Outstanding Education Support Team Award
Latrobe Valley Flexible Learning Option
The Education Support team at the Latrobe Valley Flexible Learning Option (LVFLO) support students in their learning by removing any barriers to their education, building relationships and focusing on new pathways to success.
Students participating in the program are on the fringe of disengagement from school.
The Education Support team inducts new students, are involved in the writing of individual learning and education plans and manage the outreach program. Providing significant welfare support, they enable these students to re-engage with mainstream schooling or explore further learning opportunities.
Often working in challenging conditions, the Education Support team provide their expertise and support to a learning environment structured by core learning and electives that emphasise life-skill acquisition.
Forming strong community partnerships to create resources and life-changing opportunities for their students, the Education Support team have engaged parents, commercial and educational organisations to help sustain viable pathways for their students’ learning and success.
Outstanding Inclusive Education Award
Kangaroo Flat Primary School
‘Every face has a place’ at Kangaroo Flat Primary School, where wellbeing and inclusion have a strong focus and students learning needs are accommodated responsively, ensuring every student can thrive emotionally as well as academically.
The team at Kangaroo Flat Primary School believe all behaviour is meaningful. An effective school-wide positive behaviour framework has guided the school’s teachers, English as an Additional Language (EAL) staff and large multicultural student cohort to achieve sustained improvement in student experience and outcomes.
Student outcome data informs the planning and consultative meetings share learning expectations with students and their families. Strong partnerships with home and local authorities extend expertise and access to support for students, including the introduction of the school dog ‘Bonnie’ to the classroom and EAL parent workshops, where Multicultural Education Aides help families to support their child’s learning at home and school.
Kangaroo Flat Primary School continues to rate well-above the state average in all areas of the Attitudes to School Survey.
Outstanding Koorie Education Award
Swan Hill Primary School
At Swan Hill Primary School, initiatives to improve the educational outcomes of their Koorie students are significantly closing the achievement gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal learners.
A strong emphasis on student wellbeing has been guided by the Marrung Educational Plan and supported by the appointment of an indigenous Koorie Officer as an Educational Support to the school.
The team have worked collaboratively to integrate Koorie family, culture and learning at the school, creating initiatives such as the Koorie Homework Program and working with local Elders to bring the Wamba Wamba language into the curriculum, developing their own app to support the initiative.
The success of their efforts is clear: in 2019, nearly half of Aboriginal students achieved results in the top two NAPLAN bands and in spelling. Koorie students surveyed also demonstrated increases in levels of positive endorsement for their schooling.
Outstanding School Improvement Award
Cobram Primary School
Since 2017, Cobram Primary School has been on a journey of whole-school improvement. A truly collaborative approach led by a highly-skilled leadership team and supported by teachers and educational consultants, has enabled an evidence informed, team-driven transformation of the school.
The School Improvement Team developed and implemented collective approaches to curriculum development, assessment and the building of teacher capacity, ensuring the consistency and quality of teaching practice across all classrooms. New curriculum scope and sequence now guarantees multiple exposures to content required for student progression and provides consistency across year levels.
In 2018/19, significantly improved student achievement, especially in Reading and Numeracy, led to Cobram Primary School being highly regarded as an exemplar school.
Collaboration is central to Cobram Primary School's everyday practice. As a school that is now recognised as influential in delivering quality teaching practice, they also work with schools from across Victoria and New South Wales to assist with their own school improvement journeys, helping to lift student outcomes across the sector.
Outstanding Provision for High-Ability Students – Primary Award
River Gum Primary School
At River Gum Primary School, they believe in inclusive education where every student is challenged and has a voice.
Developing an effective approach to accelerating the academic achievement and engagement of their high-ability learners, they have implemented a sustainable and engaging flipped-learning model, enabling cohorts of students to dramatically improve their outcomes and achievement levels.
Innovation is the focus for the development and implementation of the school’s 2020 flipped-learning high-ability program. Offering a combination of online and face-to-face approaches, the model is focused on four key outcomes for students: fostering creative thinking, ambitious goal setting, global citizenship and empowering students.
These outcomes are derived from the Victorian Teaching and Learning Model (VTLM).
The positive impact of this innovative program on both student learning growth and proficiency can be measured by the school’s outstanding NAPLAN results. This program has significantly increased the capability of their students to excel – especially in the remote and flexible learning period we negotiated this year.
Outstanding Provision for High-Ability Students – Secondary Award
Preston High School
Preston High School’s innovative approach to teaching high-ability learners operating significantly above their age-group peers, rests on maximising differentiated learning and inspiring students’ engagement with their education.
The school’s Learner Growth Approach successfully embeds High Impact Teaching Strategies (HITS) and Practice Principles, both essential elements of the Framework for Improving Student Outcomes (FISO). Aligning this dynamic, evidence-informed learning approach with the Victorian Curriculum, high-ability students can learn years in advance of their age-group.
Preston High School’s developmentally focused approach and curriculum creates a dynamic academic environment where each student is empowered to shape their learning by what fascinates them. In the schools’ Academic Enhancement Program, students apply their learning to make a positive impact in their communities, boosting opportunities to demonstrate student agency, engagement and leadership.
Preston High School’s outstanding success in achieving positive student outcomes is supported by comprehensive data, where in both NAPLAN and the Student Attitudes to School Surveys they rate well-above state and similar school averages.