Welcome to the final newsletter for 2024. Another succesful year!
I would like to start by thanking everyone who has played a part in working with us, together, as we strive to do our best to support our students. Our aim is to create an environment in which they can learn and grow.
I thank everyone but would like to make special mention of our School Council for their ongoing support and guidance as a voice for our community.
Council has been led by President Kelvin Wong and supported by Jeff Fang, Krystle Day, Jim Fang, Deepak Ganga, Aurellia Bion, Nadiah Smith, Fia Moraitis and Staff members Julia Bay, Niky Corfios and Natalie Pike.
Leadership at DPS
Julia Bay and Niky Corfios have recently been promoted to Assistant Principal.
They have been part of our leadership team for some time but since taking the next step into the Principal Class they have raised exectations right across our school. Their knowledge, skills and committment are all about DPS and outcomes for students as they lead, support and challenge our staff to continually improve. They always have students central in all they do.
We encourage and value the ongoing learning and development of our staff, and the positive impacts this has on student outcomes and school improvement.
Julia and Niky have been engaging in a range of professional learning opportunities, some of which they have lead. While they lead learning for our staff at DPS they have also lead workshops and presented to other principal class officers across our network. We have developed a number of initiatives at DPS that other schools have been keen to learn more about, and we are happy and proud to share what we have developed.
An example of the professional learning Julia Bay has completed recently is a course called "Creating Leaders"at the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership.
This program has equipped her with increased confidence and skills to influence and lead improvement in classroom and educational practices in our school.
Through the program, Julia built a greater understanding of good leadership, and has learned about emerging research in teaching, learning and leadership. Additionally, the program has helped Julia to build further capacity to lead whole school improvement, and to develop strategies that help create impact.
We look forward to working with Julia and Niky as they lead whole school improvement which will ultimately promote positive student outcomes a wellbeing at DPS.
Speaking of Leadership, we have completed the selection process for our 2025 School Captains. Level 5 students were invited to submit an appliction in writing. Applications closed on November 22 and in the days following shortlisting took place and ten interviews were held. The selection panel included myself and a number of other staff as well as our current captains. After interviews there were lots of discussion until all agreed on the successful student leaders for 2025, which were announced at our carols afternoon. Once again, this was a difficult process because we are fortunate to have so many suitable candidates which makes it difficult as some students will be disappointed even though they are capable and worthy applicants.
Congratulations to our 2025 Captains:
Alex O
Neli F
Nathaniel C
Chloe D
Early next year students will be invited to apply for other leadership roles at DPS including House Captains, so those who missed out this round can reapply for a different role. They will still be leaders but in a different capacity.
Last week Ms. Bay, Mrs. Corfios and I had a lunch meeting with our current captains. It was a good opportunity to reflect on their roles in 2024 and also to thank them for taking on the responsibilities expected of them as captains.
A big thankyou to Chloe J, Hayley I, Vivaan A and Elijah W on being outstanding leaders at DPS throughout 2024, I wish them and all level six students the best as they embark on the next stage in their educational journey.
Doncaster Primary School (DPS) has been proudly educating the Doncaster Community for 161 years, and we offer quality education by having high expectations of all students. At DPS, we achieve high individual growth by utilising data to inform teaching and learning. Students learn in a safe, vibrant and caring environment that promotes acceptance, confidence, curiosity and respect, in line with our guiding values of Determination, Pride and Success. Our values cultivate positive interactions and expectations for one another; this includes teachers, students, and parents.
The school has a standard of high academic performance and achievement whilst promoting ethical behaviour, personal and social competence, critical and creative thinking, and intercultural understanding. The skills, behaviours and attributes developed will equip students for success in life and work in the 21st Century. We believe in developing the whole child. To that end, our highly experienced teachers coordinate a wide range of extracurricular activities and events to complement the teaching and learning programs for our students.
Doncaster Primary School's reputation ensures that we are a sought after school among international students. We only accept students that meet DET policy criteria and guidelines to ensure that international students are given optimal opportunities for immersion into our school community.
Parents and carers are welcomed as partners in the school community and are involved in decision-making activities through parent associations, committees, and school councils. The school implements strategies and processes to encourage and empower parents and carers to communicate and engage with the school. We communicate opportunities for parent engagement and articulate the benefits of parents as partners for student learning and well-being.
Our staff work in a close partnership with our parents through School Council, Class Representatives, Volunteers and Helpers, Student Conferences and Student Presentations and Information Evenings. The school harnesses the capacity of community partners to collectively meet the diversity of its student needs by accessing such things as expertise, professional development and delivery of activities and services. Partnerships are monitored and reviewed to measure their effectiveness. The school and its partners co-design learning experiences that have mutual benefit. For example, we have a close partnership with the Doncaster Uniting Church which provides Kids Hope Mentors that work one to one with students who may be at risk or would simply benefit from a supportive relationship with someone other than their teacher. Within this context, school leaders and teachers are committed to implementing a consistent whole-school approach to learning and instructional model that is underpinned by explicit teaching and a differentiated curriculum. We acknowledge and cater to different rates and learning styles whilst building consistency of practice across the school through collaborative team planning and reflection, professional learning walks, peer observation within and beyond DPS, and individual and cohort data to inform differentiated lessons and student learning goals.
