Banksia Grove Primary School is dedicated to serving the community that we belong to.
At Banksia Grove we believe that all students can learn and can reach their potential given the right environment. We have worked very hard to put into place the conditions to allow this to occur starting in Kindergarten. The conditions for learning that we have subscribed to come from a mixture of Berry Street Education, Mindful Meditation Australia and Restorative Practices, through a partnership with Real Schools. Restorative Practices are the essential components to modelling and teaching our students to solve problems appropriately and proportionally, to develop empathy and be able to take another’s perspective. We subscribe to a low variance start to each day where predictability is key for all students. All classes participate in mindful meditation at least once if not twice a day at the start of the day and the other after lunch. Berry Street trauma informed practices are being put in place across the school. Our Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) STARS behaviour expectations guide the ways in which we interact with our students and each other. These are explicitly taught to the students, and we hold ourselves to a high standard of behaviour in order to model for our students the behaviour expectations that we expect across the school.
The relationships that we build with our students is of the utmost importance. Our students must feel connected to all staff who support their education. Our students are very relational and for them to feel safe all staff subscribe to building positive relationships together with high expectations.
Student achievement is driven by a relentless focus on student progress. Being able to read and understand our data sets are essential for teachers to have a good understanding of what each individual student in their class is achieving and what they need next in order to progress. Using these data sets during collaborative planning and individual planning sessions is expected. The premise that there is a collective responsibility for the achievement for all our students means that we need to work together as a collective to ensure whole school programs and pedagogies are followed. During 2024 we spent time ensuring that all our data sets are housed and available on Compass. Rigorous discussions can now be had regarding progress and achievement for individual, class and cohorts of students.
In 2025 we will be sharpening our focus on:
1.Pedagogical practices across English and maths. We have developed our pedagogical framework and will be investing our time in unpacking this together with the Teaching for Impact documents to ensure that we have maximum engagement within our classes and maximum impact on our students.
2.Classroom observation and coaching. We have four people trained in this area and we will be progressing this as a means of self-reflection to improve our practice.
We hold high expectations of ourselves and the students who attend this school. Our school is reflective of the values and aspirations of the whole school community.
There are many students here who have big dreams and aspirations. I am confident that we are being reflective of this and we are working hard to ensure our students are equipped to realise these dreams and aspirations. Our four key initiatives represent our commitment to and understanding of the importance of developing all aspects of a child’s development.
Every child is unique and we aim to help our students find their strengths and passions so that they can build on these throughout their schooling life. Community partnerships are a key aspect of achieving this goal.
I am so proud to be the Principal of Banksia Grove Primary and am very excited for 2025 and all that we can achieve together.