Ulladulla High School
Location: Ulladulla, south coast, NSW
Ulladulla High School, located on the NSW south coast, has an enrolment of about 1200 students, 70% of whom are from low-income backgrounds. About 4% of students are from non-English-speaking backgrounds, and about 6% of students are Indigenous.
How Ulladulla High School has used Gonski funding
Ulladulla HS received about $450,000 of Gonski funding in 2015. The funds have been used to improve HSC results through increasing the level of tutoring and mentoring for senior students – including extra support for Aboriginal students, training teachers in future-focused pedagogy supported by international leading education change makers, introducing Links to Learning to create links with local business and mentoring for students’ vocational experience, providing whole-school programs to support mental health, and increasing the effective use of technology in learning.
How Gonski funding has made a difference for students
Student achievement and engagement, and staff professional learning and collaboration have improved significantly. Core literacy & numeracy results have improved, as has HSC and VET participation and achievement. Retention rates to Years 11 & 12 have improved significantly, and more student have successfully completed their HSC. Aboriginal students’ results have also improved. Principal Denise Lofts attributes these improvement “to the focus on professional learning, supporting students to stay at school, increasing students’ post-school choices and opportunities, and building more positive relationships between students and teachers and the local community.”
What Ulladulla High School could do with Gonski funding in the future
The full Gonski funding would allow UHS to develop and expand programs already in place to ensure the cycle of improvement continues. It wold enable the provision of time and teachers to support learning in classroom, collaboration and professional dialogue opportunities within and beyond the school, as well as the expansion of wellbeing programs across the school to build students’ capacity to be resilient and resourceful.