What has the school done with its Gonski funding?
Unfortunately, schools in Tasmania have not received their full Gonski funding due to a decision by the state government not to pass that funding directly on to schools, and to introduce its own cuts to schools budgets in 2015.
Despite this, the school has big plans for using their extra resources to benefit students.
Location: Huonville
What Huonville High School could do with Gonski funding in the future?
- More targeted intervention and support for literacy and numeracy programs, specifically one-on-one support, and the continuation of the successful volunteer literacy tutoring program.
- Ongoing professional learning opportunities for all staff to be continually updated on new educational strategies.
- Funding for a school bus so students can access a wider range of programs available in Southern Tasmania.
- Funding of programs for gifted and talented students.
- Further growth in Advanced Learning and Trades Training, including an additional literacy support teacher.
- Funding of drug and alcohol education programs for senior students.
It has a diverse student population of around 1,100, with a third of the school’s students in the two lowest SES quartiles. Indigenous students make up 6 per cent of the school population and a further 6 per cent of students are from non-English speaking backgrounds.
Katoomba High School, a comprehensive secondary school in the Blue Mountains of NSW, has an enrolment of about 670 students about half of whom are from low-income backgrounds.
