ROOS

NSW Department of Education & Training

Rural Outcomes of Schooling Project

Bonalbo Central School

Context

In 2009, Bonalbo Central School, which was identified for its junior and senior secondary results, had an overall enrolment of 177 students of whom 117 were in secondary, 18% were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander students and four students had special needs. The school provides a broad range of subjects through to HSC level including VET courses and adult courses (34 adults enrolled). In 2009 there were 18.7 teachers including principal, deputy principal, 2 assistant principals, 3 head teachers and a librarian. Support staff included an Aboriginal education officer, a community liaison officer, a school chaplain (2 days per week), 4 part time school learning support officers and 5 other full-time equivalent positions filled by various assistants and office staff. Staffing has been very stable up to 2009 but some experienced teachers may soon retire.

The small town of Bonalbo, with a population of 500, is located in northern NSW about an hour from Casino and 3 hours from Brisbane. Students travel to the school from a wide area that includes Old Bonalbo, Tabulam, Drake, Mallanganee and Ewingar. The town is surrounded by dairy and beef cattle farms and timber plantations. Historically it was a timber area with mills but the smaller local mills have closed. Instead the plantation timber industry developed and it is now under threat. The town has a hospital and health services but only basic shopping facilities.

The school's motto is "lifelong learning for a positive future". This motto is embodied in the adult education initiatives at Bonalbo Central School which received an Education Week Award for one of these – the Mindle Mothers Program, North Coast Region. The award was for "Exceptional Support to local Aboriginal Women – the model that they have developed to engage students is being used by other schools".

School Community Educational Advantage (SCEA) Graph

These graphs were used to identify schools with outstanding performance relative to other schools with similar levels of educational advantage. The SCEA (School Community Educational Advantage) rating was based on a combination of socio-economic status and the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA). The performance measure for junior secondary used results from Year 7 and Year 9 NAPLAN tests and the School Certificate and the performance measure for senior secondary used the Higher School Certificate results.

Strategies that improve learning outcomes for Aboriginal students

Aboriginal students have a Personal Learning Plan and the plans are updated using input from Year Advisers, the Aboriginal Education Officer and Head Teachers. Planning in teams uses NAPLAN data analysis. Teachers follow up by using flexible approaches to cater for different learning styles.

One-on-one attention in small classes is made possible by having lots of learning support workers. Constructive verbal feedback helps students to take the next step but it also helps that everyone concentrates on the positive and teachers are consistent with behaviour management. The Aboriginal Education Officer said these factors enhance the learning of Aboriginal students.

Peer tutoring by senior students who have gained TAFE accreditation is another form of one-on-one attention that has assisted Aboriginal students.

The Aboriginal Education Officer focuses on explaining language differences to assist Aboriginal students to understand the curriculum. A School Learning Support Officer, who is an Elder, commented that the Aboriginal Education Officer was able to help teachers as much as students to understand culture and language differences.

Computer technology strongly engages Aboriginal students. When students were using computers the teacher structured learning from websites, gave students a scaffold to guide them and provided individual support.

Executive support is strong. The Aboriginal Education Officer said the Deputy sorts out conflicts and she is supported by the Principal. If parents can't be contacted by phone the Principal or Deputy will go out with the Aboriginal Education Officer to visit the homes of Aboriginal students. The Aboriginal Education Officer said the Principal makes a strong connection with the boys and this has led to more positive attitudes.

Aboriginal adult education students and workers have been good role models for secondary students. These adults include the ‘Mindle Mothers' students (see video under Engaging the Community), Aboriginal health and education workers and at times a doctor from the Aboriginal Medical Centre in Casino which provide students with health checks. The Centre also provides voluntary education activities such as when a doctor, nurse and fitness instructor talked to all students about healthy eating and exercise and measuring blood pressure, weight and blood sugar. On another occasion staff from the Aboriginal Medical Centre talked to students about Drug and Alcohol Education.

Bundjalung language is taught by local Elder, Poppy Harry (the Reverend Harry Walker) to Year 7 students and this increases respect for and understanding of local Aboriginal culture. At this time all Bonalbo secondary students would have studied Bundjalung as part of their education. As Poppy Harry has many commitments and has sometimes been unable to attend due to illness, the Bundjalung LOTE program has been supplemented with French and Japanese which enables students to make the comparisons required in the LOTE syllabus. The school has not allowed illness to jeopardise the Bundjalung LOTE program, instead they have been flexible in working around the times Poppy Harry is available by providing other LOTE lessons when he cannot attend or is focussing on Aboriginal /Bundjalung cultural studies outcomes.

