QLD’s 50 best-resourced schools revealed

Some Queensland schools have the lowest student-teacher ratios in the country, meaning students get more one-on-one attention from teachers. SEE THE BEST 50

MORE than two dozen Brisbane schools have recorded student-teacher ratios among the lowest in the country, with one inner-city principal saying his school is seeing the benefits of valuable one-on-one time.

An analysis by The Courier-Mail using enrolment and teacher data from the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority has revealed the number of students per full-time equivalent teacher at every Queensland school for 2018.

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Overall about 150 Queensland schools – excluding special schools and schools with less than 20 enrolments – recorded a student-teacher ratio of less than ten, including across rural and regional areas.

That was well below the Queensland and Australian average of 13.5 students per teacher.

Among the Brisbane schools with significantly lower than the average student-teacher ratio was Windsor’s St Mary of the Cross School, with an average of 8.86 students per teacher in 2018.

Principal Matthew Beacroft said the advantages of a school with a lower ratio included teachers having more opportunities to get to know every child, being able to further explore the curriculum and grow positive relationships with students’ families.

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“Reduced class sizes help our students achieve their individual goals, allowing teachers to focus on the diverse needs and range of abilities that would exist in every classroom, and use technology in a meaningful and purposeful manner across all year levels,” Mr Beacroft said.

“Our school is slowly growing in population and we are very conscious that we wish to provide as many opportunities for our students to be successful as possible.

Maggie Pinto, Davi Dias Ferreira da Silva, Alice Cabuang and Patrick Todd of St Mary of the Cross School which has one of the best student-teacher ratios in Queensland. Photo Steve Pohlner

“That has seen us deliberately employ specialist teachers in the arts, technology, music, PE, library and Spanish who are part-time but add much value to our students and school.”

Other Brisbane schools to have at least one teacher per ten students in 2018 included major private schools Clayfield College (with a student-teacher ratio of 8.81) and Brisbane Girls Grammar School (9.55), as well as Coorparoo Secondary College (9.21).

Located about 300km east of Longreach, Alpha State School was recorded as having 36.8 full-time equivalent student enrolments for 2018 with 9.6 full-time equivalent teachers.

That equated to a student-teacher ratio of 3.83 – the lowest ratio of schools with at least 20 enrolments.

Catholic primary school St Rita’s School in Babinda recorded a ratio of 4.4 students per teacher, with five full-time equivalent teachers and 22 enrolments in 2018, followed by Dirranbandi P-10 State School with a ratio of 4.66.