations of our Student Services Committee, a group that meet fortnightly to coordinate school services to meet the needs of our students.
Our school also implemented new Mathematics and English programs. These programs will give a consistency of approach and intent across our school until the implementation of the National Curriculum in 2012.
Our staff members authored professional development plans utilising the Developing Performance Framework. This ensured that the professional development provided to our staff members met their needs in the areas identified by the Department of Education and by our school.
Much work was also undertaken in the social and emotional learning areas, with our staff and students working with Gay Toohey (Turnaround Team) on the development of programs to support our community members. This work included activities from the You Can Do It! program and the KidsMatter program.

Future outlook

The key areas for our School Operational Plan for 2011 are to:
Develop our curriculum to incorporate both national expectations and the needs of our students.
Provide opportunities for our students to grow as learners and as people.
Develop public confidence in our school in both the social and academic realms.
Develop the skills of our staff members so that are high quality educators.
Our school at a glance

School Profile

Coeducational or single sex: Coeducational

Year levels offered: Prep - Year 7

Total student enrolments for this school:

Total Enrolment / Girls / Boys / Enrolment Continuity (Feb 2011 – Nov 2011)
148 / 65 / 83 / 82%

Characteristics of the student body:

Our students are chiefly drawn from inner-city Maryborough, with most students living near our school. During the course of the year there was a decline of 5% in student enrolment. 11 of our students identify as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent and 1 of our students use English as their second language. 15 of our students have a diagnosed learning disability.

Class sizes – Proportion of school classes achieving class size targets in 2011

Phase / Average Class Size
Prep – Year 3 / 24.3
Year 4 – Year 10 / 26.3
Year 11 – Year 12 / NA
All Classes / 25.3

School Disciplinary Absences

Disciplinary Absences / Count of Incidents
Short Suspensions - 1 to 5 days / 7
Long Suspensions - 6 to 20 days / 0
Exclusions / 0
Cancellations of Enrolment / 0

Curriculum offerings

Our distinctive curriculum offerings

Regular physical education sessions from external providers, so students can try new sports e.g. AFL, rugby league, netball, soccer etc.
Early Learning Information and Prep Readiness Sessions offered to the Maryborough community. These sessions include School Readiness, The Importance of Oral Language, Nutrition for Learning and The Importance of Play.
School ANZAC service, coordinated and run by the Year 7 students. A member of the RSL attends, along with members of the school community.
Our Year 4, 5 and 6 students attend a camp at Maranatha. Activities include team work, building resilience, building self-confidence and enhancing self-esteem.
Our Grade 7 students participate in a 3 day Field Trip to Brisbane, visiting places such as the ScienceCentre, the Queensland Museum, Parliament House, Queensland Police Museum and Suncorp Stadium.
Visits by other school skipping teams. Participation in the Jump Rope for Heart program and in skipping has been popular at our school and visits such as these allow our students to remain enthusiastic about physical activity.
The Spinal Education Awareness Team visits our school to share with our students information about preventing a spinal injury.
Presentations on Indigenous dance, song and culture with our students.
Our students from Prep – Grade 2 attend the Fraser Coast Show.
We coordinate the timetables of our teacher aides and specialist teachers to allow students to be in small groups as they undertake literacy and numeracy activities.

Extra curricula activities

Our Choirs and Grade 7s visit the Pensioners’ Hall to share their musical prowess with the group.
Instrumental Music Workshops give our students the opportunity to work with students from other schools, to improve their musical skills and to engage in a public performance.
“Mary Poppins” and the Town Crier visit our school to share the activities that are being offered during the holidays to the students.
Our Strings and Concert Band groups attend the Maryborough Music Festival.
Both School Choirs attend Choral Fest.
Our choirs attend the Maryborough Eisteddfod.
Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students select some of the their friends to join them at the Maryborough Cluster Reconciliation Day events.

How Information and Communication Technologies are used to assist learning

Albert State School uses technology to enhance learning, with classes utilising and enhancing their skills in movie making, word processing, digital still photography, Powerpoint and animations on a regular basis. Classes often work together on projects and activities, allowing our students to develop skills as both learners and leaders. In 2011 some classes began to use robotics and worked on developing web sites and blogs.
All classrooms have an interactive whiteboard and data projector to enhance lessons. These are used by teachers and students as a tool to better understand concepts and to make learning more motivating.
Laptops for Teachers program – all teachers have their own laptops to allow them access to a computer at any time and to enhance their computer skills.

