Granville East Public School, Granville, New South Wales –
Principal: Mr
John Selby
With high mobility levels and nine out of ten students having a
non-English speaking background, Granville East Public School took the
decision three years ago, under the leadership of new Principal, Mr John
Selby, to apply the theory and best practice that underpins Reading Recovery
across its K-2 literacy program.
However, rather than remove students from the classroom for focused
literacy sessions, additional teachers work in the classroom so that
students can work in a familiar environment in small groups matched to
text-level ability.
The program commenced with Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 children two
years ago. Literacy support is organised around a solid block of time each
morning four days per week. With many new students each year, the school has
a New Arrivals Program particularly aimed at ‘jump-starting’ pupils with
little or no English. The school works on the basis that "you have to get it
right as early as possible" and applies targeted resources to special needs.
Four teachers have received formal training in Reading Recovery while all
other K-2 class teachers and support teachers have received intensive,
ongoing training and development based around the theory and practices
applied in Reading Recovery. This training and development was delivered
monthly by the Regional Reading Recovery tutor, over two years. The school
openly subscribes to the philosophy of ‘valuing the teacher as a learner’
and so when a new emphasis was placed on teaching the basic rules of
grammar, many of the teachers voluntarily upgraded their own knowledge in
this area so that they could teach more effectively.
Assessment is a key element of the success at Granville East. All
Kindergarten students are assessed when they enter the school using the New
South Wales Department of Education’s ‘Starting With Assessment’ kit, which
uses a range of indicators. In addition to class-based assessments, running
records are also carried out twice a year (February and September) across
K-2 to monitor student progress and to help identify teacher training and
development needs.
As in reading recovery, ongoing, quality training and development and
coaching occurs. The three professional learning teams (K-2, 3-4 and 5-6)
prepare professional learning plans annually. Team members then assist each
other with professional learning within their teams.
According to Mr Selby, ‘staff are still working hard these days, but they
are working smarter and getting much better results’.
Members of the Inquiry committee visited Granville East Public School on
1 August 2005.
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