Eagleby South State School
Location: Logan City, Queensland
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. About 20 per cent of students have English as their second language, and the majority are from low-income backgrounds. Almost one-fifth of students are Indigenous
How Eagleby South has used its Gonski funding
Eagleby South received $324,000 in Gonski funding during 2014 and 2015. This has allowed the school to build on the extra resources it received from the previous National Partnerships program.
The additional funding has been invested in improving student achievement in literacy and numeracy. Both short and longer term strategies have been put in place to develop the skills of staff in working with students from diverse backgrounds, many of whom experience some form of educational disadvantage.
It also allows the school to provide individual students who need specific learning support with more teacher and teacher aide time and resources, and to focus more on identifying and diagnosing intellectual disabilities and giving those students more support.
How Gonski funding has made a difference for students
The principal, Andrew Barnes, says that “National Partnerships funding provided a foundation for improvement but Gonski funding has provided the means to ‘cement’ and build on these foundations.”
The additional funding has allowed the school to stabilise a professional well-equipped motivated team of teachers and support staff, which has been of great benefit to students. In three years, the number of students achieving the national minimum standards in Year 3 and 5 Writing has risen by 20 per cent, with all students now achieving at or above that level.
Eagleby South is now performing well above the expected level of improvement since 2008 in all areas of NAPLAN. Over 50 per cent of the junior school are now reading at age level, as are over 70 per cent of grade 6 and 7 students, up from 50 per cent.
Enrolments have also increased steadily over recent years, associated with the school’s success with at-risk young people, including a number of students in out-of-home care who attend the school.
What Eagleby South could do with Gonski in the future
