NSW education: Top principals and teachers to help lower ranked schools learn

The new project will use elite educators from three of the state’s top schools to help make other facilities more accountable for pupils’ academic results

In a bid to lift academic results, the NSW government will ask principals and teachers at the state’s best performing schools to chip in and help similar, but worse-performing, schools.

The state government will today announce the “ambassador school” project, identifying three of the best performing schools in the state in a reform designed to make other schools more accountable for results.

Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said: “We do not accept mediocrity, we strive for the best and we will proudly use our highest performing public schools to achieve that”.

The Minister has been working doggedly behind the scenes to institute reforms in the education system that require more accountability from schools, principals and teachers.

Minister for Education Sarah Mitchell. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Dylan Coker

Her view is that the previous education model “local schools, local decision” — which empowered autonomy in local schools — made it too hard to identify schools not using evidence-based best practice.

Ambassador schools are the next step in the government’s new education model, which promotes a more evidenced-based approach to school standards.

“Ambassador schools have proven, through their results, that the practices they are using make a huge difference for their students,” Ms Mitchell said.

“What these schools are doing is effective, and this program will capture their methods to drive high performance in other schools across the state.”

Kathleen Seto, the principal of Fairvale High School, said the school identified areas of professional development.

The first three schools in the program — an Australian first — are Fairvale High, Auburn North Public School and Millthorpe Public School.

That number will grow to 10 by the end of the year. The ambassador schools will join an advisory group and have a direct line to the Minister and the secretary of the department in order to spread their success to other schools not performing as well.

“These are the expert voices, our best principals, government and the department need to be listening to when making decisions,” Ms Mitchell said.

The ambassador schools will team up with universities to generate research shared throughout the NSW education sector and around the world.

Mark Harris, Principal of Auburn North Public School: “we believe we are just like all other NSW public schools”.

Millthorpe Public School principal Penny Granger said “excellent practice and collective efficacy from our staff can now span beyond our immediate community of schools to help others in the continuous cycle of school improvement.”

Fairvale High principal Kathleen Seto said the school identified areas of professional development and “focuses on programs and skills to strengthen and enhance the quality of all school staff.”

Auburn North Public School principal Mark Harris said “we believe we are just like all other NSW public schools where staff and parents work together strategically and in perfect harmony to assist students achieve outstanding wellbeing and learning outcomes.