1. education
2. school

SCHOOL
CONTEXT
Largs Bay School prides itself on providing an inclusive, studentcentred learning environment. We strive to foster positive
relationships both within the school and wider community.
Our R-7 school has an average enrolment of over 400 students with
approximately 20% coming from out of the zone. Our cohort of students
includes 9% Aboriginal, 20% eligible for school card, 15% qualify for
English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EALD) support and 6% are
verified as students with a disability. Enrolments are increasing.
We work collaboratively with our community to ensure that Largs Bay
remains the school of choice & a school of quality.
We have pleasure in presenting the 2014 Annual Report.
2014 ANNUAL REPORT
LARGS BAY
[Ty pe the se n de r co m pany a ddre s s]  [ Ty p e t he se nde r p ho ne n umbe r]  [ Ty pe t he se nde r e - ma i l addre s s]
Harmony Day - Whole school Rainbow Serpent chalk drawing
Highlights
Throughout the year, there were many and varied activities that included “value added” pursuits that further
contribute to our exciting learning environment. Some of these included:
 Acquaintance Night
 SPORTS - SAPSASA Swimming, Athletics, Basketball, Cross Country, Girls Cricket, Football Clinics
 Year 7 High School visits
 Harmony Day
 School Disco
 Class of 1945 reunion
 Westpac Rescue Helicopter visit
 Kindy Visits
 NAPLaN Testing (years 3, 5 & 7)
 Kidbiz Family Night
 Reconciliation Week
 Excursions – Foreshore, Museum, Zoo, Road Safety, Maritime Museum, Botanical Gardens, Aquadome
 Incursions - Wellbeing, Incredible Insects, Deadly Australians, Aboriginal performance (Kadul)
 Book Week
 Choir performance at Festival Theatre
 Moon Lantern Festival
 Sports Day
 Year 6/7 Aquatics
 R-2 swimming
 Footsteps Dance
 Port Adelaide Christmas Parade
 Spellathon
 Year 7 Big Day Out
 Surf Education
 Year 7 Graduation
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School Priorities
Priority One: Literacy
NAPLAN
Key achievements
 Year 3 students met DECD Mean Scores in Reading, Grammar & Spelling
 Year 5 students were at or above DECD Mean Scores in Reading, Grammar & Spelling
 Year 7 students were at or above DECD Mean Scores in Reading, Grammar & Spelling
 Year 3 ATSI students outperformed the Region in all areas of literacy.
 Year 5 ATSI students outperformed the Region in Reading, Grammar & Spelling.
 84% of year 2 students met benchmark in Running Records.
Future directions
 Review of NAPLAN data to determine areas for improvement & teaching points/strategies across the
school R-7.
 A particular focus on all year levels to provide an emphasis on genre writing.
 Continuation of Read Up program across the school to support identified students
 Develop a whole school genre map
Running Records Data
The Running Records data is collected during Term 3 and the graphs below reflect this information.
Year 1
At Largs Bay, we set a benchmark target of Level 17 by the end of the year for our Year 1’s.
The term 3 data shows that 42% of our Year 1 students reached benchmark.
By the end of the year, however, 67% had reached benchmark.
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Year 2
We set a benchmark target of Level 21 by the end of the year for our Year 2’s.
The term 3 data shows that 84% of our Year 2 students reached benchmark.
By the end of the year, however, 90% had reached benchmark.
Premier’s Reading Challenge – Hall of Fame (Readers for Life)
Priority Two: Numeracy
NAPLAN
Key Achievements
 Year 3 and 7 students cohorts above DECD mean scores in Numeracy.
 Year 3 and 7 students have demonstrated significant improved mean scores 2012 - 2014
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

Year 3 and Year 5 ATSI students’ mean score was above ATSI DECD mean scores
Early identification of students for intervention programmes (Quicksmart)
Year 3
Year 5
Year 7
Future directions
 Improve student achievement – growth of student cohorts
 Establish a Numeracy Agreement for the Early Years
 Moderation of student work to gain greater consistency in grading A-E
 Implement a quality teaching and learning mathematics programme in all classes (Australian Curriculum)
 Continue to use data to inform teaching and learning
 Continue to use the Quicksmart program for identified students
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Priority Three: Wellbeing
Key Achievements
Student surveys reported strong feelings of school pride and optimistic belief in their having a successful future.