We are committed to continuing the school's tradition of providing educational excellence for all. DPS has a long and rich history, dating back to 1863. Located in the City of Manningham and the heart of Doncaster Hill, it occupies the s 2.63-hectare site with state-of-the-art facilities. The 550 students are represent a wide range of cultural backgrounds, with a high proportion of children from Language Backgrounds Other Than English. 62% of students have an additional language and 1% are Indigenous. We also have International Students that are part of our school community. The school's overall economic profile is based on the school's Student Family Occupation and Education Index (SFOE), which considers parents' occupations and education.
Doncaster Primary School's socio-educational band value is 'Low', representing a low socio-educational disadvantage. Our school has 38.6 equivalent full-time staff: 3.0 Principal class, 32.2 teachers and 9.5 Education Support Staff.
DPS is an attractive school with beautifully cultivated gardens that ensure a safe learning and playing environment. Our students are fortunate to have vast areas to play, with expansive grounds that include a full-sized oval with soccer nets, cricket pitch, long jump, sandpit and two playgrounds. In addition, students can enjoy playing sports on our recently resurfaced basketball and volleyball courts or enjoying some shade in our seated areas dotted around the school.
Our sustainability garden and chickens keep the children connected to nature. Children are engaged and challenged in wonderfully bright and stimulating learning areas with classes led by teams of high calibre teaching professionals.
Our classrooms and teaching spaces are modern, large, well-equipped, and well-resourced. We have dedicated rooms including Visual Arts, ICT, LOTE, Science, Cultural Studies and Library. The school also has a full-sized gymnasium for indoor Physical Education classes. Experienced staff run engaging programs in each area and offer our students a range of extracurricular opportunities. Additional program areas include sport (swimming, cross country, athletics, gymnastics, team competition); camps including our Grade 6 Camp to Canberra and excursions; cultural activities; music and performance (school productions, concerts, choirs, instrumental tuition); Our School Value are Determination, Pride and Success. Resilience programs; Wellbeing is promoted and supported through our Respectful Relationships and School Wide Positive Behaviours programs.
The Tutor Learning Initiative (TLI) has continued to 'catch' students who may have fallen behind in reading and numeracy due to the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 and remote learning periods. Our TLI program has ensured success for our students due to our exceptionally high standards around the implementation of the program and thoroughly developed practice principles, and most importantly, the dedication and professionalism of our teachers. TLI has focused on students requiring support and those requiring extension. Doncaster Primary School's leadership team is always striving to improve. As such, we take pride in our forward-thinking and goal-driven approach to everything we do for the benefit of the students.
Our approach to continually upskilling staff has ensured a seamless transition into the principal class for Julia Bay and Niky Corfios as well as other staff who have promoted internally to leadership positions.
We are fortunate to have a strong leadership team lead by our PCO’s as follows:
At Doncaster PS we pride ourselves on having high expectations for learning. Our values of Determination, Pride and Success are referred to often. Students are well supported to extend themselves in all aspects of their schooling. The cast majority of our students are working at or above age expected standards in English and Mathematics as assessed against the Victorian Curriculum. Our highly experienced teachers work collaboratively to plan effective lessons and learning tasks to meet the needs of all students to maximise learning growth, this is lead by our Mathematics Learning Specialists. We also have a two Literacy Learning Specialist. A range of assessments are used across the school to inform us of students achievement and outcomes. Teachers monitor learning and provide students the opportunity to engage in relevant learning tasks that promote further development.
Teachers follow our instructional model in Literacy and Numeracy to ensure consistency. They continually reflect on their teaching practices and refine techniques to align with the latest evidenced based teaching methods. High ability students are extended through the Victorian High Abilities Program which consists of ten-week online courses in Mathematics and English for primary aged student in levels 5 & 6. They can also engage with the course material on VSV Online outside of the class time. Selected students at Doncaster have enjoyed participating in this departmental initiative. We are also very proud to offer eligible students from levels 3-6 the opportunity to participate in our in-house high abilities program called Everest. Students are extended through a range of experiences throughout the year culminating with students sitting the International School Assessment exam. We are extremely proud of the students who participated in the program this year and for achieving a minimum of two years above the expected level on the ISA exam. As mentioned the Tutor Learning Initiative provides support for students who may have fallen behind in their learning. Our program has successfully supported students to build momentum in their learning through explicit teaching and effective assessment practices. Teachers use Individual Education Plans to record student learning goals in Literacy and Numeracy. Student progress is monitored and measured twice a term to ensure that students are experiencing growth in their learning. Impressively, a high percentage of our year 3 and 5 students respectively are in the top three bands in Naplan Reading which exceeds similar schools' data. In Naplan Numeracy, we had many of our year 3 and 5 students in the top three bands. We had excellent benchmark growth data in Numeracy with 50% our students experiencing high growth for the last 3 years.
