Port Augusta Secondary School

Port Augusta Secondary School

2020 annual report to the communityPort Augusta Secondary School Number: 790

Partnership: Port Augusta - Quorn

School principal: Mr Paul Billows

Governing council chair: Mrs Helen Cox

Date of endorsement: 24 February 2021

Signature

Context and highlightsPort Augusta Secondary School is a category 2 school located 300km north of Adelaide with a Year 8-12 enrolment of approximately 640 students including a 43% Aboriginal enrolment and approximately 15% of students being recognised as having a disability.

This year has seen a range of highlights including;

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)This year has seen the first full years operation of our new STEM Centre and exciting new curriculum developments, trials and pedagogical approaches which are resulting in some excellent outcomes for students. The STEM Centre is fully operational with plans to expand curriculum activity including connections to other learning areas in preparation for the year 7's arriving in 2022. The school is also continuing to establish connections and partnerships with local industry and tertiary education institutions to provide further real life problem solving challenges for our students.

School Facility ImprovementsOur Governing Council has acknowledged that the Year 7 into Secondary School Initiative and the new DfE school improvement processes present a considerable opportunity for our school. In response to this the school has been working with the Education Department in developing plans linked to a component of our broader site master plan. This has seen the development of designs for the construction of a new contemporary two story building in the middle of the school during 2021 to increase school accommodation for the year 7 intake and includes classrooms for the year 7's together with further specialist areas and external grounds improvements. This 6.5 M project will see construction begin early 2021. The school has also been working on other areas of the year 7 into secondary initiative including, curriculum development, staffing and specialist program development all designed to support a smooth transition in 2022.

External Review

The school was involved in a very successful External Review process during term 4. The process has acknowledged significant improvements against the recommendations from the previous review together with recognition of the diverse range of quality programs in the school enabling pathways for all students. The review recommendations will support further school improvement processes in 2021.

Despite the impact of the Covid -19 pandemic this year has also seen a wide variety of highlights too numerous to mention individually but all contributing to the vibrant culture of our school including; community music and drama performances, sporting and athletics events, Polly Farmer activities, Clontarf activities, NAIDOC activities Workabout activities and much more.

2020 Annual Report to the Community1 | Port Augusta Secondary School


Despite the impact of Covid-19 this year we have been fortunate to have an active Governing Council committed to the ongoing improvement of Port Augusta Secondary School.

The Year 7 into Secondary InitiativeGoverning Council have been identifying the implications and opportunities the year 7 into Secondary School Initiative will provide for PASS and its future development. The school in consultation with DfE has received 6.5M for facilities works to support the year 7 intake, the school in consultation with Governing Council has been working through the process of overseeing the development of plans that both facilitate the Year 7 into Secondary School initiative and the broader plans we have for the school. This process will extend into 2021.

External School Review

The Governing Council provided a significant role during the schools External Review process this year with council members working directly with the Review Officers. Once the review recommendations are finalised Governing Council will support the school with their implementation as part of broader school improvement processes.

STEM

Governing Council has led a process of consultation resulting in the formal opening of the new STEM Centre which also incorporates a new Visual Arts "pod" from a school funding contribution. In 2020 The STEM Centre has seen its first full year of operation and is now fully operational and Governing Council are very interested in providing ongoing support for the Centre, the opportunities it provides for our students and the industry partnerships that are being established.

CWA/Health Precinct

During the year Governing Council has been working with the Port Augusta Council with a view of taking possession of a Council building and land on the border of the school. This facility has the potential to assist in the expansion of the schools Youth Engagement Strategy (YES).

Supporting All Site Priorities, Policy Development and Improvement Processes

During 2020 Governing Council structured its agenda to align directly with the new DfE schools Site Learning Plans. This has led to valuable discussions with parents on site priorities and an opportunity to look at achievement data, survey data and other key indicators on a regular basis. Governing Council have been pleased to see the significant improvement in students writing achievement as was evident in recent data sets.

Governing Council also led consultative process relating to school policy including SBM policy and lunch passes and is in the process of developing a school crossing in the front of the school in collaboration with state and local government.

Governing council report

Following external review and internal processes the school has set clear priorities 2019-21 consistent with new DfE improvement planning processes.

