annual report 2011 - mitcheltonspecs.eq.edu.au€¦ · web viewthis mismatch will be discussed...

Our school at a glance

Postal address Kedron Avenue Mitchelton 4053

Phone (07) 3354 5333

Fax (07) 3354 5300

Email [email protected]

Webpages

Additional reporting information pertaining to Queensland state schools is located on the My School website and the Department’s Right to Information site.

http://deta.qld.gov.au/right-to-information/published-information/about-us/schools.html

http://deta.qld.gov.au/right-to-information/published-information/about-us/schools.html

http://www.myschool.edu.au/


Contact Person Wayne Wilkinson


Principal’s foreword


Introduction

For 40 years this school site has provided alternative educational programs for students with specific learning needs. In 2011 we supported 99 students aged between 5– 18 years. All of these students are identified as having educational support needs arising from an Intellectual Impairment. Approximately half of these students have additional needs arising from autistic spectrum disorder. In 2011 we also provided educational support for up to 70 students from birth to 5 years. These students are enrolled in our Early Childhood Development Program and have been identified as students requiring additional educational support as a result of a developmental delay or a disability.

Our role as a public special school is to support a very diverse range of student needs. As a school community we need to be encouraged to broaden our understanding of the complex issues that surround students with disabilities and the challenging learning needs which some of these students present. I believe this school offers great teaching and learning, provides clear leadership, and takes great pride in demonstrating and promoting tolerance, understanding, and acceptance of diversity.

All members of this community are encouraged to recognise and accept the responsibility we each have in contributing to the quality of relationships, programs and learning experiences at this school. Our school motto is Live to Learn – Learn to Live and reflects the necessary realisation that we are all lifelong learners.

Wayne Wilkinson .

School progress towards its goals in 2011

In 2011 we made significant progress in the development of our Curriculum Framework and timetables to reflect clear links to Australian Curriculum and our Queensland Teaching and Learning Roadmap. We followed recommendations from our curriculum audit and began our engagement with Australian Curriculum. There have been extensive reviews within our school and much debate over the direction of curriculum for students with intellectual impairment. Getting the balance right between the Australian Curriculum and what we about adaptive behaviour and life skills education has been difficult throughout 2011. This curriculum debate extends well beyond our school community and much work remains to ensure we understand what is most important in curriculum delivery for our students. Unfortunately we received the lowest parent satisfaction results in over 8 years concerning parent opinion about whether they believe their child is receiving a good education (75%). Our average over the previous 5 years has been 90%. A very high support for our school continues with 96% satisfaction. This mismatch will be discussed later in this report.

We continued great work in promoting our Strategic Plan for School Based Provision of Services and Supports. Queensland Health worked closely with the school and supported the position for a school based Health Education Officer. However, a very recent 2012 department policy direction not to create new positions means a delay to starting this partnership trial. We continued advocacy for our School Services Priorities with the ongoing promotion and support of Vacation Care

Implementations of whole school literacy and numeracy policy within the context of the Australian Curriculum occurred throughout 2011 and the creation of two Heads of Curriculum for Literacy and Numeracy for 2012 was successful. We continued to promote our School Motto and our clear statement about our school’s Values, Beliefs and Principles

From a staffing perspective 2011 was a year of professional growth and rigorous debate over curriculum. Teachers were expected to respond to many changes and collectively staff remained challenged and always motivated to do the best we can for our students and our school. This was


reflected in the highest staff morale we have ever recorded at Mitchelton 92%.

In retrospect our 2011 year was very significant and has provided enormous motivation and insight into the work that must be done to keep ourselves clear about who we are as a school community and what it is that our students and families need most from school education.


Future outlook

The Mitchelton Special School Annual Implementation Plan for 2012 will detail specific priorities. Our main focus areas for 2012 include;

The development of relevant and meaningful Curriculum Priorities for all sections within our school in the context of the Australian Curriculum and Queensland Roadmap.

The refinement and dissemination of clear school Policy for Communication, Literacy, Numeracy Adaptive Behaviours and Assessment.

The creation of a new IEP format that becomes a section based document tracking student’s learning plan from our Prep through to our Pathways Program.

The completion of all facility upgrades in line with our infrastructure plans and growth demands for our school.

The continued support and development of our school community with particular focus on our MyTime Parent Program, our P&C Parent Support Team and ongoing community education about the needs of our students and their families.

.

School Profile

Mitchelton Special School is a co-educational state school supporting students with intellectual impairment and autistic spectrum disorder located in Kedron Ave, Mitchelton, 4053.

