The My School government website

[Pretty Butterfly]

One of the biggest issues that I see in the public system (because i think if you are paying private school fees this generally doesnt apply to you) is generational poverty. All of the learning for some kids happens at school, and none at home, to the point where schools are teaching these kids basic life skills that most other kids would already have. Some school run breakfast programs cos the kids paretns cant afford to give them breakfast.

.

See thats my point. So what happens to the average joe that does get breaky and has a decent home life? They are being undertaught to accomodate the other kids. Again, a less of an education for even more students. Something drastic needs to happen to public education. I dont know what, but in my eyes its not getting better, but worse.

On the poverty thing.. trust me, we are pretty povo hon!!!
I pay a weekly fee of $20 for the two at primary, some families spend that on a packet of ciggies.

[Lulu]

Not all public/private schools are the same PB, you know that. You chose the best from what's in your area.
I do know of quite a few public schools that have tutoring/extended hours for students too.

I'm not even going to bother with looking at it. I know the school I have chosen is the best for my son. I don't look at results in primary schools - I go with the feel of the school, the way teachers interact with students and the happiness factor in the playground.

hasn't failed me yet.

[Just Me]

To my understanding, half the reason they do better, and why I pay for catholic education, is because the classes are about half the size of public, and no one will convince that having TWICE the attention of a teacher isn't a good thing.

I completely agree. You may find that it is more than twice the attention of the teacher. Studies have been done (and it follows logic too) that students with higher behavioural needs can take up to 90% of teachers' attention. This often correlates with poverty statistics - who can blame the kids though, if they don't have enough to eat or a sense of security, learning to read is pretty low on the priority list.

Depending on whether you are in a small school or not usually depends on class sizes. I know most class sizes in Townsville private schools are around 22 where the public class sizes can be up to 33. That is a huge amount of difference to workload for teachers.

As far as class sizes go, it is a very measurable difference in student performance. It is logical that students will do better in smaller classes so I am still not convinced that results need to be published the way that they are in order to prove this.

[AliBaby]

Read the below snippet from the link below. Says a lot doesn't it.

John Colet School | Belrose | school league tables

Mandi Sanders, the mother of two children at St Francis of Assisi Regional Primary School in Paddington, which was rated the best-performing Catholic primary school, said the school was delighted with the result but it had come at a cost.

''There was enormous pressure at the school on both teachers and students from day one of term one to achieve good results,'' she said. ''The 'preparation' for the tests was intense, with extreme pressure to practise through regular class time and heavy-duty homework.

''Many children felt overwhelmed and stressed by the level of work and the performance expectations.''

Excellent results followed but at what price and for what purpose? ''Publishing these tables endorses this type of approach and proves what all the critics had feared, that schools will be judged primarily on the results of one academic test alone rather than all-round performance and their ability to nurture young individuals to achieve their potential,'' Ms Sanders said.

This was all for one test. I wonder what other things fell by the way side whilst all of this test preperation was being taught.

PB- I will have to find out where it was published when I go back to school as someone had photocopied it in the staffroom and put it on our noticeboard for teachers to read. I'll post the link when I find out

[Pretty Butterfly]

Lulu, I do know that which is why I said none of the schools here do it. Had we a public school with small classes and all the extra help, I would of defiantly chose it over catholic. The kids aren't even catholic, there anglican!!!

AB, thats just disgusting......

I looked at all the schools in my area before sending the kids, sent my exh mad!! Only the catholic and private ones had all that I wanted. Thats not my fault, and I wont be branded a snob because I chose catholic over public. Majority of the public schools here are pretty bad, academic and behaviour wise... (as the folks here that know this area will agree with, we've had this discussion before )

[*Ali*]

I think what is come down too, and what is being clearly demonstrated here, is that we have to be Advocates for our children and their education- we Have to spend time researching into the options before us to ensure we are sending our children somewhere that is going to provide them with the very best education. As parents that is our job, if we are not going to be our children's advocates then no one else is.
As many of you have pointed out the reasons you chose the schools you did, was because of the feel of it and the extra time/ effort/ programs put into place because of dedicated staff that work in the schools. The schools that preform worse, dont have any less excellent program and dedicated staff, they just have bigger obstacles to overcome infront of testing.
If you didnt know how well or how badly your school rated- you would have chosen your school based on all those things, so does a few rankings and coloured boxes really change that?

I guess for me, alot of my objection comes proffessionaly, I hate feeling like I am judged on my teaching abilities by the results, because believe me teachers do enough self judgement, and I know that is not an accurate representation. As a parent I am in the fortunate position to know what goes on behind the scenes, I know what all the acronyms in education mean, I know how access information I need, and believe me I worry about the same things the rest of you do as parents- I downloaded and read the schools annual report before I enrolled me daughter, and I found that even though they dont have the best Naplan results and the have social and behavioural issues, I could also see all the wonderful things that happen at that school and that is what was my deciding factor. Am I saying that if I had $10,000 a year to pay for my children to go the local private school that I wouldnt send them? I dont know! But I am sending them to what I think is the best place for them educationally with the schools available to me, both by location and fianances.

[Inertia]

Ok, so obviously like all the mums here I figured I'd take a gander..

Kids Public school pulls a lot of highers and substantially highers. the HS however has lowers and substantially lowers. I certainly dont blame the HS. I went to HSs in lower socioeconomic areas myself and know all the kids going there want to be cool and gangsta - and schools not cool, dude. They offer far more subjects and facilities than any other HS around here so I am not gonna quit on them because of a couple of red lines.

But what isnt considered in the primary school sresults is it runs a couple of Opportunity Classes (Gifted Classes). However I was not in the least surprised with the result despite that. When I checked the school my kids went to prior it was covered in light and bright red lines, again no surprises. My two eldest children left that school extremely behind. Miss A, going into year 4, was still reading at a kindergarten level, and Mr C couldnt read at all, and he was going into year 3. In two years the primary here got Angie up to a year 6 reading level. It was the same across all subjects. They also identified learning issues Mr C has and placed him in classes to help him further, as well as preparing him and the HS for his transition to HS.

So on that I can see that the website does have some merit. but when you work on averages, there is always going to be someone lower than it. I dont think the schools should be "compared" to others but rated as individual entities. That would go far to improving the quality of the website.

[AliBaby]

Great post Inertia.

I noticed that about OC classes as well.

[Rouge]

Like you PB we chose our school on it's merits. We weren't even going to look at the Catholic schools, we had looked at all the public schools in our area and chose one of them on it's merits. It wasn't until we met the principal of the school (through a special kinder program where you meet the principals of the area) they now attend that our minds changed. Her values and what the school offered was well above and beyond the school we were most impressed with (and it is a small school with no bells and whistles). Religious or primary doesn't equal good schooling, just ask the parents about a local Catholic high school that has all bells and whistles but is well known for its children behaving badly and the ethics of the school is often questioned. So it's not about that at all, but if it so happens that a religious or private school in your area is the best then well you can't really be labeled a snob, more so someone who is willing to put their own religious beliefs aside for the sake of a child's education. Which is what we did. I do question schools that are "labels" but that's just me... you wouldn't see me walking down the street with a prada handbag either. I would want to know the quality of the goods vs. the value before I'd fork out $26k per year just because of it's notoriety.