1. Literacy (Writing Focus)

This year has seen our continued focus on improving student writing.What emerged through self review processes was the observation that our students were struggling with writing for purpose across the different curriculum areas and that there was not a consistent approach in explicitly teaching the writing demands of our different curriculum areas. Prior to 2019 very few students were reaching SEA for writing with an average of only 20% at SEA over the last seven years.

Over the last to years we have implemented an action plan which included a training and development program for staff, processes established leading to literacy agreements, explicitly including a writing element in some assessment tasks for year 8/9 subjects and the development and trial of a range of strategies to assist all learning areas develop approaches to sentence and paragraph structure that then allow individual faculties to focus on vocab development and other specific literacy demands.During this time we have also seen staff representatives from all faculty areas working with a literacy consultant in the development of high quality exemplar tasks in the middle years with a writing focus, explicit strategies and using model texts as a teaching tool.

Our focus on writing has seen a significant improvement in our NAPLAN Writing results in 2019 37% of students at SEA. Although there was no NAPLAN assessment in 2020 our internal moderation processes suggest that this improvement trend is continuing. This work sets the scene for 2021, the school is confident that these processes will support an improvement trend in literacy and have been aligned with the new DfE school improvement planning processes. The school has also appointed a Senior Leader: Literacy Improvement to further support this work in 2021.

2. Numeracy (Empowering Local Learners -ELL)

Prior to 2018 The school has experienced five consecutive years of growth in its numeracy NAPLAN results with the focus now on raising standards further especially in the higher bands. Last year 88% of students tested achieved national minimum standard, however only 37.1% were at SEA which although this result supports an improvement trend over the historical base line it is still relatively low . The methodologies being employed especially in the middle school are consistent with the ELL program the school has been involved in for a number of years with a strong focus on concept development and collaborative problem solving. While we are confident the program is generating growth in numeracy achievement, review of the work indicated that all of our math's teachers needed the opportunity to be involved in further training this year and all middle school math's teachers needed to work towards several identified goals including; All double math's lessons engage students in collaborative inquiry based problem solving and all the math's teachers will continue a focus on developing skills in questioning and leading productive classroom discussions.This work will continue in 2021 to further support the continuous improvement trend in numeracy working towards all students reaching the DfE Numeracy Standard.

3. SACE ImprovementThis year has seen the development of further structural changes to curriculum offerings at year 10 and 11 designed toenable more students identified as "at risk" to be better supported to complete the compulsory literacy and numeracyrequirements of the SACE. Of the students receiving support through this program at year 10 in 2019 all of them are nowin a strong position to complete the SACE IN 2021.

Quality improvement planning


Performance SummaryNAPLAN ProficiencyThe Department for Education Standard of Educational Achievement (SEA) is defined as children and young people progressing and achieving at or above their appropriate year level. For NAPLAN, this is students achieving in proficiency bands 1 or more above the national minimum standard for reading and numeracy. The graph below identifies the percentage of non-exempt students enrolled in the school at the time of NAPLAN testing, who have demonstrated achievement in NAPLAN proficiency bands at or above the SEA for reading and numeracy.

Reading

*NOTE: No NAPLAN testing was conducted in 2020.Data Source: Department for Education special extract from National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) SA TAA data holdings, August 2020.Reporting of data not provided when less than six students in the respective cohort. A blank graph may imply student count being less than six across all cohorts.


*NOTE: No NAPLAN testing was conducted in 2020.Data Source: Department for Education special extract from National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) SA TAA data holdings, August 2020.*NOTE: Reporting of data not provided when less than six students in the respective cohort. A blank graph may imply student count being less than six across all cohorts.

Numeracy

NAPLAN progressThe data below represents the growth of students from 2017 to 2020 in the NAPLAN test relative to students with the same original score, presented in quartiles.

Reading

Numeracy

NAPLAN progression Year 7-9 State (average)Upper progress group 17% 25%

Middle progress group 56% 50%

Lower progress group 27% 25%

NAPLAN progression Year 7-9 State (average)Upper progress group 27% 25%

Middle progress group 46% 50%

Lower progress group 28% 25%

Data Source: Department for Education special extract from Data Reporting & Analytics Directorate, August 2020.*NOTE: Reporting of data not provided when less than six students in the respective cohort (shown with an asterisk). Due to rounding of percentages, data may not add up to 100%.