Year levels offered: pre-prep – year 12

Total student enrolments for this school:

Total Enrolment

Girls

Boys Enrolment Continuity (Feb 2011 – Nov 2011)

99 25 74 90%

Characteristics of the student body:

In 2011 we supported 99 students aged between 5 and 18 years. Students attend from over 40 local suburbs. All full time school aged students have been identified as having educational support needs arising from intellectual impairment. Approximately half of these students have additional needs arising from autistic spectrum disorder. We have a very diverse range of student needs including a small number of students within our school who present with complex and challenging behaviours.

Intellectual impairment is characterised by significantly below average intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with related limitations in two or more of the following applicable adaptive skill areas (communication; self-care; home living; social skills; community use; self-direction; health and safety; functional academics; leisure; work skills (Adaptive skills are those everyday coping


skills which students need to take care of themselves and to relate to others in daily living).

Students with intellectual impairment have difficulties with some or all of the following:

Attention refers to one’s capacity to focus on an activity. Students need to be able to maintain focus long enough to gain information. They also need to attend to a task long enough to complete it.

Perception is the ability to register information through one or more of the sensory modes (e.g. sight, hearing, taste, smell or touch) and to make meaning of it.

Thought processing allows students to organise incoming information, to make connections between pieces of information and to interpret symbolic and abstract concepts. It also allows information to be organised for decision-making, communication and action.

Memory can be defined as having two main aspects. These are the retaining of information and the recalling of information.

Generalisation of learning occurs when a skill is learned in one situation and then applied in another.This process allows a student to operate effectively across a variety of environments without having to re-learn behaviours each time there is a change. (Education Queensland, 1998)

Class sizes – Proportion of school classes achieving class size targets in 2011

PhaseAverage Class Size

Prep – Year 3 6

Year 4 – Year 10

6

Year 11 – Year 12

6

All Classes 6

School Disciplinary Absences

Disciplinary Absences Count of Incidents

Short Suspensions - 1 to 5 days 2

Long Suspensions - 6 to 20 days 0

Exclusions 0


Cancellations of Enrolment 0


Curriculum offerings

Our distinctive curriculum offerings and school based curriculum development for our enrolled students (5-18 years) is an exciting and challenging task. In 2011 we continued with a general focus for each phase of learning as well as identifying relevant content from the Australian Curriculum.

Junior Phase of learning - Focus on Developmental Milestones.

Middle Phase of learning - Focus on Enhancing Self Identity and Understanding Self

Senior Phase of learning - Focus on Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes necessary for transitioning from

school to community life.

Specific organisers help to refine what we believe are the most significant learning priorities for students and class groups in each phase.

Junior Phase of learning

- Areas of Study – Literacy and Numeracy

- Communication and Speech Development

- Developing Rhythm and Routine

- Early Social Living and Learning

- Health and Physical Education

- Integrated Studies (Music, Cooking, Community Based Instruction)

Middle Phase of learning


- Communication and Technology

- Community and Social Participation

- Developing Work Skills and Routines

- Independent and Home Living Skills

- Personal Health and Safety

- Play and recreation

Senior Phase of learning


- Communication and Technology

- Community, Citizenship and the Environment

- Developing Skills for Vocation and Transition

- Leisure and Recreation

- Personal and Living Dimensions


Extra curricula activities

Community Based Instruction (CBI) is an important component of teaching and learning in all

phases of learning. This means that many teaching and learning programs occur in community

based settings. The frequency of CBI increases for students as they approach the senior phase

of learning. CBI involves access to over 100 various venues, facilities or services. Regular extra curricula activities include;

Horse riding for the disabled

School camps

Visits to Environmental Education Centres

Work Experience

How Information and Communication Technologies are used to assist learning

We believe that technology is a significant resource which can help to motivate student’s curiosity in the world around us. Technology provides exciting opportunities for students to initiate and self-direct, express emotions and to develop communication skills. The school uses a range of hardware and software programs to assist and support student learning. The use of visual cues and photographs is heavily used throughout the school. In 2011 we continued to develop whiteboard expertise and have begun using IPads and developing our understanding and use of various apps.


Social climate

School opinion survey data reported that parents were 96% satisfied that we have a good school and that staff morale was the highest we have recorded at our school at 92%. Great job everyone!! Both of these results are well above state means and our school enjoys wonderful community support. We are very proud of who we are as a community and we work consistently to communicate and nurture an understanding of our collective social responsibility for supporting diversity within our school and wider community. Our school motto reminds us that we are all learners. Hopefully, this helps us remain focused on what is most important as we Live to Learn – Learn to Live

Parent, student and teacher satisfaction with the school

Unfortunately we received the lowest parent satisfaction results in over 8 years concerning parent opinion about whether they believe their child is receiving a good education (75%). Our average over the previous 5 years has been 90%. A very high support for our school continues with 96% satisfaction.

