Jamisontown Public School

Location: Jamisontown, western Sydney

Jamisontown Public School situated in the municipality of Penrith at the base of the Blue Mountains in Sydney's west.

How has your school used its Gonski funding?

Extra Literacy and Numeracy Support

  • Gonski funds have enabled the school to employ an extra fully qualified teacher for two and a half days per week. This teacher has worked with small groups of children focusing on phonics, basic reading, writing and arithmetic skills.
  • Additionally, a teacher’s aide has been trained to administer the MiniLit program four days a week for students experiencing difficulties with reading and spelling.

    • Aboriginal Education

  • The Aboriginal Students Loading has allowed Jamisontown Public School to run a Koori Kids Club one afternoon per week for Aboriginal students.
  • All teachers and students at the school have also benefited from participating in sessions run by Aboriginal guest performers and speakers, as well as new educational resources paid for by this additional funding.

    • Disabilities Support

  • Teacher’s aides have been employed for extra hours to support students with special needs in the classroom.
  • They have also been employed to run social skills programs for children in need.

    • Staff Development

  • The students and teachers at Jamisontown Public School have both benefited from an increase in funds for teacher professional development.
  • Critically, the increased funds have allowed for extended mentoring of beginning teachers by more experienced colleagues.

    • How has Gonski made a positive difference for students?

    We are better meeting the needs of our children. Even from as early as Kindergarten, it is notable that many children who would have previously begun to disengage when it became apparent to them that they were falling behind, are persevering and improving. Their increased confidence and engagement means that less teaching time is devoted to addressing inappropriate behaviour. All students benefit from decreases in disruption.

    Furthermore, with an extra fully qualified teacher working two and a half days per week and with more teacher’s aide time, teachers report increased time for incorporating technology and extension activities for children who are working at a higher level

    What could your school do with Gonski funding in the future?

    Despite these improvements, there is still much work to be done. In their separate submissions to the Gonski Review, both the staff and Parents and Citizens Association of Jamisontown Public School noted the need for support from professionals in speech therapy and occupational therapy.

    The fifth and sixth years of the transition to the Gonski model account for approximately two thirds of the increases in funding. The staff is aware of the needs of students that can still be better met.

    Accordingly, the school community are anxious to begin addressing the need of increased speech and occupational therapy support, programs for the gifted and talented, as well as investment in technology. These are priorities to ensure that our children receive the type of dynamic education that is required in a rapidly changing, globalised world.

    <<< BACK


    More Gonski Success Stories

    Upper Coomera State College
    Upper Coomera SC is an urban Prep to Year 12 school with a highly diverse student population.
    Cowandilla Primary School
    Cowandilla Primary school, in Adelaide’s inner western suburbs, has an enrolment of 440 students from a wide range of socioeconomic, cultural and language backgrounds, and many students change schools regularly.
    Craigmore High School
    Craigmore High School, in outer northern Adelaide, has around 950 students, including 62 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, and 84 students from non-English-speaking backgrounds, together with 150 students with identified disabilities.
    Sydney Secondary College Leichhardt Campus
    It comprising two Years 7-10 campuses (Leichhardt and Balmain) and one Year 11-12 campus (Blackwattle Bay). The Leichhardt Campus, which has 900 students, is a socioeconomically and culturally diverse middle school. Around 3 % of students are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.
    Glenelg Primary School
    Glenelg Primary School, located in beachside Adelaide, has 760 students from diverse economic and cultural backgrounds.
    Box Hill High School
    Box Hill HS, an established multicultural co-educational secondary school in suburban Melbourne, has an enrolment of about 1,230 students. 825 students are English-speaking, and 450 speak, in total, more than 53 languages other than English.
    Spinifex State College, Mount Isa Education and Training Precinct
    It is a modern college with a junior campus (Years 7 – 9), a senior campus (years 10 – 12) and a residential campus. About half of the school’s 850 students are from low SES backgrounds, with three quarters in the lowest two SES quartiles.
    Wodonga Senior Secondary College: Benalla Flexible Learning Centre
    Benalla Flexible Learning Centre was established in February 2015 as a campus of Wodonga Senior Secondary College to provide an alternative educational program for young people aged between 14 and 19 years who have had difficulties with mainstream education.
    Mahogany Rise Primary School
    Most of Mahogany Rise’s almost 150 students are from low-income backgrounds. Around one-fifth are from non-English speaking backgrounds and there are a number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
    Merrylands High School
    Merrylands High School, a comprehensive high school in western Sydney, has an enrolment of about 720 students from a diverse range of socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds.
    Carina State School
    Carina State School is an inner-city Brisbane multicultural school with an enrolment of approximately 325 students. Just under half of the students are from low-income backgrounds.
    Cairns West State School
    Cairns West State School is a primary school that serves three suburbs with the highest density of public housing in Queensland. Its enrolment of 730 culturally-diverse and complex-needs students are almost all from low-income backgrounds, and less than 9% have English as their first language.