SHEIDOW PARK PRIMARY SCHOOL

Mr SIBBONS (Mitchell) (15:10): My question is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. Can the minister inform the house about how Sheidow Park Primary School is supporting student literacy?

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI (Hartley—Minister for Education and Child Development) (15:10): I would like to thank the member for Mitchell, with whom I visited Sheidow Park Primary School last week. I was particularly attracted to that school because of the work they are doing in relation to literacy. This is a school that has, I think, very successfully adopted a whole school focus in relation to literacy.

Through the assistance of a specially trained literacy coach, classroom teachers use tried and tested approaches to improve literacy skills of their students. This particular work at Sheidow Park Primary School has been supported through the Smarter Schools National Partnership for Literacy and Numeracy.

Over recent years, schools across both the public and non-government sectors have been supported through this national partnership which enables schools to try a range of programs, solutions and practices to improve literacy and numeracy achievement. While other schools have selected their own particular program, Sheidow Park has achieved well with its use of a literacy coach, and I had the pleasure of meeting her.

This program, coupled with other programs like the Accelerated Reader program, supports and assists both the teacher and the young student to ensure they are getting the best possible foundation in literacy. It was heartening and I could see with my own eyes the effectiveness of the work of classroom teachers, the school principal and the literacy coach who have been working together at this outstanding school.

There was clearly a very strong plan of action by the school in relation to knowing where they were starting from, where they needed to be and what they needed to do to get there. The principal advised me that they have seen an improvement in their NAPLAN reading scores in recent years, that all of the children participate in the Premier's Reading Challenge and that there is a commitment for all students—and I thought this was very impressive—in years 3 to 7 to read for half an hour a day.

The children are not only enjoying reading but are actively developing their comprehension, grammar and reading levels and this was absolutely obvious when I and the member for Mitchell met with the principal, the literacy coach, representatives of the governing school council and, of course, students. I take this opportunity to acknowledge the work but, more importantly, the results that this school is getting in relation to their literacy. I congratulate them for making literacy a focus and I look forward to bringing back further reports to this place.