They have been keen to take up opportunities to influence how Largs can better deliver curriculum, whether during
class time sessions, through Student Voice or by attending voluntary lunchtime meetings, but have expressed high
levels of confidence that Largs staff are helping them to become the best they can be. The number of students who
were unsure whether a teacher would assist them with a bullying issue has halved and students are now equally
confident of assistance from a teacher whether they are on duty or their own class teacher.
Behaviour data continues to improve, reflecting the opinion of staff, students and caregivers that children are living
the Largs Bay Values. On average 5 students attended the office each week.
80
67
70
60
52
50
40
39
40
30
30
18
20
10
8
9
14 12
8
2
0
Cross peer activities were a huge highlight this year, for example Rooms 5 and 22 working together to link literacy,
art and IT. Our Year 5’s were individually matched up with a new reception children during their transition days.
They arrived in time to meet them at the front gate and spent breaktimes supporting them and gave them Welcome
Booklets including a photo of themselves, many of which have made their way on to the fridge!
Other yearly highlights included:
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92% of students were able to recall our 3 School Values
Resilience built through involvement in the Moon Lantern Festival
Community Mindedness built through Environmental Activism activities like maintaining “Our Patch” and
attending NRM Sustainability Officer Meetings
Diversity celebrated through visits with international students from Adelaide Secondary School of English.
Confidence built through Breaktime activities like Largs Bay’s Got Talent, the End of Year Event and
delivery of a Drama Program to our Year 7’s by ‘Artists in Residence’ funded by a received grant
R-7 students completed a First Aid course
CPC effectively delivered
“Super Values” mural completed that will assist in 2015’s Laying the Foundations
Mindfullness Program delivered in a number of classes across the school, students noted how it helped
them avoid stress, sleep better and feel happier.
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Future directions
Following student feedback, staff identified the Personal Capabilities and Wellbeing Strategies they felt would most
effectively drive us toward our future goals. They are;
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Whole School language and practices
Explicit teaching of community mindedness and Good Sportsmanship
Praising effort and adoption of strategies over outcome
Our Largs Bay Values will continue to be a focus, as will our use of Kelso’s Wheel of Choice. It supports
children in using their own power to solve small problems, for example when negotiating conflict, whilst
being able to identify when an adult should be involved.
You Can do It’s Five Keys to Success will also continue as a focus across the school, the Habits of the
Mind predominate in the upper year levels.
New directions include the introduction of eight Thinking Maps across the school as a method for staff and
students to communicate their thinking and drive their train of thought. In rewarding students for effort and
employment of different strategies over results, whilst still valuing excellence, we aim to foster a growth
mindset. Our students will be able to develop into life- long learners who aren’t burdened with having to
seek constant approval of others. They will not suffer under the stifling belief that anything but their effort
stands in the way of them and their dreams.
Students will continue to drive the improved level of good sportsmanship across the school. This will be
reflected in all behaviour data and student opinion surveys. In 2013 only 18% of students could say they
never saw bad sportsmanship, 55% said they saw it every week. We look forward to the improved school
pride and wellbeing that will result across our community when students are able to feel more positively and
to the results of them identifying as active and powerful community leaders.
School pride & optimism were evident throughout the year
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Attendance
Attendance rates have remained relatively stable over the past 3 years, however, we are striving to reach a target
of 94% as outlined in our Site Improvement Plan.
We have very clear protocols in place to follow up non-attenders, including daily phone calls, home visits, letters
and involving the Regional Attendance Officer. We also recognize excellent attendance at each assembly with
certificates and canteen vouchers.
