EXPANDING SUPPORTS for students and families is paying off for public schools in communities with high levels of socioeconomic disadvantage.
Challis Community Primary School in Perth offers health and education services from birth through a parenting and early learning centre located on the school’s grounds. Staff build relationships with families and help address health and development issues before children begin school. The school has a child health nurse and allied health staff onsite and a team that can help families access community health and social services. The approach is paying off and high proportions of children are starting preschool and school ready to learn.
Ashcroft Public School in Sydney’s southwest has implemented an integrated service model, called Mirrung, in partnership with the NSW Council of Social Services (NCOSS). Launched in August 2022, the emphasis is on a whole-of-family approach, with a dedicated team that coordinates support services and connects families with local health and social service organisations. Mirrung has arranged the delivery of social support programs for small groups of students, allied health services including a psychologist, a speech therapist, and family counselling.
An impact report found the attendance rate increased by 23 percentage points between 2022 and 2024 and literacy and numeracy outcomes improved.
The Investments We Need:
- Establish 150 full-service public schools in disadvantaged communities that include health and family services.
- Expand systemic support for teachers and principals to improve the education of students with higher needs.
- Increase the number of specialist teachers for students with disability.
- Increase the time teachers have to consult with students with disability and their family/ carers, develop and implement individual education plans and make classroom adjustments.
- Establish a curriculum guarantee to ensure that rural, regional and remote students can learn the same wide range of subjects as their peers in urban settings.
- Provide effective systemic support for regional, rural and remote schools to ensure that they are supported with frameworks for leadership, staffing, curriculum development, student wellbeing, early intervention, and teaching and learning.
