Bayswater Education Plan

We’ve released the Bayswater Education Plan – a 10-year strategy to inspire and support children and young people in the Bayswater community to aim higher and achieve more at every stage of their learning journey.

This plan is a framework for the schools and the broader community to work in partnership to improve educational outcomes and create new learning opportunities.

What will success look like?

• Bayswater students engaged, challenged and supported in their learning
• Happy, healthy and resilient Bayswater children and young people
• Local community confidence in Bayswater public schools
• Bayswater children and young people prepared for each stage of their learning and career journey

1. Develop excellence in teaching and learning, and an engaging curriculum across the Bayswater schools

There will be greater collaboration between schools to share excellence in teaching practice and support teachers’ professional development. They will:

• work together to develop new learning programs that inspire and motivate student curiosity and passions, such as STEM, arts and music, or physical and health education
• work with local universities and tertiary education providers to develop extension and enrichment programs for students across the Bayswater schools.

2. Build pride and confidence in Bayswater schools

Students and schools will always achieve more with the support of their families and the broader community. The schools will promote their shared vision and unique offerings. They will develop new ways to share student progress and celebrate leadership, achievement, and success.

3. Build networks, partnerships, and collective responsibility for student outcomes

This plan will create new partnerships between schools, kindergartens, universities, TAFE, and local businesses.

These partnerships help develop a seamless curriculum and make a smoother transition from early learning through the different school stages and onto further education, training and employment.

The schools also want to develop new partnerships with families and carers, giving them more opportunities to become involved in their children’s education while supporting academic achievement and staying at school longer.

4. Build integrated and holistic health and wellbeing initiatives within, and across, the Bayswater schools

The schools already have a strong focus on developing caring relationships and nurturing environments. Through the plan they will:

• strengthen the health and wellbeing systems that are key to students achieving their best
• continue to support and empower students to develop the knowledge and skills they need for learning, self-awareness, deep intellectual engagement, and thrive as citizens in the 21st century.

We engaged with staff, students, teachers, parents, families, and carers from the 5 schools involved in the Bayswater Education Plan in February and March 2021. The goal of our engagement was to identify the wants and needs of the local community.

The Victorian Government recognises the importance of transforming local education in Melbourne’s outer south-east and, in 2020, announced a new Bayswater Education Plan.

The plan aims to build pride and confidence in our government schools and will focus on the wellbeing, engagement and achievement of all children and young people in Bayswater. It will provide a framework to map infrastructure needs so that our students have access to the facilities essential for them to reach their full potential.

There are 5 schools involved in the plan:

• Bayswater Secondary College
• Bayswater Primary School
• Bayswater North Primary School
• Bayswater South Primary School
• Bayswater West Primary School.

The schools have been working together and with their communities to strengthen and support the development of the plan. These shared voices represent the educational needs and aspirations of the local community.

We engaged with staff, students, teachers, parents, families, and carers from the five schools involved in the Bayswater Education Plan in February and March 2021. We did this via an online survey, in individual school and combined school student workshops, and a staff workshop.

The goal of our engagement was to identify the wants and needs of the local community and help build pride and confidence in their local government primary and secondary schools. This report provides a summary of what we heard from the community during this engagement.

• What participants love about their school and identify as their school’s strengths
• How students like to learn and what education in Bayswater should look like in the future
• What schools need to help drive success for students and support teachers to deliver this

Workshops

• 5 individual face-to-face workshops
• 1 combined student workshop
• 1 combined staff online workshop
• 60 students participated across six individual school workshops
• 40 students participated in the combined student workshop
• Almost 100 staff participated in the staff workshop

Online survey (15 February to 12 March)

• We received 80 responses across the Engage Victoria survey
• Social media promotion reached 6,312 people and resulted in 240 clicks through to the Engage Victoria website

Bayswater schools offer supportive and caring communities. Students need access to more subjects and learning pathways, and engaging students in their learning is critical for success.

From the survey

Across all levels of schooling, good social skills, continual learning, and development of self-confidence is critical for student success.

When it comes to choosing a school, resources, quality teaching, positive school culture and wellbeing programs are important for parents with younger students. Diverse subject choice and programs on offer are highly valued to those exploring secondary options for their child.

From the workshops

Across the workshops, students and staff were enthusiastic and positive about education in Bayswater and valued being involved in the development of the plan.

Successful schools will need:

• Wellbeing programs and resilience building
• Diverse curriculum and various learning pathways
• Student-centred learning for greater student engagement

From the students

From 43 individual ideas on the best way to improve school, ‘create a more personalised curriculum and choose what classes you want to attend’ stood out as the strongest idea.

The most effective and engaging form of learning for students is to develop student independence and create an environment where their thoughts and ideas can be expressed and respected.

Students told us they liked different styles of learning and working collaboratively on difficult projects and we heard that ‘brain breaks’ worked well as a tool for younger students’ concentration.

Schools of the future will “use technology in a more integrated way” and “have bigger buildings to accommodate a larger population”.

Students learn best through “asking teachers for help when needed”, “working with friends to tackle tough tasks or problems” and “quiet spaces for focused learning, with calming music”.

Students said improvements could be “Improving school facilities, including playgrounds and equipment”, “a more personalised curriculum that allows students to do the work they want to do” and “new ways of learning, with more collaboration and hands-on learning methods”.

You can access a designed version of this report.