Cultural relevance has a high priority in the school and program proformas ensure consideration of Indigenous content in all KLA programs. Aboriginal art decorates the walls. The Principal and community liaison officer invite Elders and community members to school events. The school's Multicultural Day held on the town oval is combined with NAIDOC celebrations and is a great opportunity to showcase culture such as the student dance troupe and food provided by the local Bush Tucker café. Aboriginal organisations have stalls and the day is partly funded by the local Aboriginal Corporation as well as the Kyogle Shire Council.

The Community Liaison Officer, Aboriginal Education Officer and Student Learning Support Officers were praised by the executive staff for how effective they have been in working with the students, community and staff and collaborating on many initiatives. For example, Auntie Gertie is an Elder who has been employed to ensure Aboriginal students attend classes.

The school chaplain has mentored Aboriginal boys, some of whom have a parent involved in the justice system. The chaplain now works two days a week at Bonalbo Central School but was self-funded before chaplains were funded in schools. He has worked in Juvenile Justice and said it was a benefit for the school to have a chaplain because he can visit parents at home.

Engaging the community in education

Breakfast Club volunteers provide breakfast three days a week. It is the largest Breakfast Club in NSW and is important because many students have a long bus trip to school. It was started in 1999 with funds raised by the community through fundraisers such as movies in the local hall but is now funded by Red Cross. The Lions Club has recently donated $1000 to the Red Cross to assist in running the Breakfast Club and Lions also provide a school BBQ breakfast each month.

A Panel of community members from the Casino area (including the ex-mayor and business owners) conducts mock interviews with all Year 10 students as an important component of the Work

Multicultural Day is a school and community event on the Town Oval. It includes the whole community and other schools in the area. Local organisations have stalls, the Bush Tucker Café provides food, hospitality students provide coffee and food and the student entertainment includes the school band, a dance troupe and performances by other schools such as Woodenbong Central School. The Aboriginal Corporation and Kyogle Shire Council provide funding. This event places the school at the centre of the community.

Collaboration with the Louisa Johnson Training Centre for people with disabilities enabled Bonalbo commerce students to use their technology skills to help students with disabilities create advertising flyers and labels for products they make. This activity provided a relevant and meaningful purpose for learning.

Adult education at the school provides a good model for young students. The school is providing education for the adults who have not previously got to Year 12 and now has Hospitality, Art, IT and Metals and Engineering running separately to mainstream. In 2009 there were 34 adults enrolled which is a considerable number for a school with only 117 secondary students. Adult education reinforces the school motto, Life Long Learning for a Positive Future. This is especially important since many adults in the community have not previously had much education and many are not in employment.

The Mindle Wadhunjgiarn Project was initiated in response to requests from the Tabulam Aboriginal women's group. The local Elder who teaches Bundjalung language at the school provided the name: Mindle means ‘clever' or ‘smart' and Wadhunjgiarn means ‘mothers, young and old'. It took two years in preparation, building up key contacts and was funded through school PSP funds and a DEEWR resources grant. A weekly bus was funded by the Department of Transport and driven by a volunteer Elder to pick up grandmothers, mothers and small children from a nearby community one day per week. An average of 12 continued for the first 18 months and more came less regularly. The women study hospitality in the morning and do other activities in afternoon. Each time, the group prepare their lunch and eat together (including the children) – often with invited visitors to chat, for example, the Mindle mothers provided lunch for the Rural Outcomes of Rural Schooling Case Study Team. After lunch the women study a range of different practical subjects, for example, in 2007 the Mindle Mothers Group produced a cook book and developed and used technology and computing skills. They also did some dressmaking and sewing. In 2009 the Women's Health nurse attended informally once a month to inform women of her services and be readily available.

A supported playgroup cares for the children with access to the Mindle Mothers and carers whenever necessary. Most of the women study Year 11 or 12 VET Hospitality to gain a statement of attainment towards Certificate II Hospitality but incorporated into this course, besides the certificate requirements, are:

• Literacy and numeracy supported activities

• Health and hygiene

• Nutrition and preparing healthy lunches for school children

More confidence to apply for positions at the school was gained by parents and carers in the Mindle program and some are now working in other schools. In 2009 some mothers did Art and others did Child Studies but the school is struggling to get TAFE to do Child Studies again in 2010 because of the distance from Ballina. Unfortunately, the program is at risk because staffing is based on K-12 student numbers, not on adult education student numbers, and secondary student numbers are dropping because of lack of employment opportunities in the area. The Mindle Mothers initiative has led to better student attendance and community members becoming more comfortable with the school environment. Some mothers have since become workers at the school.