Wellbeing
Student wellbeing is the cornerstone of connected and meaningful learning. At Doncaster PS we believe in educating the whole child and are highly attuned to the wellbeing needs of all our students and we believe that student engagement is the gatekeeper to mental readiness during the teaching-learning process. Student wellbeing was prioritised once again in 2024 in line with our Annual Implementation which focused on effectively mobilising available resources to support students' wellbeing and mental health, We achieved this goal by building staff capacity to notice and respond to signs of student distress and emerging mental illness through professional development. Staff engaged in professional learning on anxiety and creating the conditions in the classroom to support students with self-regulation. Additionally, Andrew Johnson, leads our Wellbeing committee and other schools in our network via the Communities of Practice initiative to share best practices with supporting student wellbeing across the continuum of needs and engaged in professional learning which was then shared with our staff. Teachers have been offered the latest research and strategies to equip them with the knowledge and skills to support and empower students to be mindful of their own wellbeing and the wellbeing of others.
We work closely with teachers to identify students who require additional support and have made referrals to Student Support Services where appropriate. We are very proud of how well our students live our school values of Determination, Pride and Success in everything they do. We have a strong culture of respect and are proud of how we teach children the dispositions and character traits to be upstanding citizens in our school and in the broader community through the School Wide Positive Behaviour program.
In addition, we strengthened in-class relationships through peer and group learning activities, where students can build connections with other students and teachers and engage in team-building activities that promote our school values. At the start of the year, students connected with their classmates and teachers as part of the TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves More) program at DPS, where students engage in several 'get to know you activities'. Students also co-constructed classroom behavioural and learning expectations with their teachers and created posters to reinforce the expected behaviour. In this way, students are clear about what is expected, ensuring everyone has a shared understanding and signifying that wellbeing and student safety are strongly prioritised at our school.
Engagement
We are extremely proud of the high level of student engagement in our learning community. This is evident to anyone who visits the school and is highly visible in all classrooms. Doncaster Primary school students are friendly, welcoming and inclusive. Teachers are committed to creating the optimal learning environment for students to thrive in by creating engaging learning experiences that challenge and stretch all students. The school values of Determination, Pride and Success are explicitly taught, and we have high standards around respectful behaviour at all times which is encouraged by the School Wide Positive Behaviour initiative which was well received by staff and students alike.
2024 saw the introduction to our attendance data wall. This includes protocols around dealing with absences and staff must follow up with families where students were absent without explanation. In addition, the principal team carefully monitor chronic student absenteeism data. It’s not okay to be away.' Is the message shared via newsfeeds, assemblies and the newsletter articles. Where needed, the principal and assistant principal worked with families to establish student engagement plans with clear goals and strategies to reengage students with school life. In addition, the school provided resources to cater to a few students struggling to engage with school and onsite learning through the Peaceful Kids Program. This program was a huge success, and we are pleased to report that all students have fully reengaged with school life and the community. Our absence data for 2023 – 2024 has improved dramatically with much higher attendance across all levels.
We provided students with opportunities to build leadership skills and take up roles of leadership within the school. The Junior School Council provided younger students a platform for student voice and to influence school decisions. We provided families with the opportunity to be involved with the school through our parent helpers program. Parents gain knowledge about their child's education and best practices in teaching and learning through parent information forums. Our student led conferences provide families with valuable insight into learning progress and showcases our approach for students taking responsibility of their own learning. We developed a calendar of whole school events that promoted high levels of parent and student engagement, for example, Education Week activities which included Open Classrooms, sporting events, whole school ART Show, and Dance Performances which provided high levels of parent participation..
Financial performance
The school continues to be in a sound financial situation due to excellent financial management, targeted expenditure against school wide priorities and strategic planning. The core revenue was generated via the Student Resource Package and Government grants consisting of a cash component and financial support for the Tutor Learning Initiative. Equity Funding was used to ensure that all students are given equal access to all learning opportunities, camps, incursions and excursions. Equity Funding was also used to support vulnerable students with wellbeing supports. Contractually, the school continues to work with hirers OSHC Extend, KT Tutoring, and Arab School. Additionally, funds have been retained to undertake major projects in 2025 such as the upgrade of our ICT Server, iPads, shade sails, office upgrade, Art Room Render, PE Shed, Carpet, Toilet upgrade floor. The recent initiative that provides $400 per student to go towards payment and access to a range of activities, uniforms and or resources is a bonus for families.
I would also like to acknowledge efforts of entire staff, parent’s group and especially school councillors. Particular mention of Kelvin Wong(Elijah), Nadiah Smith(Zeke), Jeff Fang(David) who are leaving council as their children are moving on to high school. We sincerely thankyou for your ongoing support.
