Broulee Public School's Gonski Story

Broulee Public School seeks to motivate and engage every child, building on the learning they
bring from their home and preschool years. Students face different challenges, and the final two
years of Gonski needs-based funding would ensure that our school could support all children to
reach their potential regardless of their circumstances.
Broulee Public School is a well-performing school, despite being in a regional area of high
unemployment and social disadvantage. Broulee PS has an average Socio-economic Status (SES).
We have some low SES families, a few children with an identified disability and some children from
Indigenous families, therefore our school does not qualify for a significant amount of Gonski
funding. BPS received approximately $105, 600 in RAM (Gonski funding) up until September,
2015. The final two years would yield double the amount of the whole first four years of Gonski
funding, and this would become the norm for school funding.
Broulee's priority was to improve the literacy performance of children who were performing well
behind their peers. Falling behind in literacy can jeopardise a child's entire school years.
A trial of MultiLit was successful in raising students' reading ages even in one year, so this
program was expanded to include other under-performing students. The extra funding meant
Broulee PS could employ School Learning
Support Officers to assist in

implementing the program, under

the supervision of a qualified
Learning and Support Teacher.
Students in Years 4-6 were identified as
needing extra support, and each was
started on an individualised program,
working one-to-one.
The next priority was to identify students
from K-2 who needed extra support in
Literacy. The earlier the intervention, the
sooner these students can catch up and
all learning areas can be improved. The
younger students were started on a
MiniLit program working in small groups. Teaching smaller groups helps disadvantaged students
get the attention and feedback they need to improve. The school funded formal training for all
staff implementing the MinitLit and MulitLit programs to ensure its success.
The literacy program has made a significant difference to the children's attitude to learning and
their academic performances. The results are very encouraging and are reflected in school
assessments as well as in the NAPLAN scores of students who have participated in MiniLit and
MultiLit. In 2015, no Year 3 students fell below the National Minimum Standard for reading,
writing, spelling or numeracy. Our Year 5 results showed fewer students below the national
minimum standard than the state average. These NAPLAN results show that we have improved
the results of children with additional learning needs. Our students who have received learning
support had excited parents who said they wished all children could have this support.
Overall, the school has seen a reduction of bullying incidents. By giving under-performing students
the assistance they need, less time was wasted in class on disruptive behaviours, and average and
high performing students were also extended.

What could we achieve if we had full Gonski funding?

Our first priority would be to expand
our existing literacy program to
include more children who are
under-performing.
Next we would start a similar
program to support students who
are behind in numeracy. For too long
schools all around Australia have not
had the funding to give the same
intensive support to numeracy as
they do for literacy.
Teachers understand the connection
between social skills and children's
academic success, and would like to
offer a program to improve
interpersonal relationship skills such
as listening, communication,
managing emotions and self control. Research and evidence shows that these programs would
make a huge difference to academic outcomes and students' level of happiness.

Why do we need the full Gonski funding?

If the full six years of Gonski funding is not delivered, many schools will not be properly resourced
to meet every child's learning needs. The other programs mentioned above would remain a
dream, not a reality. There are many under-performing children to whom we would like to be able
to offer more learning support, but current funding just won't stretch that far.
Gonski funding benefits every child in the school: Principals can decide how best to spend the
extra money on the programs, staff and resources the school needs for its students to improve.
When extra support staff are available for students with extra learning needs, class teachers can
give more attention to the average and top students too, so everyone wins.
Investing needs-based funding into schools doesn't just benefit the children who will grow up with
a better education; our whole society benefits through long-term change - greater employment
rates (more tax-payers, less unemployed), better health, less crime and criminal justice rates and
a better equipped population to participate positively in the 21st century. If we help re-shape the
future of a child now, we will also improve the future of the next generations.
Addressing learning problems as early as possible saves heartache, wasted time, behaviour
problems, disengagement and ongoing poor achievement, which is more expensive in the long
run. Having continued needs-based funding is essential to ensure that all schools can produce
happy, confident and capable students.
Change requires resources, mainly teacher expertise and time, not just good intentions, says
Broulee's Principal, Sue Lowe. The extra needs-based funding needs to be long-term and
consistent for schools to be able to deliver support for all children who need it.
Schools need continuity of funding for crucial programs that are proving successful at making a
difference in students' performances. The Federal government needs to fund education by need based on evidence and research. Australia needs more investment in our most precious future
resource: its children.