Thursday, 22 February 2024

Churchill Primary School

Renee HEATH (Eastern Victoria) (09:50): On Monday I visited Churchill Primary School, a truly remarkable school that has proved that anything is possible. I met with Mrs Burrows, Mrs Harding and Mrs McColl. In 2018 the principal Jacquie Burrows overhauled the way literacy was taught. Like all other schools it had adhered to the balanced literacy approach, but as advised by the Grattan Institute’s report this week, balanced literacy is ineffective because the phonics-based elements are too light touch. The school had achieved constantly poor results under this method, and the principal bravely abandoned the balanced literacy approach for an evidence-based approach. They saw a remarkable turnaround in the school’s NAPLAN data for reading, writing, spelling and grammar. Before the overhaul in 2018 the NAPLAN results showed that 31 per cent of grade 3 students were in the bottom two NAPLAN bands for reading and only 17 per cent in the top two bands. After the overhaul, in the NAPLAN results from 2021 there were absolutely no students in the bottom two bands for reading and 75 per cent were in the top three bands. That is a remarkable achievement and that needs to be celebrated. This school is an amazing example of what difference changes in teaching methods can make to the lives of children. I commend their incredible work, and I commend particularly principal Jacquie Burrows and the amazing teaching staff. Your work is truly an inspiration.