Oberon Primary School

Location: Greater Geelong

Oberon Primary School, located in South West Geelong in the suburb of Belmont, is a small school of 154 students with families generally from a low to mid socio-economic background. The school’s enrolments have tripled in the last six years and there is no doubt that some of the increases in enrolments can be attributed to the success of programs that Gonski funding has enabled the school to implement.

How Oberon Primary School has used Gonski funding:

The Gonski funding (around $47,000 in 2016) we have received so far has enabled our school to employ an extra teacher to work in a 0.5 role, targeting students who need further assistance with literacy and numeracy. We have also been able to employ a speech pathologist one day a fortnight to work with around 20 of our students. We are quite a small school and these 20 students equate to about 12% of our entire student body.

How Gonski funding has made a difference for students:

Our speech pathologist works closely with our newly enrolled prep students and classroom teacher to help identify and assist in any early intervention work that may be required. The speech pathologist also works with a number of students across various year levels, recommending and implementing more effective teaching strategies alongside classroom teachers to cater for the needs of particular students.

The extra staff member we have employed allows the classroom teachers to work more closely with smaller numbers of students in their grades, enabling staff to personalise and differentiate lessons to more effectively target the needs of their students. This staff member also works extremely closely with at risk students to improve students’ numeracy and literacy levels within the school.

What School could do with Gonski funding in the future:

Gonski funding would allow us to continue to implement our existing programs as well as invest further in employing our Speech Pathologist for a longer time fraction. Further funding would enable our school to employ a specialist numeracy coach to not only work with students but to support and upskill our teaching staff and make them more effective teachers.

<<< 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.