Negotiating interagency initiatives is an important part of how the school has tried to engage the Aboriginal community in education, for example, much time and effort was put into a small pilot program, Jubullum Outreach Transition for Boys at Risk. The aim was to provide education off site at the Jubullum community for youths returning from detention and not attending school. Other agencies involved included Juvenile Justice and the Police. There was some success before ‘the wheels fell off' but the school will keep the dialogue open and not give up.

Communication is by telephone and posted letters and newsletters to ensure they are not lost in transit. Senior students are sent warning letters about overdue assessments. Letters are followed up with phone calls to allow for conversation and an immediate response. The Community Liaison Officer rings around to get parents in for parent-teacher interviews and other events such as award ceremonies. The school website is publicised as a source of information.

A Literacy and Numeracy Day involves parents and the community in education.

School structures that support student learning

There are four teams across the secondary school rather than ‘silo' faculty structures because of the school size. A Head Teacher said the cross faculty teams made teachers aware of learning in a variety of subject areas and this helps teachers to draw links between their learning experiences in different subjects. Analysis of NAPLAN data is examined for student weaknesses and strengths in team meetings and backward mapping is used to plan for student needs. Before the team meeting the NAPLAN data for each cohort is analysed by the Head Teacher or a delegated teacher.

Frequent newsletters posted home to parents and care givers have colour photos of students and are much appreciated. They are widely distributed in community shops and organisations in Bonalbo and are even distributed to neighbouring communities by the school bus driver.

An A-Z of jobs and roles listed against who carries them out is a useful management tool which is renewed annually to keep the school running smoothly even when there are staff changes.

Class arrangements that support learning include splitting classes using PAS and PSP funding to have class sizes of 10-15, and combined year classes which have facilitated a broad curriculum even though the school is small.

Combined electives give more choice and, if you can meet their interests, students will be more engaged. Students go to TAFE in Lismore, Casino and Wollongbar. A bus takes students who often may not get back home till 8pm or later. However, these students, such as a girl who got a VET award for studies in multi-media, are willing to do the hours because they are engaged in their studies.

Student welfare is supported by having one executive staff member linked to each secondary grade as well as a Year Adviser. Teachers have recently been trained in a personal development program which they found effective when used with Year 7. Every Friday at recess there is a Secondary Student Welfare and Behaviour Meeting where executive staff responsible for year groups lead whole staff discussion. Staff and parents said the welfare system works well. Students who breach the code of conduct are recorded in the RISC database and students who commit a serious breach of the conduct code may be placed on a student monitoring program where a blue sheet is signed off by the teacher in each class attended for five days.

The focus is put on positive behaviour which is specifically acknowledged and encouraged. For example - the green, bronze, silver and gold awards are given for specific competencies like ‘good teamwork in Science' not just ‘excellent work'. Welfare practices encourage re-engagement by providing every opportunity for success such as extensions negotiated for students experiencing difficulties.

Clear meeting structures and communication processes create good information channels. There is also a social meeting for all staff including administration to get together at the Wednesday Morning Tea Muster. This fosters a team spirit and contributes to staff welfare. Student learning is increased when teachers work as a team and are happy in their work.

A way to compensate for being a small school with few opportunities in team sports has been by a focus on canoeing. Ten students competed in the canoeing championships in Victoria at the end of December 2009 with the school coming fourth overall and having several first, second and third place winners.

Quality teaching strategies

Productive Pedagogies from Queensland was embraced by the school prior to the NSW DET focus on the Quality Teaching Framework, which has similar principles, so the school has had a focus on quality teaching for a long time.

Authentic assessment is used in ways that achieve multiple purposes. Students said there is peer assessment in class activities and all students from Year 7 to Year 10 prepare portfolios of their work in Term 4 and present it to a panel consisting of a teacher, community member, parent and another student. Students are given information about how they will be assessed so they can be prepared and this is evident in the criteria on planning sheets for portfolios. Parents commented on an increase in student confidence as a result of the portfolio panels. The panels make students and parents aware of what has been learnt and they develop employability skills such as organisation and interview technique.

Engagement through the use of the Interactive whiteboards and computers to access the Internet was noted by parents, and students said use of video and IWBs makes lessons more meaningful. For example, in English, film studies students are making a sitcom parody of Bay Watch and in a PDHPE lesson about the dangers of posting images or texting, there was a link to a video on the Internet. [click to see video clip from Bonalbo PDHPE lesson about sexting (mov 12.3mb)].

