Teachers from Narooma’s primary and high schools gathered in front of a giant “I give a Gonski” truck-mounted billboard on Wednesday to help get their message across about the importance of education funding at this election time.
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Also present was Gary Zadkovich, the senior vice president of the NSW Teachers Federation, while the Narooma Public School P&C and teachers were there to meet and greet with parents and community members about the benefits of the Gonski funding for education.
Mr Zadkovich said the Federation was watching Eden-Monaro electorate closely given its bellwether status.
“The last polling with Reach Tel indicated the Labor vote was going up and the Liberal vote down because people apparently want assurances they will get the funding that ensures kids get the education they deserve.”
Teachers Federation rep at Narooma Public School, Sarah Harding said Narooma schools joined to campaign to bring awareness to the fact that the community need to continue to remind politicians that school funding and the continued funding of school to ensure equity across the board occurs.
“The public would know this campaign by the ‘I give a Gonski’ material that is out in the media. David Gonski, a gentleman not in education, was commissioned to review school funding years ago now and his findings where extremely interesting,” Ms Harding said.
“The Federal Government committed to only four of the six years recommended, the final two years is where the majority of the funds are committed, and schools and concerned parents are lobbying the Government to commit to the final two years.”
Narooma High School teacher and Narooma Teachers Association president Christa Mood also urged all residents to make education and Gonski funding a priority when voting on Saturday.
“Gonski funding will ensure that will ensure that every child on the South Coast will receive the support they need,” Mrs Mood said. “This will be a huge benefit to all our community.”
Ms Harding and the teachers urged all residents to assist by signing up to the cause at www.igiveagonski.com.au and completing the online partition. “Only the power of numbers will assist in making the Government have a look at their priorities,” she said.
At Narooma Public School, Ms Harding said teachers had utilised the extra funding in the following ways:
- Purchased a specialist music teacher to provide our students with a specialist education in the area of music;
- Purchased a Curriculum Co-ordinator teacher to provide quality programs, deliver outstanding curriculum and to ensure quality teacher professional learning for the teachers of your children;
- Set up and implementation of a quality Science program, science lab and purchased the Primary Connections programs for the delivery of a quality science curriculum;
- Provided additional teacher aides / School Learning Support Officers to assist all children however with a focus on ensuring all students are achieving stage appropriate outcomes;
- Provided families with a ‘Student Assistance’ program which assists families to help their children access the curriculum, extra-curricular programs, uniforms, excursions etc.;
- Purchase of ICT infrastructure such as Wi-Fi throughout the entire school and laptops for the children to access quality learning tools and enhance their learning in all subjects;
- Purchased quality resources for students to utilise in all Key Learning Areas with emphasis upon the new Australian Curriculum. Literacy and Numeracy will always be our major focus.
“The above list is a snapshot of how the extra funds have made a difference to our school and your children’s learning potential,” Ms Harding said. “Once again, I urge all parents to sign up to Gonski at www.igiveagonski.com.au and hopefully the entire funding model will be forwarded to schools in the future.”
The Gonski truck and poster were now headed to Bega, Eden and Merimbula in the last days before the election.