TARRINGTON Lutheran School was identified as one of the most improved regional schools in the 2021 National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN).
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a level of concern that students who shifted to online learning would experience a regression in their academic results, but Tarrington Lutheran School has avoided this trend by prioritising literacy and numeracy throughout the last two years of online and hybrid learning.
Tarrington Lutheran principal, James Phillips, said on top of the school’s commitment to pastoral care and community spirit, ensuring students and their families were engaged with the curriculum and met the base level of literacy and numeracy work each school day, was vital to the schools improved results.
Teaching staff also used a traffic light system - green was a must (literacy and numeracy), amber was nice to have, and red was non-essential to help students, parents and guardians manage the academic requirements, without being overwhelmed.
“The first round of lockdown, we really deliberated as a school board … we were very deliberate that we wanted to check in on students and parents,” Mr Phillips said.
“Each Wednesday, I personally went out with another staff member, and we would do household visits, we lent out pretty much all our sporting equipment from our P.E. shed, so we took a whole bunch of stuff from school to homes, we took library books, a range of readers, our teachers put together packs that we personally delivered to every house.
“Throughout it all, we've said that the literacy and numeracy component was the bit that we didn’t want to compromise … they are the first two subjects that we start every day with … if we didn’t achieve anything more than that, we were okay with that, but we saw them as the core, essential elements.”
Mr Phillips said while the school did take notice of NAPLAN results, they also undertook regular informal and formal testing to monitor students’ performance to pick up and address any gaps.
