Lucas Heights Community School

Location: Barden Ridge, NSW

Lucas Heights Community School was established in 1992 at Barden Ridge, a then new and growing residential area in the Sutherland Shire. The school is unique, being the only DEC school from Kindergarten to Year 12 on one site in the metropolitan area. The modern purpose built facilities support effective teaching and learning, reflected in the school's outstanding HSC results.

Whilst the school is effectively run as two schools, a junior (K to 6) and a senior (7 to 12) school, many programs operate to provide enrichment opportunities for both junior and senior students. Junior school students and staff have the advantage of high school facilities and programs and senior school students and teachers have available to them mentoring/tutoring opportunities and certain facilities available only in the junior school.

With the relatively small student enrolment numbers in both junior and senior schools, students are well known to teachers. Year 12 student exit polls indicate that students value the close mentoring relationships between teachers and students.

How has your school used its Gonski funding?

The school has used the Gonski funding to better meet the needs of Aboriginal, EAL/D and low socio-economic background students. This has been achieved via the employment of extra LaST(Learning and Support Teachers) time across the K-12 school, and the creation of an extra Deputy Principal position in the 7-12 School. We have also used funds to strengthen the teaching of Literacy and Numeracy within the school.

How has Gonski made a positive difference for students?

Gonski has made a positive difference for students in the provision of extra support in the classroom through additionally funded LaST time, and also in the overall Wellbeing and discipline climate of the school through the additional oversight and support provided by the two secondary Deputy Principals. K-12 Literacy programs in particular are going from strength to strength, with a focus on K-12 Numeracy to follow.

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

In the future, the employment of additional staffing in K-6 could be the next step, to ensure that the most effective pedagogies were being used, along with data driven innovations.

<<< 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.