Social climate

Our school’s tone is a positive one, with our Code of Behaviour used to assist students to make the best choices possible. This is arranged around the acronym of “ALBERT”:
A Good Name,
Learning,
Be Safe,
Empathy,
Responsibility, and
Tidiness.
Positive student behaviour is recognised through a variety of avenues from in class rewards to whole school community recognition at our Honour Ceremony. Unsuitable behaviours are dealt with firmly and consistently in line with our Responsible Behaviour Plan. Early and meaningful communication with parents and caregivers around student behaviour is an integral part of our process. Our students are also engaged in community support programs e.g. the students raise money for the families affected by natural disasters.
Our School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) committee undertakes actions such as surveys of staff members and community members about student behaviour, looking at which student behaviours need to be referred to the office, which should involve parent/ carer contact and enunciating clearly the consequences of student behaviour. This committee is made up of a mix of staff, parents/ caregivers and community members. SWPBS provides an ongoing framework to accomplish this task, with the aforementioned people working as partners in the process. Initially we met fortnightly, but this has now become once a month. We see the operations of this group as being long-term.
One of the issues that this group has worked on in our school is that of bullying. We work with our students to allow them to understand what constitutes bullying, its effects and how to respond should they see bullying occur, or if they are the victim of bullying behaviour. This is achieved through learning activities, role play, sessions on our weekly Parade etc. We encourage our students and their families to report their concerns about bullying as soon as possible after the event so that it can be investigated and acted upon. When bullying is reported and substantiated, our responses to it include counselling, implementing processes such as the Model of Shared Concern, working with the families to better understand the issues, student withdrawal from playground activities and School Disciplinary Absences.
Our school also operates a Mentor Program where volunteers work with students to build on their self-esteem and to encourage their continuing engagement with school. This program also includes a Breakfast Program. Students can access breakfast every morning for a minimal cost, with some students being able to have breakfast for no charge.
Our school joins with other schools in Maryborough in the operation of a Chaplaincy program to further augment the intangible social skilling work in which we engage. However, we do not operate a Religious Education Program in our school.
In the 2011 School Opinion survey, 59 % of students were satisfied “with the behaviour of students at this school”, 94.7 % were satisfied “that they were safe at this school”, 87.2 % were satisfied “that they are happy to go to this school”, 87.2 % were satisfied “that they are treated fairly at this school” and 92.3 % of students were satisfied “that this a good school”.
In the 2011 School Opinion survey, 63.2 % of parents were satisfied “with the behaviour of students at this school”, 84.2 % were satisfied “that their child was safe at this school”, 78.9 % were satisfied “that their child is happy to go to this school”, 84.2 % were satisfied “that their child was treated fairly at this school” and 78.9 % of parents were satisfied “that this a good school”.

Parent, student and teacher satisfaction with the school

Our parents, students and teachers are satisfied with the services that we provide in our school. Our school community is very supportive, with the school working closely with its members in both proactive and reactive ways in order to improve our operations.
In the area of staff morale, some issues were highlighted in the areas of access to timely professional development, degree of knowledge of curriculum issues and involvement in the setting of the school’s strategic directions. Attention will be given to these issues in 2012.
Performance measure / Result 2011
Percentage of parents/caregivers satisfied that their child is getting a good education at school / 84%
Percentage of students satisfied that they are getting a good education at school / 92%
Percentage of parents/caregivers satisfied with their child’s school / 84%
Percentage of school workforce satisfied with access to professional development opportunities that relate to school and systemic initiatives / 73%
Percentage of staff members satisfied with morale in the school / 76%

Involving parents in their child’s education

Parents are involved in their children’s education at Albert State School on a variety of levels and through processes depending on their interests, commitment and availability. Some examples of these levels of involvement include involvement at strategic decision making through our school’s P. & C. in the areas of the school’s Operational Plan, the School Budget and the production of an Annual School Report.
Involvement at a classroom support level is encouraged through volunteering for daily changing of home reading books in the early years classes, listening to sight words and reading, attending year level parent information sessions, assisting with activities in classrooms, supporting individual children with special projects and presentations in their classrooms and involvement in excursions and camps. Parents with particular interests or skills are also encouraged to volunteer their time to share these with our students.
Parents are kept up to date with school events through the newsletter and special notes. Information about student progress is provided through report cards and interviews, which are offered twice per year at the end of each semester.
However, parents are also encouraged to maintain a close, informal contact with their child’s teacher throughout the year. Our parents also have access to a variety of training sessions through the year, such as Support-A-Talker, positive parenting, nutrition, developing the motor skills of their children etc.

Reducing the school’s environmental footprint

Our school’s environmental footprint has seen a decrease over the last 12 months, but this needs to be put into context. Last year 2 new buildings were added and the spike in water usage may have been due, in part, to this construction. To further our efforts in this area, it is hoped that in 2012 we will become a part of the Earth Smart program. This program will allow our school to author a plan that will reduce our environmental footprint and to engage in more sustainable practices.
Environmental footprint indicators, 2010-2011
Electricity
KwH / Water KL
2011 / 59,796 / 675
2010 / 59,427 / 587
% change 10 - 11 / 1% / 15%
Our staff profile

Staff composition, including Indigenous staff

Workforce Composition / Teaching Staff / Non-teaching Staff / Indigenous Staff
Headcounts / 8 / 10 / 0
Full-time equivalents / 8 / 7 / 0
Qualifications of all teachers

Expenditure on and teacher participation in professional development