Attendance
by year level
Whole School
% Attendance
2012
2013
2014
ATSI
% Attendance
2012
2013
2014
Reception
92.1
92.1
91.4
93.5
85.6
88.2
Year 1
Year 2
92.5
92.1
91.7
92.1
92.3
91.4
80.2
84.3
87.6
79.5
90.6
96.0
Year 3
Year 4
93.1
93.2
92.0
93.8
90.7
92.4
86.3
84.2
90.0
91.0
82.1
92.5
Year 5
Year 6
90.2
91.0
94.6
91.4
93.0
93.9
86.0
87.7
89.5
84.1
89.6
90.7
Year 7
92.1
90.2
87.5
90.4
82.4
71.1
TOTAL
92.0
92.3
91.8
87.2
86.5
87.7
Outstanding Attendance Award winners 2014
Principal outstanding achievement award winners 2014
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School Sport
2014 has been a busy year in school sport.
All current coaches and managers have DCSI screening and background checks.
Basketball
LBS nominated 1 x under 10 and 3 x under 12 basketball teams in the Thursday after school mini –ball competition
at the Port Adelaide Rec Centre. 30 players registered. Players wore new basketball singlets for the season.
Cricket
LBS nominated a Kanga cricket team and a B grade (year 5/6) in the Western Suburbs Primary Schools Cricket
competition. 21 players participated. The SACA has been extremely supportive of school cricket and will be looking
to expand this competition in 2015.
Soccer
Mr Ian Burge was the school delegate for the North West Junior Soccer Association in 2014.
70 players participated in 8 different teams. Special thanks to Ian who coordinated the soccer programme in 2014.
Volleyball
We participated in the VSA Beach Volleyball competition on held on Mondays after school at Henley Square. We
entered both a year 4/5 team and a 6/7 team. The year 4/5 team won the gold medal in the final held in term 4.
Netball
44 players (5 teams) participated in the term 2 and 3 netball competition held at the Port Adelaide Rec centre.
Total numbers of participants in the after school programme: 174
SAPSASA
Largs Bay School has continued to support and participate in SAPSASA events.
Events and carnivals include: Athletics, Swimming, Cross Country, Football, Netball, Softball, Soccer, Hockey,
Rugby League, Basketball and Cricket.
Many students excelled in their individual sports and 37 were representatives in the Port SAPSASA District teams.
SAPSASA Knockout and Carnivals
Students at Largs Bay participated in SAPSASA Indoor Volleyball, Basketball, Softball, Rugby League, 9 aside
Football (AFL), knockout Football and knockout Netball.
SAPSASA representatives at the State Athletics Day
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Aboriginal Education
Term 1, 21st March Harmony Day. Celebrated Mon 17th – Thurs 20th March. Theme “Everyone Belongs”.
Activities : Class activities, Tree of leaves message wall displayed in resource centre. Kuranye Metitya Dreaming
Garden talks to each class with Karen A discussing Harmony through Reconciliation at Largs Bay School, wear
orange for a day, Assembly Disco.
Term 2 Reconciliation Week (celebrated week 5, 26th May – 30th June). Theme “Let’s Talk Recognition”.
Activities : Class activities and Cultural Awareness prog’s, Auntie Irene and Karen A – Flags, create symbols for
reconciliation. Feet display around school (walk the talk). Warren Miller (parent of Nykita), cooking and tasting
kangaroo sausages and cultural awareness sessions including bush foods (funded through Reconciliation SA and
DECD). Flag Raising and Assembly. Student contributions to Port / Enfield Council Northern Lights display in the
Port Centre during Reconciliation week.
Term 3, Aboriginal Cultural Performance “Kadul”, Ryker Ali. Whole school performance, cultural awareness
and inclusion.
Whole school chalk drawing of Rainbow Serpent and associated photo. Amalgamation of 2 schools, coming
together as one. Whole school participation in chalk drawing and colouring in. Ariel photo of whole school as one
(see picture on front). Related to our own Kuranye Metitya Dreaming Garden Rainbow serpent and Harmony Week
using the theme “Everyone Belongs”.
Term 4 Reconciliation Relay. Port / Enfield Council initiated and supported event. Local schools contributed to
adding momentos to a chest to be delivered to the Elders group at Kura Yerlo. Largs Bay contributed work around
the Rainbow Serpent chalk drawing bringing our school together as one in the spirit of Reconciliation.
