Background Information
Westerly Primary School
Westerly Primary School is a metropolitan government primary school consisting of approximately 400 students from 4-year old Kindergarten to Year 6. Over 60% of the students are from middle class families. Only 4% of the student population are reported as Indigenous and 11% of students have a language background other than English. In 2015, Westerly PS had an attendance rate of 92%.
The school motto is “Honesty, Respect, Responsibility”. This is evident in the new behaviour management plan introduced within the school this year.
There are twenty one full time equivalent teaching staff with ten teaching assistants within the school. The Year 3 classroom has a special needs assistant three days per week. Westerly PS comprises of a number of specialist teachers including Science, Performing Arts, Indonesian and Physical Education. The specialist classes are delivered for one hour a week to all students from Preprimary to Year 6. The specialist classes provide opportunities for teachers to access their required DOTT time. Having specialist teachers allowed me to observe Science being delivered in a hands on, engaging manner with specialized equipment.
The classroom teacher is responsible for taking students to the Library. During the session the students swap their books and listen to a story. There is a Library assistant who scans the books in and out for the students.
Time is allocated to each class for use in the Computer Lab once a week for an hour. The classroom teacher is responsible for programming and implementing the program for use of the computers. There are 36 computers in the allocated computer room, while there are enough computers per child the infrastructure for networks and Internet capabilities is lacking. The frustration for teachers and students is very apparent when logging on to computers and using the Internet.
The Year Three class consists of 23 students, 15 boys and 8 girls. The limited number of girls in the class affects issues such as seating, group work, lining up, social interactions as well as the class demeanor.
There is a large number of students on Group Education Programs (GEP) and Individual Education Programs (IEP). Reading groups are separated into ability levels and differing words are provided for Spelling activities to cater for individual needs.
The school is moderately resourced and the teaching staff was generous in helping to build my resources, share professional learning, and provide materials for activities that I had planned. Consumable resources were limited within the classroom. This emphasised the importance to use recycled materials where possible, to make judgements about what was essential and what items were able to be reused for craft or display purposes.
The parents were actively involved in the classroom and keen to contribute to the students’ learning. Parents were invited to attend the excursion I organised and were supportive with helping in the classroom. Following each classes’ assembly the parents are invited to join their child for morning tea. This helped in building the school community. Following our class assembly the students were excited to share a learning celebration with their parents by looking at all of their work, while enjoying a shared meal.
The school motto is “Honesty, Respect, Responsibility”. This is evident in the new behaviour management plan introduced within the school this year.
There are twenty one full time equivalent teaching staff with ten teaching assistants within the school. The Year 3 classroom has a special needs assistant three days per week. Westerly PS comprises of a number of specialist teachers including Science, Performing Arts, Indonesian and Physical Education. The specialist classes are delivered for one hour a week to all students from Preprimary to Year 6. The specialist classes provide opportunities for teachers to access their required DOTT time. Having specialist teachers allowed me to observe Science being delivered in a hands on, engaging manner with specialized equipment.
The classroom teacher is responsible for taking students to the Library. During the session the students swap their books and listen to a story. There is a Library assistant who scans the books in and out for the students.
Time is allocated to each class for use in the Computer Lab once a week for an hour. The classroom teacher is responsible for programming and implementing the program for use of the computers. There are 36 computers in the allocated computer room, while there are enough computers per child the infrastructure for networks and Internet capabilities is lacking. The frustration for teachers and students is very apparent when logging on to computers and using the Internet.
The Year Three class consists of 23 students, 15 boys and 8 girls. The limited number of girls in the class affects issues such as seating, group work, lining up, social interactions as well as the class demeanor.
There is a large number of students on Group Education Programs (GEP) and Individual Education Programs (IEP). Reading groups are separated into ability levels and differing words are provided for Spelling activities to cater for individual needs.
The school is moderately resourced and the teaching staff was generous in helping to build my resources, share professional learning, and provide materials for activities that I had planned. Consumable resources were limited within the classroom. This emphasised the importance to use recycled materials where possible, to make judgements about what was essential and what items were able to be reused for craft or display purposes.
The parents were actively involved in the classroom and keen to contribute to the students’ learning. Parents were invited to attend the excursion I organised and were supportive with helping in the classroom. Following each classes’ assembly the parents are invited to join their child for morning tea. This helped in building the school community. Following our class assembly the students were excited to share a learning celebration with their parents by looking at all of their work, while enjoying a shared meal.