Data Source: Department for Education special extract from Data Reporting & Analytics Directorate, August 2020.*NOTE: Reporting of data not provided when less than six students in the respective cohort (shown with an asterisk). Due to rounding of percentages, data may not add up to 100%.


No. of students who sat the test^

No. of students achieving in the upper two bands

% of students achieving in the upper two bands**

Reading Numeracy Reading Numeracy Reading NumeracyYear 9 2019 132 132 6 6 5% 5%

Year 9 2017-2019 Average 139.0 139.0 4.3 3.3 3% 2%

This measure shows the number of non-exempt students enrolled at the time of NAPLAN testing who have demonstrated achievement in the relevant NAPLAN higher bands.

*NOTE: No NAPLAN testing was conducted in 2020.

Data Source: Department for Education special extract from NAPLAN SA TAA data holdings, August 2020.^includes absent and withdrawn students.*Reporting of data not provided when less than six students in the respective cohort.**Percentages have been rounded off to the nearest whole number.

NAPLAN upper two bands achievement


South Australian Certificate of Education - SACESACE Stage 2 Grades – Percentage of grades that are C- or above for attempted SACE subjects (SEA)

2017 2018 2019 202089% 95% 95% 93%

Data Source: SACE Schools Data reports, extracted February 2020*NOTE: Reporting of data not provided when less than six students in the respective cohort Data excludes non-A to E and Withdrawn Not Graded subject results.

SACE Stage 2 grade distributionGrade 2017 2018 2019 2020

A+ 2% 1% 1% 0%A 3% 7% 4% 4%A- 7% 11% 5% 5%B+ 9% 9% 11% 5%B 16% 10% 17% 19%B- 12% 19% 18% 17%C+ 13% 20% 17% 17%C 13% 15% 17% 20%C- 13% 4% 4% 6%D+ 6% 1% 2% 1%D 2% 3% 1% 4%D- 2% 0% 1% 1%E+ 0% 1% 1% 0%E 1% 0% 0% 1%E- 0% 0% 0% 1%N 0% 0% 0% 0%

Data Source: SACE Schools Data reports, extracted February 2020*NOTE: Reporting of data not provided when less than six students in the respective cohort. Due to rounding of percentages, data may not add up to 100%.

SACE Completion - Percentage of completers out of those students who had the potential to complete their SACE in October that year

2017 2018 2019 202092% 95% 96% 97%

Data Source: SACE Schools Data reports, extracted February 2020*NOTE: Reporting of data not provided when less than six students in the respective cohort.

2017 2018 2019 2020Percentage of year 12 students attaining a year 12 certificate or equivalent VET qualification

50% 53% 55% 58%

Percentage of year 12 students undertaking vocational training or trade training

51% 68% 65% 41%


NAPLAN READING:

The NAPLAN assessment did not occur in 2020.

In 2019 38% of students attained the DfE standard in reading. It is worth noting that over the last five years the school has maintained an improvement trend above the historic baseline. The schools internal PAT-R testing together with NAPLAN data has allowed for more in-depth and frequent literacy analysis and action, for example our analysis clearly indicated that vocabulary and punctuation were areas for development with actions from 2020. Over the last 18 months the schools focus on writing has seen a range of whole school initiatives in response to our data analysis. In 2019, 36% of students reached the Standard of Educational Achievement in writing, this is almost 100% above the historic base line with Aboriginal students showing their highest recorded result of 22% at SEA. The schools focus on whole school writing strategies and reading strategies will develop further in 2021 together with higher band students transitioning to our school being identified, tracked, monitored and supported to help maintain their high levels of achievement.Please refer to the PASS 2021 Site Improvement Plan for specific details.

2. NAPLAN NUMERACY

NAPLAN numeracy and other numeracy measures including PAT-M have shown a general improvement trend above the historic baseline over the last five years and in 2017, 98% of students reached national minimum standard which is the highest result since NAPLAN began. Last year 37% of students were above the Standard of Educational Achievement (SEA) and while this is a relatively low result it does continue an improvement trend. A question level analysis of the data shows that most of our improvement occurs in the problem solving section of the test, this is reassuring as a focus of our numeracy improvement continues to focus on the development of student executive function which includes individual and collaborative problem solving. We are confident that this continued work at the school will maintain an improvement trend. As with literacy the number of students reaching higher bands in numeracy has increased, however the result is relatively low, our focus on executive functions, problem solving skills and tracking and monitoring procedures should see this improvement trend continue.

