Colac Primary School

Location: Rural Victoria

Colac Primary School, located in rural Victoria, has an enrolment of 236 students, most of whom are from low-income backgrounds. Indigenous students comprise 4% of the students, with another 4% comprising students from non-English-speaking backgrounds. About 5% of students are funded for moderate to severe disabilities.


How Colac Primary School has used Gonski funding

During 2016, CPS received about $268,000 in Gonski funding. A large number of Colac PS’ students in the early years are developmentally vulnerable and require language support as well as large numbers of students across the school requiring literacy and numeracy support. Gonski funding has been used to address these needs through creation of 3 new positions - a student well-being case manager to co-ordinate student support services, a part-time speech pathologist to work with Prep students whose language development is 6 or more months behind, and 1.6 specialist staffing to provide targeted literacy and numeracy intervention and support for students 12 or more months behind.


How Gonski funding has made a difference for students

The well-being case manager positon has not been filled so far, which is a disappointment for CPS. The other additional staffing has come on board, and despite having to reconfigure the target group from students 6 or more months behind to those 12 months behind, results have been encouraging. 23 of 25 Year 1 students have achieved 12 months’ growth in their reading capability, with similar results in Year 2. Professional development and coaching for staff in the teaching of literacy & numeracy has resulted in improved student engagement in maths and significant growth for students in Years 3 -5.


What the continuation of Gonski funding means to Colac Primary School

With almost 40% of CPS students more than 6 months behind in literacy and numeracy, Gonski funding would allow continuation of successful interventions made to date. Says Principal Shelby Papadopoulos, “It would be heartbreaking if, having had a sense of what can be achieved through our 2016 Gonski funding, we lost not only the capacity to maintain what has been achieved but also the possibility of being able to make that same difference for all students.”

<<< BACK


More Gonski Success Stories

Rooty Hill High School
Rooty Hill High School, a large comprehensive co-educational school in western Sydney, had an enrolment in 2016 of 1,125 students.
Penshurst Public School
Penshurst Public School, in the Georges River area of southern Sydney, has an enrolment of about 440 students from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds.
Eagleby South State School
Eagleby South State School, located halfway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, has an enrolment of approximately 410 students from a range of socio-economic and culturally diverse backgrounds, including Pacifica, European, African and Asian.
Kedron State High School
It has a diverse student population of around 1,100, with a third of the school’s students in the two lowest SES quartiles.
Canley Vale High School
Canley Vale High School, located in Sydney’s south-west, has an enrolment of 1,455 students, drawn from the local community, international students, and new arrivals to Australia.
Colac Primary School
Colac Primary School, located in rural Victoria, has an enrolment of 236 students, most of whom are from low-income backgrounds. Indigenous students comprise 4% of the students, with another 4% comprising students from non-English-speaking backgrounds.
The Rivers Secondary College – Lismore High Campus
Lismore High Campus has an enrolment of 365, of whom 80% are from low-income backgrounds, 20% are Aboriginal, and 7% come from non-English-speaking backgrounds
Mansfield State School
Mansfield SS has a stable enrolment pattern of over 900 students. 20 per cent of its students were born overseas in 44 different countries, many of them coming to Australia from India, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand and the Philippines.
Sarah Redfern High School
Originally built for students from the Minto public housing estate, but since 2005 a Housing NSW Community Renewal Project has brought about significant changes in Minto.
Wadalba Community School
Wadalba Community School, located on the NSW Central Coast, is a comprehensive P-12 school with an enrolment of 1,400 students. 75% of students are from low-income backgrounds, 8% of students are Indigenous, and 7% of students are from non-English-speaking backgrounds.
Emerald State School
Emerald State School has a socially and economically diverse enrolment of around 340 primary students.
Harristown State High School
Harristown State High School, located in Toowoomba Qld, has an enrolment of about 1600 students.