Public schools fundraising to improve student-teacher ratios

NSW public school parents are digging into their own pockets in an effort to improve student-teacher ratios as The Daily Telegraph can reveal the difference between private and public classrooms. SEE HOW YOUR CHILD’S SCHOOL COMPARES

• Student-to-teacher ratios in every NSW school
• Public v private: Student-to-teacher comparison

Public school parents are fundraising to draft extra teachers into classrooms and help bring out the best in their kids.

There are now 14.1 students per teacher on average across the state’s public schools compared to 15.4 students on average in Catholic Schools, an analysis of national data from the Australian Curriculum, Assessment And Reporting Authority (ACARA) reveals.

Independent primary and secondary schools have the lowest ratio at 11.4 students for every teacher.

But at public schools, the P & Cs are fundraising to pay for specialists such as gifted and talented teachers and reading support teachers.

At Bronte Public School, which has 19.3 students for every teacher, the P & C funds extra teachers so pupils can get help with subjects such as reading. P & C president Licia Heath said parents raised about $50,000 every year to bring in extra staff, including a reading aid and a gifted and talented teacher.

Licia Heath with her two children Jude, 10, and Leo, 7, outside Bronte Public School. Picture: Tim Hunter

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And the school is already reaping the benefits, with Year 5 NAPLAN results substantially above average in writing, grammar, spelling and numeracy.

“The school community would love it if additional resources were catered for by the Department of Education, like our reading recovery teacher and gifted and talented teacher, but sadly they’re not,” Ms Heath told The Daily Telegraph. “So the P & C raises funds to pay to have those teachers a couple of days a week.”

P & C Central Coast president Sharryn Brownlee said while it was common for schools to fund extra personnel, such as hiring an additional groundskeeper, it meant someone would lose their job once the parents moved on.

“It becomes the responsibility of the P & C for a Department of Education employee and that’s why we advise them always to not get involved in department staff,” Ms Brownlee said.

Central Coast P & C President Sharryn Brownlee.

“Some schools might hoodwink them, say they need $10,000 for technology in the library, and then they spend it on a speech pathologist or a teachers aid. Technically the P & C are not the employer, but then this obligation falls to them.”

By comparison, independent primary schools have 13.6 students for every member of teaching staff, with the ratio down to just 10 students in secondary schools.

The Scots College has one teacher for every 5.5 students. Picture: Damian Shaw

Unsurprisingly, exclusive schools have even better ratios. The Scots College in Bellevue Hill has one teacher for every 5.5 students, while SCEGGS Darlinghurst, which charges up to $38,214 a year, has 8.3 students for every teacher.

St Andrew’s Cathedral School in the city, which charges up to $32,480 a year, has 5.3 students for every teacher.

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Originally published as Public schools fundraising to improve student-teacher ratios