Engagement was also evident in an outdoor art lesson as students discussed alternative materials such as pigments while jointly creating a salt mandala based on one student's design. Students said they learnt through enjoyment and being actively engaged and that teachers accept student enthusiasm and want students to be motivated.

Relevant purposeful learning leads to student engagement so teachers relate information to the world outside school and activities have real purpose. For example, language students contributed to the production of a resource, Caring for Country, by providing voice recordings in Bundjalung to go with images of local animals. Parents said career path opportunities are mapped with the teacher so students have goals and purposes for their learning.

Ownership of learning is evident in the use of MOSH (managing own spelling habits), a school designed program, across the whole school in all subject areas. Students are trusted and trained to work independently. They are provided with constructive feedback so they can improve their performance. Students are offered choices in learning and assessment activities.

Deep understanding was encouraged. For example, in a Science lesson, students were told the purpose of the lesson, asked to think about how to design the experiment and the table for reporting results and then shared their thoughts so that the procedure and table could be jointly constructed. Students gained hands on experience by working in small groups to carry out the experiment. Asking students to think about how and why ensures they are intellectually engaged in processes; sharing and jointly constructing ensures they are supported in their efforts; and small group work ensures they are actively engaged while supporting each other.

QEST (Quality Executive Support for Teachers), a school initiative, gives Head Teachers a period allocation to support the teachers who need most support in the quality teaching area. There is mentoring through lesson study. Quality teaching has been built in to the TARS process and is part of the agenda for executive and team meetings. Program proformas have been adjusted to more specifically focus on quality teaching.

Relationships

Positive relationships between students, teachers, parents and community underpin all of the findings at Bonalbo Central School. There is a willingness to give one-on-one help and provide extra-curricular activities like excursions. Parents and students said the small size of the school leads to more tolerance of difference. Students are given many opportunities and responsibilities that would not be made available to all students in a larger school.

Teachers said there is good rapport with students. Year 8 students said, "Teachers respect us. They know their subject and make us work". Year 11 students said teachers consider their suggestions about teaching strategies and learning. Teachers said they try to be flexible and adapt to student needs. Parents said teachers give up their own time and give students lots of one-on-one support.Students are treated courteously and feel valued so they feel able to take risks and ask questions or even offer suggestions.

Teachers key in to student interests, for example, by relating maths concepts to football. They provide structure but are flexible so that they can cater for different learning styles and adapt their teaching to suit all students from slow learners to top performers.

Parents said the Principal and all teachers were approachable and proactive in the community.

Transferable Strategies/Actions

Build positive relationships between students, between students and staff, between staff and parents and the community. Ensure the school welfare system has a positive bias, have regular team meetings with staff and if possible whole staff gatherings. Keep channels of communication open within the school and in the community, have an open door policy to speak to parents, staff and community members, attend community events and invite community members to school events.

Think outside the square – if the local community is not engaged in education start to make contacts with individual community members or through interagency contacts off site. If students are not engaged, have discussions to find out their interests and adapt lessons to relate to those interests where possible. If a school is too small to offer many subjects then across stage classes can assist in broadening curriculum options. If it is too small or too distant to compete in team sports then focus on other areas of strength in sport.

Embrace Aboriginal culture and make it part of the school. Have community members paint murals, negotiate with local Elders to see if a local Aboriginal language can be taught, include Indigenous content in all subject programs and make contact with Aboriginal health and other organisations. Consult Community Liaison and Aboriginal Education Officers and ensure there is executive support to consider the feasibility of initiatives suggested by them. All Aboriginal staff work with students but it is important that there is also dialogue between them and teachers so that Aboriginal Education Officers and support staff can explain to teachers any different needs and understanding of Indigenous students.

Use portfolio panels and mock interviews. The interviews are great ways to build student confidence and maturity. Students are well-prepared by staff and are given the criteria for assessment. Portfolios have relevance to student learning and mock interviews have purpose and relevance because they link school to the world of work. Inviting parents and community members to be on the interview panels with a teacher and a student is a great way to showcase the school to the community and to forge positive relationships.

Structure teams and meetings to best communicate information. Having teams across faculties can open up shared dialogue, for example, about how to improve literacy and numeracy in all subjects. Regular meetings on important issues like Welfare reward teachers by the reduction in behaviour problems.

Ensure communication is received and engages. Include photos of students in newsletters. Post important information. Make phone calls and visit parents if necessary.

Encourage good role models in the school and bring them in from other organisations. Introducing adult education is a great way to suggest to students that learning is desirable and should continue throughout their lives.