Term 1 Hearing Screening, completion of Hearing Screening for Aboriginal and other nominated students who
may have been missed in 2013.
AYAC (Aboriginal Youth Action Committee). Le Sharna (rm 19) and Adam (rm 19), were the school reps for the
committee. They met at Kura Yerlo twice a term with reps from other local schools to support Aboriginal
Community initiatives (Leadership focus).
ILP plans for Aboriginal Students. Each Aboriginal student has an individual plan targeting growth and specific
needs. Teachers met with AET (Carmel) and ACEO (Karen) to contribute to plans. Parents were invited to come in
to meet the Ab Ed Team to discuss their child’s plan and provide input into them.
APAS Tutoring for targeted ATSI students yr 1 – 3. Mini Lit progamme employed to target reading with yr 1 – 3
targetted ATSI students (AET Carmel administered prog).
Targetted ATSI student support in Literacy and Numeracy. AET and ACEO tailored and administered targeted
programmes in line with class teacher developed ILP’s. Support as 1:1 student support, small group targeted
support, inclass and withdrawl support as appropriate.
Monitoring and addressing attendance. Ongoing monitoring of attendance (data, phone calls, front office liaison,
home visits, district networking) to achieve improved attendance outcomes.
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Wellbeing of ATSI students and families. Ongoing home / school communication. Individual support as required.
Fostering of participation and engagement of Aboriginal students.
Playgroup
2014 was the second year of our Playgroup and our numbers of attendees was exceptional.
On average, 22 parents and 20 children attended. The program will continue in 2015.Special thanks to
our coordinator, Sophia Georgonicas.
Fundraising
Throughout 2014, the parent help group worked tirelessly to fundraise for the school. This included:
Krispy Kreme, Entertainment Books, Engraved Pavers, Kynton’s buns, Spell-a-thon, End of Year Raffle,
Sports Day BBQ, Scholastic Book Fair. Over $10,000 was raised for the year. A priority is for an
upgrade to the playground.
Class gift baskets kindly donated by families were a major fundraiser at the End of Year Event
Client Opinion Survey Data
The community was surveyed using the ACARA template through both the school website and the Skoolbag App.
The questions were to be rated from 1 to 5 (1 being Strongly disagree through to 5 being Strongly agree).
Staff Opinion Survey (24 responses)
Staff were asked to address the areas of:
Quality Teaching & Learning – 100% agreed that learning programs are responsive to student needs
Support of Learning – 100% agreed that they were supported in the management of student behaviour
Relationships & Communication – 100% agreed that the school keeps parents well informed of what goes on
Leadership & Decision Making – 100% agreed that there is supportive leadership in the school
Areas to improve upon include:
Communication between staff.
Increasing the variety of assessment methods to show how well students have learned
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Student Opinion Survey (82 responses)
The students had 12 questions to rate from 1 to 5.
99% of students agreed that the teachers expected them to do their best.
97% agreed that the school was well maintained
98% agreed that they felt safe at school
95% agreed that they liked being at school.
Areas to improve upon in 2015 include:
Students feeling comfortable about talking to teachers about their concerns
Students believing that all students are treated fairly
Parent Opinion Survey (77 responses)
Parents had 14 questions to rate from 1 to 5.
97% of parents agreed that their child liked being at the school
97% agreed that the school looked for ways to improve
96% agreed that the school was well maintained
96% agreed that their child felt safe at school
Areas to improve upon include:
Parents need more useful feedback about school work
Parents need to see their children more motivated to learn
Our Year 7 Award winners at Graduation Night
Financial Statement
Following two years as an amalgamated school, 2014 gave us an opportunity to really fine tune our budget and
maximize our spending to support learning outcomes. We remain in a financially viable position and more than
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meet DECD requirements in having a minimum of 5% surplus in our savings. The Governing Council will ratify the
final budget for the 2015 school year in term 1.
Better Schools Funding
Largs Bay received $13,000 from the Federal Government and this was utilised to support our intervention
programs for disadvantaged students, both individually and in small groups.
