Profile:
Established in 1981, Sunbury Heights Primary School is located on Charter Road East in Sunbury. Our school grounds adjoin those of Sunbury Downs secondary college. The school supports a large area of Sunbury incorporating the quickly growing Ashfield and Rosenthal estates (Sunbury south). Current enrolment is approximately 460 students with enrolments expected to be maintained at this level in the immediate future. This school comprises a wide socio-economic and increasingly diverse cultural demographic of families and students.
The original School building comprises an attractive and spacious entrance where a central atrium leads off to a well-resourced library, gymnasium/multipurpose room, canteen, and staff administration area. In 2020 a designed STEAM and upgraded Art room were added to this central design.
In 2005, six additional permanent classrooms were built to replace some of the existing portable classrooms. In 2015, under the BER program, six additional classrooms and two flexible learning areas were built to support the growing student population.
Sunbury Heights Primary School is an engaged learning community. Our teaching and learning program is progressive and personalised, catering to individual learning needs, encouraging and promoting active learning. We have high and achievable student expectations with student learning progress being monitored regularly, and this information used to inform teaching practice.
The program of instruction focuses upon developing Literacy and Numeracy skills and closely follows that of the Victorian F-10 Curriculum and Teaching and Learning model. This includes following the 9 practice principles, the Pedagogical Model, and High Impact Teaching Strategies (HITS) for both teaching and wellbeing.
Our school has a well-established 1:1 computer program for all students in Year 4 to Year 6, with all students allocated their own notebook computer for learning. This program has made a significant impact on the learning/teaching in these year levels and also impacted positively on student engagement. Foundation to Year 2 students have access to banks of ipads. Each classroom has access to a large flat screen TV screen. In 2023, these screens are being upgraded to Interactive Screens. The use of ICT has been greatly enhanced through student and teacher use of collaborative programs such as Class Dojo, COMPASS, Office 365, and Google classroom.
Sunbury Heights staff comprises, 2 principal class officers, 29 classroom teachers and 19 education support staff. The school runs 19 classrooms and Specialist classes in Art, STEAM, PE, Music, LOTE – Italian. A Leading teacher of Wellbeing & Engagement and two Pedagogy Learning specialists provide school leadership, coaching, and peer observations to support the implementation of a professional learning community for staff to collaborate and work within. Our teachers work collaboratively in teams to plan a consistent curriculum and use student learning data to drive this planning. Our staff are passionate about their teaching and encourage all students to strive to achieve their best with their learning and social skills.
The school promotes a positive climate for learning via the School Wide Positive Behaviours (SWPBS) framework and House Spirit program. We also promote respect, gender equality and building healthy relationships via the Respectful Relationships initiative. In 2023 this ongoing commitment to creating a positive and safe climate for learning has been enhanced via the inclusion of a Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader (MHAWL) member of staff.
Student voice and agency is a focus at Sunbury Heights. Student leadership opportunities include being able to be part of the Junior School Council or be elected as school captains, class captains, and house captains. The junior school council contributes to school improvement through running special events to promote social improvement and our school captains are directly involved in leading weekly whole school assemblies. Class captains are elected each term by their peers and play a significant role in assisting the class teacher and being a positive role model. Our buddy program allows older students to demonstrate their leadership by working together with a younger student.
In 2020 a shared community facility, Dulap Wilim hub was established and is situated between both school sites. This facility includes a Community Hubs Australia (CHA) hub, VCAL industrial kitchen, and a two-room kindergarten, facilitated by the Hume City Council. This provides facilities for members of the wider community to utilize as a venue for community engagement activities and the provision of community services.
