By Lucy Carroll
Less than two years after Dave Stitt took the helm of a small public school on the Central Coast, he noticed signs his students’ reading and maths results were turning around. Disruptive behaviour was becoming less frequent and suspensions were declining. Classrooms were calmer.
“It was slow at first, but we set the foundations of what we wanted to change, and the teachers came on board. We haven’t looked back,” he says.
Kindergarten students at The Entrance Public School.Credit: Louise Kennerley
Stitt, who has been a primary school teacher and leader in western Sydney and the Central Coast for more than two decades, was appointed principal of The Entrance Public in the second term of 2019.
Over the past six years, the school has embarked on a quiet revolution. Stitt overhauled the school’s teaching approach, ditched open-plan classrooms and scrapped student-led or inquiry learning.
Parents in the area started to talk, and the school’s reputation improved. Staffing became more stable. “This is a complex school where you might expect high teacher turnover,” he says. But since 2021, the school hasn’t had a single teacher leave, unless it was for a promotion.
The Entrance is one of eight public primary schools in the Central Coast region – which includes Blue Haven, Budgewoi, Gorokan, Toukley, Northlakes, Brooke Avenue and Wamberal – that have formed a network to share evidence-based, explicit teaching strategies, professional development and lesson resources.
“It started with Blue Haven Public,” Stitt says of a school known for a dramatic turnaround in results and overhaul of school culture. “That was a real turning point because we saw a school similar to ours that had success. We saw it was doable, and it grew from there.”
Teachers give clear, step-by-step instructions and constant feedback to help children master concepts before moving on. Classes start with “warm up” exercises to reinforce what students have learnt before, while routines are predictable and consistent.
Stitt says while enrolments at The Entrance have hovered around 420 for the past few years, applications for kindergarten in 2026 are up 25 per cent from this year. “I used to lose students to private schools, but also to other local schools too,” he says.
Two Central Coast schools – The Entrance Public and Budgewoi Public – were highlighted in a new report by the Grattan Institute, The Maths Guarantee, on how to boost maths performance in primary schools.
Stitt credits teaching consistency and “door-to-floor” class routines for the dramatic turnaround in behaviour. The school recorded 80 suspensions in 2020; last year that fell to 20. Just three suspensions have been issued in the first two terms of this year, he says.
Sam Higgins, a teacher at The Entrance Public School, with a year 4 class.Credit: Louise Kennerley
He recalls starting at the school in 2019, when “classrooms would be trashed, we had violence. I was constantly at rooms getting turned over. We would have to evacuate the classrooms,” he says. Teachers became afraid to teach, he says. “We had to draw a line.”
“Open plan learning didn’t really work here. That free-range approach – the students didn’t cope well. Kids were disengaged, we had kids facing all different ways. It can add to cognitive load too, so we did away with that and kids can focus on learning.”
The change in teaching approach meant lessons became fast-paced and students were engaged. Teachers check for students’ understanding as the lesson progresses, data is monitored carefully. Vocabulary classes were introduced to help students learn up to 400 “tier two” words a year.
This year, for the first time, the school’s year 3 reading, spelling and numeracy NAPLAN results are above the Australian average. The school is in the top 10 per cent of public schools for value-add data, the contribution a school makes to student learning.
Five years ago, about 60 per cent of year 1 students at the school needed extra support with phonics, or identifying letter-sound combinations. Last year, it was 16 per cent.
The eight Central Coast schools are also part of a grassroots group known as the Effective and Systematic Teaching Network (EAST), which writes lesson plans that schools can use with the kindergarten to year 6 maths curriculum.
Sam Higgins, a year 4 teacher at The Entrance who helped write the EAST maths resources, says providing lesson plans is especially useful for new teachers.
“When I started teaching, I felt like I was really struggling,” Higgins said. “You’re just left to your own devices, which can lead to a haphazard approach to teaching. Having shared resources gives you something to lean on.”
But Stitt said while there is a high level of structure to the school day, “there is a lot of room for individualism, warmth, and for the teachers to put their twist on things”.
Kindergarten teacher Taylah Granger with students at The Entrance Public School.Credit: Louise Kennerley
Jesmond Zammit, principal at Gorokan Public, said having a network of schools to share knowledge had helped improve student outcomes.
“We were all doing our own things within each individual school. Now we have a collective where the primary pedagogy is explicit teaching, and we have a laser focus on it,” Zammit said. “We work together, we visit each other’s schools.”
At The Entrance and Gorokan Public, about 60 per cent of students come from the lowest socio-educational quartile.
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students make up 25 per cent of our 610 students. This year their year 5 NAPLAN reading results were off the charts, and well above statistically similar schools,” he said.
“It’s been a real game-changer for our students in terms of life opportunities. And if they go to another school in this area, then the learning is consistent.”
Stitt said one of the major changes is that parents have confidence in the school.
“We get about 60 or 65 per cent at parent-teacher interviews. Our aim over the next year is to increase that, really get more parent engagement because we know what a difference that can make.”
This week the Department of Education will release updated What Works Best documents, outlining eight effective practices to improve student outcomes.
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