JP & Early Years Funding
As a Category 5 school, Largs Bay receives funding to reduce class sizes in the early years. In 2014, Reception
classes averaged 20 students, Year 1 classes averaged 24 students and Year 2 classes averaged 25 students.
Largs Bay was the first SA school to embrace the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Program
Intervention Programs
Quicksmart Maths – 8 students
Read Up - 12 students
MiniLit/MultiLit – 6 students
LAP – 30 students
Special Ed – 30 students
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Student Achievement
(A-E grades)
This year, teachers reported against the Australian Curriculum in: English, Mathematics, Science, History and
Geography. The following table reflects a breakdown of grades in percentages for each year level in English &
Maths.
Year Level
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
A
5%
4%
17%
2%
6%
2%
14%
B
16%
6%
19%
27%
37%
20%
26%
English
C
40%
58%
48%
51%
30%
42%
37%
D
32%
28%
14%
18%
27%
35%
20%
E
17%
4%
2%
2%
0%
1%
3%
A
0%
4%
15%
2%
4%
8%
11%
B
13%
9%
25%
27%
32%
13%
29%
Maths
C
48%
61%
40%
49%
40%
50%
34%
D
28%
25%
18%
20%
22%
29%
23%
E
11%
1%
2%
2%
2%
0%
3%
Behaviour Management
There has been an obvious trend over the past 3 years of a reduction in both isuues of violence and bullying. Whilst
2014 showed no significant consequences for bullying, there were isolated cases of low level bullying that were
dealt with that did not culminate in serious consequences.
Year
Significant Issues
No. of Students
2012
Violence
52
2013
Violence
34
2014
Violence
23
2012
Bullying
12
2013
Bullying
2
2014
Bullying
0
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Student Destination
Leave Reason
2013
School
No
Index
%
%
Employment
Interstate/Overseas
DECD
%
3.5%
3.0%
14
14.9%
10.5%
10.1%
1
1.1%
0.5%
1.4%
Seeking Employment
3.2%
3.6%
Tertiary/TAFE/Training
5.5%
4.6%
Other
Transfer to Non-Govt Schl
19
20.2%
10.2%
9.7%
Transfer to SA Govt Schl
60
63.8%
46.2%
47.4%
20.3%
20.1%
Unknown
Criminal History Screening
Largs Bay complied with the screening verification responsibilities as outlined by DECD.
The school sought approval for 42 volunteers throughout the year and all were granted the DCSI clearance.
In 2014, the school also ensured all volunteers underwent Responding to Abuse & Neglect (RAN) training.
Teacher Qualifications and Workforce Composition
All teachers at this school are qualified and registered with the SA Teachers Registration Board.
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Governing Council Report
2014 started off with a lot of excitement with children finding out who their teachers were on the first day back. We
welcomed back our Principal and Deputy Principal, and a lot of new students to the school across all the years. The
trend of new students coming to the school has continued throughout the year and we have increased our numbers
to a point where 2015 may see an extra class established.
We also welcomed back familiar “faces” to Governing Council as well as some fresh new members.
The Governing Council has been busy working with our Out of School Hours Staff to increase numbers and provide
an excellent school week and vacation care program. Governing Council have also worked alongside Canteen staff
to provide a healthy, fun menu and “special treat” food days for students and staff, and have worked hard to ensure
we continue to have a sustainable canteen that continues to stay open 5 days a week.
Our fundraising committee have worked especially hard and raised thousands of dollars for Largs Bay School.
Events included Entertainment books, Krispy Kreme doughnuts fund raiser, Book week, Spell-a-thon, and the End
of Year Event. We look forward to spending some of the money raised on monkey bars for the playground and
continue to work towards other projects to improve the school for the children.
Next year, we have the equivalent of 2 classes of new Reception children starting in term 1. An open classroom will
be used as an early learning centre so the younger children can start their schooling time in a safe and positive
area and the teachers can teach in an environment that is maximised for early years learning. The children have
been buddied up with the year 5’s, and all are very excited.
Kerrie Stewart (Chairperson)
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