2011 was a year of curriculum challenge as we came to terms with what an Australian Curriculum means for our students and our teaching. There was much spoken about in the media, audit judgements printed which identified our school as “low” because we were not offering the ‘essential learnings’ offered in our mainstream primary and secondary schools. I engaged in many conversation with parents, our MyTime group and P&C about the need for Special Schools to embrace the Australian Curriculum. This poorer result could also reflect some of my leadership uncertainty throughout 2011 about our future direction in special education curriculum. As principal I remained unconvinced on several occasions throughout 2011 that a change in curriculum direction for our students was necessary and this may have contributed to some confused messages to our wider school community. However, many parents are clear about their child’s needs and their curriculum expectations. This lower than usual and expected result of 75% satisfaction means we need to work harder in communicating information about curriculum to our parents. We must also ensure that what we are doing meets the needs of our students and that we as a school community understand what curriculum could and should be for our students.

My staff and I worked very hard to accommodate curriculum audit recommendations. The fact that our staff morale improved throughout our most challenging reform period is a testament to the professionalism of our staff. Staff support for each other, their commitment to getting things right for students and their willingness to focus on what was needed for both students and our department was commendable. It is now essential to move forward with what we discovered and to help parents feel very confident in our curriculum, teaching and learning.


Performance measure Result 2011

Percentage of parents/caregivers satisfied that their child is getting a good education at school 75%

Percentage of students satisfied that they are getting a good education at school %

Percentage of parents/caregivers satisfied with their child’s school 96%

Percentage of school workforce satisfied with access to professional development opportunities that relate to school and systemic initiatives 77%

Percentage of staff members satisfied with morale in the school 92%

Involving parents in their child’s education

All parents participate in the development of an Individual Education Plan (IEP) detailing individual priority learning goals and strategies for their child. This planning process is conducted with parents and carers at the beginning of each semester. All students receive a progress report at the end of each semester commenting on their progress towards classroom programs and goals, and IEP outcomes. Parents of senior students are also involved in their child’s Senior Education Transition Plan (SETP). This plan details the program for the student’s “Pathway to the Future” to enable a successful transition to post school options.

In 2011 our school continued to be one of a handful of special schools in Australia to receive funding to support a special “MyTime” program for parents. Parents meet each fortnight with a facilitator to support their needs and to organise a range of informative guest speakers. A number of social and relaxation focused activities are also organised to support parent needs.

Reducing the school’s environmental footprint

Data is sourced from school's annual utilities return and is reliant on the accuracy of these returns.

Reducing our school’s footprint has been impossible in the context of our massage expansion over the past 3 years. The standard of classroom facilities has significantly improved. Almost all classrooms and staff rooms have been air conditioned. Cooking facilities exist in most classrooms and additional power consumption to run all additional white goods has been significant. With additional building to be added and growth in our school continuing it is difficult to get a realistic baseline of our consumption needs and costs. This will be addressed once a realistic baseline can be established. Environmental footprint indicators, 2010-2011

ElectricityKwH

Water KL

2011 88,224 847


2010 47,705 1,202

% change 10 - 11 85% -30%

Our staff profile

Staff composition, including Indigenous staff

Workforce Composition Teaching Staff

Non-teaching Staff

Indigenous Staff

Headcounts 30 45 <5

Full-time equivalents 27 25 <5

Qualifications of all teachers

Our staff profile

Expenditure on and teacher participation in professional development

The total funds expended on teacher professional development in 2011 was $13,115. This represents 15% of total school grant and includes professional development support for all teachers, teacher aides, therapists, administration and school support staff.

The major professional development initiatives are as follows:

Apps for Autism; Supporting Students with Down Syndrome; ASEAQ Conference; Sand Play Therapy; Post School Transitioning; Innovative Education for Beginning Teachers; First Aid; Various Curriculum workshops throughout the year.

The proportion of the teaching staff involved in professional development activities during 2011 was 100%.

Average staff attendance

For permanent and temporary staff and school leaders, the staff attendance rate was 97% in 2011.

Proportion of staff retained from the previous school year

From the end of the previous school year, 100% of staff was retained by the school for the entire 2011 school year.

