Department of Education - Victoria

The school currently has a school population of 83 and is set for growth with rising kinder enrolments. Teachers are FTE of 5.6, 1.2 principal class member and 7.0 Education Support.  This school's socio-economic band value has been consistently rising over the last years and is currently rated as Medium. Our children benefit from all the advantages of being in a small school, but we maintain many programs and opportunities of much larger schools. Every child Is known to every staff member, and we work collaboratively with families to ensure every child's emotional and social well-being and their academic success.

A very full curriculum is available, and specialist areas include the Visual Arts, Performing Arts, School Production, Physical Education, AUSLAN, Reading Intervention, Library, Sensory Motor Program, STEAM and Robotics.  We place a high importance on Digital Technologies and ensuring that our students are well positioned to take their places in a technologically advanced global workplace.  Each child in 3-6 has a dedicated laptop and iPads and chromebooks are basic tools in the P -2 area. Our students are very active in a range of sporting communities, and we are able to offer students activities such as gymnastics, kayaking, golf, tennis, hockey, archery, cross-country skiing and running, athletics, football, cricket, netball, basketball, volley stars, table tennis, badminton, interschool sports amongst other specialist sports.

Student Voice is very strong with children represented in the School Council and we consult regularly with local community and the Shire of Yarra Ranges on local events. Our school is one of very few in the state that is a Junior Rotary School, and we have community care focus.

During 20/21 we entered a period of community consultation in revisiting and reframing our school values and added COMPASSION and RESILIENCE to the student and staff selections of RESPECT and PERSONAL BEST. These additions reflected community response to the events of the last two years and has set us up positively for the future. Our School Wide Positive Behaviour focus saw these values promoted in graphic installations around the school and in the development of the student co-constructed Expectations Posters accompanied by an acknowledgement system that allows for whole school achievement celebrations.

Over this period, the work we have invested in setting up the Education Precinct has borne fruit with new families entering the area, and has prompted the school to set up an Early Years Room to facilitate working families with no local access to long day care. This strategy supports families staying in the area for education Birth - Age 6 and offers continuity of care that has created unprecedented smooth transitions for children entering in Prep. Our Playgroup, which has been acknowledged as a 'best practice' playgroup in schools, has supported this process and earned us the 2021 VEYA award for Improving Access and Participation in Early Learning.

In 2024 CPS opened an onsite Kindergarten.

Together with our outstanding NAPLAN results - especially in Reading and Numeracy, there is no reason why anyone would need to leave the area for education Birth - Year 6. The tone of the school is caring and gentle as evidenced by student demeanor and there is a real focus on high expectations and excellence.

 

SC1    Demonstrated knowledge of the relevant curriculum, including the capacity to incorporate the teaching of literacy and numeracy skills. Demonstrated capacity to respond to student learning needs.

SC2    Demonstrated capacity to implement high impact teaching strategies, guided by how students learn, and evaluate the impact of learning and teaching programs on student learning growth. 

SC3    Demonstrated capacity to monitor and assess student learning. Demonstrated capacity to use data to inform teaching practice and to provide feedback on student learning growth and achievement to students and parents.

SC4    Demonstrated interpersonal and communication skills. Demonstrated capacity to establish and maintain collaborative relationships with students, parents, colleagues and the broader school community to support student learning, wellbeing and engagement.    

SC5    Demonstrated behaviours and attitudes consistent with Department values. Demonstrated capacity to reflect upon practice and engage in professional learning to continually improve the quality of teaching.