By Callum Ludwig
Primary schools in the Yarra Ranges have excelled in 2021’s NAPLAN, with Gladesville Primary School and Coldstream Primary School no exceptions.
The Year 3’s and 5’s of Coldstream PS in 2021 had the highest percentage of above-average scores in reading, with 94 percent of year 3’s and 100 percent of year 5’s achieving the feat, while Gladesville PS had 89 percent of their students above-average in numeracy, also the best in the state.
Coldstream PS Principal Phillippa Adgemis and Gladesville PS Principal Nicki wood both said they are thrilled with such a great result.
“We are absolutely delighted to be one of the top schools in the state, particularly as a smaller state school,” said Ms Wood
“This really lets the kids know that if you work and focus hard enough, you can achieve anything you want. For me it’s not only a celebration of state education but a celebration of the fact that if you put in and give kids the good basics, they’ve got the world open to them,” said Ms Adgemis
Both schools are a part of a Small Schools Alliance in the local area, consisting of them and Pembroke PS, Lilydale PS, Yarra Glen PS and Wandin Yallock PS. The alliance has provided a new lease of life for the schools, with staff able to consult each other for a broader range of ideas, and conducting Professional Learning Community Investigations to test ideas and highlight their benefits.
Ms Adgemis said the alliance has lifted the quality of Coldstream PS’s teaching exponentially.
“We’ve got four teachers here and only one teacher at each year level. Where would the new ideas come from?” she said.
“It’s been enormous and has built the leadership capacity of their teachers on our team. None of them thought they could be leaders and now they all are in their own areas.”
In recent years, Coldstream PS fashioned a colourful reading pod from a $25,000 grant to utilise a large container they had and give students an inviting place dedicated to reading.
Ms Adgemis said there has been a big focus on reading at Coldstream Primary School.
“If you don’t have high-quality texts, then you’re not showing that you’ve got the value for reading, and we do. The reading pod also shows the school places reading as a priority,” she said.
“I’m always hammering in the newsletter on the fact that reading is really important for the whole family, for spending quality bonding time reading with your kids and creating that nice, warm relationship because it’s a pretty fast world out there.”
Ms Wood said the Primary Maths specialist at Gladesville PS Keylie Groen was largely to credit for the fantastic numeracy results.
“Keylie has an absolute total passion for mathematics and her love of maths is infectious. The children love maths, they’re thriving in maths, and they’ll have a go at maths,” she said.
Ms Groen, who is also a leader in the Small Schools Alliance, said Gladesville PS has created a shift in attitude towards maths from students, staff and parents alike.
“Parents can remember feeling overwhelmed when they participated in maths, there is a real stigma around numeracy. We worked hard to find out how students feel about numeracy and because there slots of generational anxiety passed down about maths.”
Ms Adgemis said she hopes the success of the students remains consistent and they can continue to be proud of their efforts.
“When I told them of their results, their jaws dropped because the reality was they all decided the whole group didn’t have to work too hard. They now know they can be successful, and hopefully now think they could be really successful if they put their minds to it,” she said.
“I just hope this isn’t a flash in the pan and we can keep building because I want the kids to have the efficacy of knowing they’re successful and they can do whatever they want with choices.”
On Friday 25 March, Coldstream students are even getting to show their leadership skills and reading ability as they lead the launch of the new Melba Walk in Coldstream, with First Nations students having the opportunity to read out the Welcome to Country and schools captains hosting the event.
Gladesville recently hosted their major event for the year the Show N Shine and Twilight Market, where they raised over $5600 to support the school’s digital technology and wellbeing programs.