3. SACE ACHIEVEMENT

SACE completion rates and levels of achievement have improved over the last few years with a completion of --- in 2020. This trend is due to a range of initiatives including new monitoring and support systems, administrative arrangements and the development of a range of stage 1 and 2 options including the Youth Engagement Strategy which provides an increased number of VET units together with compulsory SACE units through an alternative educational model. This year we have also targeted a specific at risk cohort of year 10 and year 11 students to be further supported to complete the compulsory SACE units.

Levels of achievement at both stage 1 and stage 2 have also shown an improvement trend which is consistent with the schools clear focus on improving achievement. During 2020 the school has expanding its SACE tracking and monitoring systems to include a focus on high achieving students and strategies to move them into higher grades.

School performance comment


There is a clear improvement trend in relation to general behavior and culture which is reflected in the behaviour management referrals. The data shows an approximate 20% reduction in suspensions over the last five years and an average of 1.5 exclusions per year over that time line. Our Focus Room referrals (time out) have seen a reduction of around 25% over this time. The improvement in behaviour reflects the significant work the school has actioned to develop appropriate programs, a clear focus on achievement and the development of consistent expectations. The school is also working to involve students in many aspects of the school including our External Review recommendation of strengthening students sense of belonging within the learning agenda through teaching strategies that allow students to make decisions about their learning.

Behaviour support comment

Year level 2017 2018 2019 2020

Year 7 31.8% 48.0% 0.0% N/A

Year 8 81.0% 78.3% 77.0% 76.2%

Year 9 78.7% 74.5% 76.3% 73.8%

Year 10 80.1% 72.4% 70.5% 72.8%

Year 11 81.9% 80.5% 76.4% 71.6%

Year 12 90.7% 81.6% 89.2% 80.3%

Secondary Other 81.1% 74.8% 83.5% 83.6%

Total 81.9% 76.8% 77.4% 75.2%

Attendance

Data Source: Site Performance Reporting System (SPER), Semester 1 attendance.NOTE: A blank cell indicates there were no students enrolled.

Attendance commentAttendance has improved significantly over the last six years (approx. 10%). However that improvement trend has leveled off over the last few years and it has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic this year. While we are confident that our curriculum and programs are inclusive of all students, during 2021 the school will be utilising its capacity to reinstate and further strengthen the Attendance Action Team model supportive of high level tracking and monitoring procedures. The Clontarf Academy will also place a strong emphasis on attendance improvement and will be working in partnership with the school on some key performance indicators.


Relevant history screeningThe school follows all of the DfE Relevant History Screening procedures and is 100% compliant in this area.

Intended destination

Data Source: Education Department School Administration System (EDSAS) Data extract Term 3 2020.

Leave Reason Number %Employment 13 8.2%Interstate/Overseas 12 7.5%Other 1 0.6%Seeking Employment 13 8.2%Tertiary/TAFE/Training 10 6.3%Transfer to Non-Govt School 10 6.3%Transfer to SA Govt School 32 20.1%Unknown 68 42.8%Unknown (TG - Not Found) 0 NA

Client opinion summaryParent Opinion Survey:

The most recent survey conducted in 2020 indicates a general positive overall perception of the school with over 90% of parents responding positively across all categories. The one area requiring further attention relates to communication between the school and parents including teachers making contact with parents in regard to student school work issues, with 27% of parents indicating that this was an area of concern. This area has emerged as an issue previously and will be further investigated in 2021. One action currently being developed relates to the school/parent on-line communication module that is being further developed through a current review of our student achievement reporting procedures. This will allow teachers to "post" assignments, deadlines and other course requirements for students and parents to access on-line. The program also allows for easy communication between parents and the teachers. The school will be working to get more parents using this on-line communication system in 2021.

Student Opinion Survey:

This survey indicates a general positive overall perception of the school with over 90% of students having a general positive view of the school across all categories. One area that did stand out as an area for further inquiry relates to "connectedness to school" with around 20% of students (25% Aboriginal students) not feeling a strong connection to the school. This area is being looked into further and will involve the student leadership team and the Aboriginal education team. This has also emerged through our recent External Review and is reflected in one of the review recommendations.