School income broken down by funding source

Full-time equivalent enrolments relating to recurrent income and capital expenditure 106.9

Interpreting school financial information

The following table and charts summarise the recurrent and other income of the selected school together with its capital expenditure for the 2010 calendar year. Caution should be taken in using the information presented below when making direct funding comparisons between schools. The financial resources available to schools are directly influenced by the nature of the school (including its location and profile), its programs and its operations. For further information on the methods used and on the comparability of the data, click here. For further information on financial reporting for non-government multi-campus schools, click here.

Net recurrent income 2010 $ Total $ Per student

Australian Government recurrent funding 138,533 1,296

State/Territory Government recurrent funding 3,943,126 36,886

Fees, charges and parent contributions 16,701 156

Other private sources 168,899 1,580

Our staff profile

Total gross income(excluding income from government capital grants)

4,267,259 39,918

Less Deductions 0 0

Total net recurrent income 4,267,259 39,918

Capital expenditure 2010 $ Total

Australian Government capital expenditure 3,068,400

State/Territory Government capital expenditure 2,435,982

New school loans 0

Income allocated to current capital projects 0

Other 0

Total capital expenditure 5,504,382

Our staff profile

Please Note: School income broken down by funding source is available via the My School website at http://www.myschool.edu.au/.

To access our income details, click on the My School link above. You will then be taken to the My School website with the following ‘Find a school’ text box.

Where it says ‘Search by school name’, type in the name of the school you wish to view, and select <GO>’. Read and follow the instructions on the next screen; you will be asked to accept the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy before being given access to the school’s My School entry web page.

School financial information is available by selecting ‘School finances’ in the menu box in the top left corner of the school’s entry web page. If you are unable to access the internet, please contact the school for a paper copy of income by funding source

http://www.myschool.edu.au/

Key student outcomes

Student attendance - 2011

The overall attendance rate for the students at this school (shown as a percentage) in 2011 was 93%.

The overall attendance rate for all Queensland State Special schools over the same period was 89%.

Student attendance rate for each year level (Not Applicable)

Student Attendance Distribution

The proportions of students by attendance range.

<85 % 85 to <90 %

90 to <95 %

95 % or Above

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

All Students

Attendance Rate

% o

f Stu

dent

s

Description of how non-attendance is managed by the school

Non-attendance is managed in state schools in line with the DET policies, SMS-PR-029: Managing Student Absences and SMS-PR-036: Roll Marking in State Schools, which outline processes for managing and recording student attendance and absenteeism.

Student attendance can vary for some individuals within our school due to medical and health needs. Teachers work closely with parents and in most cases daily contact is made between home and school. Class roles are marked morning and afternoon. Small class sizes (5-8 students) means teachers and parents can work closely together in sharing information, planning and responding to individual student needs.

National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) results – our reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy results for the Years 3, 5, 7 and 9.

Reporting on school progress for students with an intellectual impairment can be a very difficult task. Students may demonstrate achievement with skills, attitudes and behaviours in one environment or context but not another, on one day but not the next. Unlike many schools, our school is currently unable to make meaningful comparisons with student outcomes from other schools because;

we provide alternative curriculum and programs to mainstream schools

our students’ outcomes have individual relevance as detailed in IEP’s

parents in this school seek exemption from year 3,5,7,9 testing

issues around generalisation and transferring of skills for students with intellectual impairment adds a complexity to student reporting and to the comparing of outcomes.

This school is proud of its expertise and skill in developing appropriate curriculum, teaching and learning opportunities for students. Mitchelton Special School always welcomes parent and community feedback of our assessment and reporting processes and practices.

Achievement – Closing the Gap

Issues affecting school attendance by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students have included family supported absenteeism due to health issues. Other issues concerning closing the gap outcomes are addressed through Individual Education Plans.

IssAttainment and Achievement – Year 12Apparent retention rates Year 10 to Year 12.

Year 12 student enrolment as a percentage of the Year 10 student cohort. Not Applicable Data

Outcomes for our Year 12 cohort of 2011

Number of students receiving a Senior Statement. 11

Number of students awarded a Queensland Certificate Individual Achievement. 11

Percentage of Year 12 students who are completing or completed a SAT or were awarded one or more of the following: QCE, IBD, VET qualification. 0%

Percentage of Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre (QTAC) applicants receiving an offer.

Vocational Educational Training qualification (VET)

Number of students awarded certificates under the Australian Qualification Framework (AQF).

Certificate I Certificate II Certificate III or above

0 0 0

Post-school destination information

At the time of publishing this School Annual Report, the results of the 2011 Year 12 post-school destinations survey, Next Step – Student Destination Report for the school were not available. Information about these post-school destinations of our students will be incorporated into this Report in September.

annual report 2011 - mitcheltonspecs.eq.edu.au€¦ · web viewthis mismatch will be discussed...

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