Narara Valley High School

Location: Narara Valley High School is a comprehensive high school near Gosford in the Central Coast region of New South Wales.

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.


How Narara Valley High School has used Gonski funding

Narara Valley focussed on improving the professional learning of teachers and staff by introducing the Quality Teaching Rounds model developed by the University of Newcastle’s School of Education. Teachers worked together to develop a shared approach to good teaching practices across the school, especially in writing, literacy and numeracy.

An extra learning and support teacher was employed to support and guide the team along with two additional student learning support officers trained in literacy and writing skills. Together they work with small groups across the school.

The school was also able to create smaller classes in Years 7 and 8 than the system staffing formula allows through ‘topping-up’ funding above the school staffing entitlement. They also introduced the Positive Behaviour for Learning model, a comprehensive, integrated whole-school approach to student wellbeing and behaviour.


How Gonski funding has made a difference for students

As a result of the Gonski funding, there has been an across-the-board increase in the number of students achieving at or above National Minimum Standards, with positive gains made in all Year 9 NAPLAN results. The school’s averages have risen to that of similar schools and writing has significantly improved. There have been strong improvements for Year 9 Aboriginal students as well as retention rates of senior students completing the HSC. However, the impact on low SES students has been the most significant. These learners are now measuring above the level of similar students at other schools due to the strong focus on wellbeing and instructional feedback.


What the continuation of Gonski funding means to Narara Vallley High

Principal Michael Smith says the collaborative teaching through professional learning approach has been so successful in building reading and writing skills that the school plans to extend this approach to STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects in 2017. Ongoing Gonski funding will be integral to allowing this to happen.

<<< BACK


More Gonski Success Stories

Barrack Heights Public School
Barrack Heights PS is located in Shelharbour, 16km south of Wollongong. It has an enrolment of 250 students, most of them from low-income backgrounds.
Forest Lake State High School
Forest Lake State High School in outer suburban Brisbane has an enrolment of around 1450 students from diverse backgrounds.
Ulladulla High School
Ulladulla High School, located on the NSW south coast, has an enrolment of about 1200 students, 70% of whom are from low-income backgrounds.
Yarrabah State School
Yarrabah State School is a three campus Pre-Prep to Year 10 school in the Far North Queensland community of Yarrabah. The community faces complex inter-generational challenges including high unemployment and families living in poverty.
Morayfield State High School
Morayfield State High School has a current enrolment of approximately 1500 students. The majority of students are from low-income backgrounds
Mansfield State High School
Mansfield State High School is a large high school of about 2,200 students from diverse income and ethnic background in southern Brisbane.
Darlington Primary School
Darlington Primary School, in Adelaide’s southern suburbs, has an enrolment of about 300 students from diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds.
Roma Mitchell Secondary College
The school opened in 2011 and has three campuses co-located on one site: Girls’ Education, Co-Education and Special Education.
Milton Public School
Milton Public School, a K-6 school on the south coast of NSW, has an enrolment of 650 students about half of whom are from low-income backgrounds. Around 40 students are from non-English-speaking backgrounds, and about 5% of the students are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.
Minimbah State School
Minimbah State School has a stable enrolment of around 800 students. A high number of students are from low-income backgrounds.
Casino Public School
Casino Public school is a P-6 school of 700 students, located in rural north coast NSW.
Windaroo State School
Windaroo State School in the Mount Warren Park area of Logan City has an enrolment of around 930 students. A significant number of students are from low-income backgrounds. Approximately 50 students are Indigenous and 80 students are from non-English-speaking language backgrounds.