Staff Opinion Survey:

The survey indicates a general positive overall perception of the school with over 90% of staff having a general positive view of the school across all categories. Areas of strength relate to the schools clear directions and alignment with strategic priorities and professional development. The one area that requires further inquiry relates to the effectiveness of communication of information within the school. During 2020 the school completed a consultative process involving all teaching staff to further align meeting and team structures with site priority work and improved communication structures, this work will be actioned further in 2021.


All teachers at this school are qualified and registered with the SA Teachers Registration Board.

Qualification Level Number of QualificationsBachelor Degrees or Diplomas 82Post Graduate Qualifications 40

Please note: Staff who have more than 1 qualification will be counted more than once in the above qualification table. Therefore the total number of staff by qualification type may be more than the total number of teaching staff.

Workforce composition including Indigenous staff

Teaching Staff Non-Teaching StaffIndigenous Non-Indigenous Indigenous Non-Indigenous

Full-Time Equivalents 0.0 58.6 8.1 23.5Persons 0 60 9 32

Data Source: Department for Education HR Management Reporting System, extracted Term 3 2020 .

Data Source: Department for Education HR Management Reporting System, extracted Term 3 2020 .

Qualifications held by the teaching workforce and workforce composition

Funding Source AmountGrants: State $10,741,555Grants: Commonwealth $0Parent Contributions $231,074Fund Raising $184Other $183,136

Financial statement

Data Source: Education Department School Administration System (EDSAS).


2020 School Annual Report: Tier 2 Funding Report*

Tier 2 funding section

Tier 2 category (where applicable to the site)

Briefly describe how the 2020 funding was used to improve the relevant Standard of Educational Achievement (SEA) outcomes

Outcomes achieved or progress made towards these outcomes

Improved wellbeing and engagement Targeted funding has been used to support our Youth Engagement Strategy which offers students individual programs with a focus on health, well being and literacy and numeracy support.

Over 100 students benefited from our YES programs in 2020.

Targeted funding for individual students

Improved outcomes for students with an additional language or dialect

EALD funding has contributed towards Specialised staffing through our "YES" center model and for targeted literacy intervention programs across years 8-10. The school has also funded a range of intervention programs

Almost all students have shown accelerated development evident through PAT data.

Inclusive Education Support Program The school ran a Special class together with a "Learning Mainstream" class which focused support for identified SWD together with a wide range of in class ancillary SWD support and some targeted SWD support by teachers.

Student engagement and attendance increased leading to improved achievement.

Targeted funding for groups of students

Improved outcomes for - rural & isolated students- Aboriginal students- numeracy and literacy including earlyyears support

First language maintenance & developmentStudents taking alternative pathwaysIESP support

The school ran a wide rage of programs to specifically improve outcomes for Aboriginal students including; Workabout, SAASTA, VET programs through YES, homework center, APAS tutoring and support for the Polly Farmer Pathways to Success program.

The school continued to funding to the ongoing development and sustainability of its Youth Engagement Strategy "YES" which provides a wide range of alternative pathways and health/well being support for highly complex and vulnerable students.

Literacy and numeracy improvement continues to be a clear priority

Aboriginal student engagement and attendance increased facilitating improved achievement towards SEA.

Increased number of students achieving the SACE.

Program funding for all students

Australian Curriculum Funding has been targeted on ongoing training and development for teachers including the trials of the new AC curriculum resources. Additional staffing has been allocated to all Year 8-10 mainstream classes.

Moderation processes are developing to allow for accurate data comparisons.

Aboriginal languages programs Initiatives

Grant funding has been utilised to deliver Aboriginal Languages programs and cultural experiences within different parts of the curriculum. This has included the employment of a language specialist.

Improved inclusion of Aboriginal perspectives across the curriculum.

Better schools funding Better Schools funding has been used to support a model where most teaching staff are deployed for some of their load (approx. 0.1) to work with other teachers in classes supporting identified students and SEA attainment

Processes being established where more students are receiving direct support.

Other discretionary funding

Specialist school reporting (as required)

NA NA

Improved outcomes for gifted students NA NA

*Tier 2 funding provides additional resources to support students who are unlikely to obtain the desired outcomes without further support.

Documents

Port Augusta Secondary School