celebrating literacy and numeracy
National Literacy and Numeracy Week
in New South Wales 1-7 September 2008
Literacy and Numeracy Week Awards
NSW National Literacy and Numeracy Week Award Winners 2005
The 2005 NSW National Literacy and Numeracy Week Award Ceremony:
After recognising the traditional custodians of the land, the Cammeraigal tribe, the Minister, the Hon. Carmel Tebbutt, MP, announced the results of the National Literacy and Numeracy Week awards on Monday 29 August in a formal ceremony conducted at the ANZ Conservation Theatre at Taronga Zoo.
In NSW Excellence Awards of $10,000 were received by:
- Belmore Boys High School
- Bishop Druitt College Primary School
- St Mary's Primary School, Rydalmere
Click here to read outlines of their programs.
Belmore Boys High School
- Principal, Sandra Robinson, and students Siddharth Jadeja (Vice Captain) and Jafar Albayati (Year
10) receive their Excellence Award from the Hon. Carmel Tebbutt, MP.
Bishop Druitt College, Coffs Harbour
- Deputy Principal, Bart Halford, and students Brandon Connor and Jordan Hine receive their
Excellence Award from the Hon. Carmel Tebbutt, MP
St Mary's Primary School, Rydalmere
- Principal, Jennifer McKeown, and student Carlo Bruzzese receive their Excellence Award from the
Hon. Carmel Tebbutt, MP
In NSW Highly Commended Awards of $5,000 were received by:
- Bethany College
- Callaghan College, Waratah Technology Campus
- Central Coast Adventist School
- Currans Hill Public School
- Epping West Public School
- Glendale East Public School
- Murrumburrah High School
- St Francis De Sales College
- St Raphael's Primary School, South Hurstville
- Tenterfield High School
- Uralla Central School
- Wangee Park School for Specific Purposes
The schools above were able to clearly demonstrated value added results in their innovative and effective literacy, numeracy or literacy and numeracy programs. Select a school name to read outlines of their programs.
After the formal ceremony, the Hon. Carmel Tebbutt, MP cut a ceremonial cake with the elated
executives from the three Excellence Award-winning schools: Bart Halford, Jennifer McKeown and
Sandra Robinson
Taronga Zoo's Education Centre arranged for various animal handlers to bring animals for all to pet and enjoy. Students and staff commented how wonderful it was to be able to experience animals this way.
The softness of the fur of a snugly koala is a tactile joy for Colvin Williams and Annie Murphy
from Uralla Central School
Taronga Zoo's Senior Education Officer, Paul Maguire, explains the significance of a crocodile's
eye placement to Sharryn Brownlee from the Federation of Parents and Citizens' Associations
Minister Carmel Tebbutt, MP admires a ringtail possum with policy adviser, Jacinta Bunfield,
(right) and Deputy Director-General, Trevor Fletcher
2005 Regional Activities
Previous Updates 2005
National Literacy and Numeracy Week Awards - August 2005
At the National Ceremony of the National Literacy and Numeracy Week awards on 26 August, 2005, the Minister for Education, Science and Training, the Hon. Dr Brendan Nelson, awarded eight government schools and four non-government schools with Excellence Awards and cheques for $10,000.
The elegant ceremony was held in the Coles Theatre at the Powerhouse Museum was chaired by the very sophisticated and professional Channel Ten representative, Tracey Spicer.
The funding of NLNW is supported by the six sponsors:
Australia Post, Network Channel ten, AFL Auskick, Lovatts Crosswords and Puzzles, the Commonwealth Bank Foundation and Franklin (electronics).
This year Australia Post has created special stamps that feature each of the Excellence Award-winning schools. At the 26 August ceremony, Dr Nelson presented each of the schools with a set of the stamps depicting their school and mounted in a beautiful frame.
Jill Lester from the Commonwealth Bank Foundation spoke about the support that the bank has given to education over the last two years. Annually they donate seventy $5,000 grants to primary schools throughout Australia for elearning grants.
Some great news is that a further 100 elearning grants in financial literacy are currently available Australia-wide for secondary schools from the Commonwealth Bank Foundation. Each is worth $5,000.
The three 2005 Excellence Award-winning ($10,000) schools are:
Belmore Boys High School
Principal, Sandra Robinson and students Siddharth Jadeja (Vice Captain) and Jafar Albayati (Year 10) receiving their award from Dr Nelson.
Belmore Boys' High School is a secondary boys' school located in inner western Sydney. Since 2002, the school has developed a unique literacy/pedagogy program that has resulted in dramatic improvements in external literacy assessment between Years 7 and 9. The program follows a systematic pedagogy of modelled, guided and independent teaching stages. This has culminated in significant externally-verified longitudinal improvements for the same cohort of students. As a result of these highly successful initiatives, the school has been selected as a professional learning school for an innovative pre-service teacher education trial between the University of Western Sydney and the NSW Department of Education and Training.
Bishop Druitt College, Coffs Harbour
Principal, Roger Oates and students Jordan Hine and Brandon
Connor receiving their award from Dr Nelson.
Bishop Druitt College, located outside the provincial city of Coffs Harbour, is an independent Anglican school with an enrolment of 400. Since 2003, a professional development program has been implemented to model learning for the school community. It specifically addresses identified students' writing needs. Staff training, re-structuring of the timetable and regular meetings have offered opportunities for development and change. Success from the approach has resulted in the raising of the percentage of students in the two top bands of the Primary Writing Assessment. A further achievement has been the support to the broader education community through the College's web site, articles in professional publications and presentations at education forums.
St Mary's Primary School, Rydalmere
Principal, Jennifer McKeown and students
Josephine Parsons and Carlo Bruzzese
receiving their award from Dr Nelson.
St Mary's Primary School, located in metropolitan western Sydney, has an enrolment of 345 students. Three years ago, an analysis by staff determined that there was a significant lack of uniformity in classroom practices across K-6 and within grades. The commencement of the Reflection, Empowerment and Learning in Mathematics strategy stimulated a three-year whole-school professional learning program to improve learning in Mathematics and develop teaching practices. Parents were surveyed and as a result, information nights were held with demonstration lessons being conducted. Parental participation in some lessons as helpers has lead to an increase in staff morale as well as student results. The BST in numeracy results have improved and the whole-school professional learning module has been successfully transferred to share learning in other curriculum areas, such as assessment and literacy.
Each of the Excellence Award-winning schools was offered the opportunity to create a wall display in one of the ante-rooms at the Powerhouse Museum. Below is a series of images of the NSW schools mentioned above.
Belmore Boys High School wall display
Bishop Druitt College wall display
St Mary's Primary School, Rydalmere wall display
... Return to Awards
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