Altona doesn't quite fit PM's description

ACROSS from Julia Gillard's home, principal Nathan Chisholm was taken aback when he heard she had been talking about Altona.

Nathan Chisolm

ACROSS the road from Julia Gillard's home in Melbourne, principal Nathan Chisholm was taken aback yesterday when he heard the Prime Minister had been talking about Altona P-9 College in the context of underperforming government schools.

"This is a very positive school," he said. "I see kids who want to do well. This school is a state school good-news story. There is no tough luck story to tell about this school. This is not a school where kids are falling behind."

Launching a "national crusade" on education, Ms Gillard said that by Year 9 the average child from a battling family was two years behind children from the most well-off quarter in reading and maths.

"These are not children raised in extremes of violence, neglect or disadvantage," the Prime Minister said. "(They are) Just kids whose parents pack their lunch, take them to school on the way to work and expect they're being taught to read and write while they're at school. And they're not.

"Today, unless those kids from the poorest quarter are brilliant, they are getting below-average results in reading. And once they are behind, far too many of them stay there. By Year 9 the average child from the same battling family is two years behind children from the most well-off quarter of Australian homes in reading and maths.

"I see the faces of these kids in the school across the road from where I live in Altona. We shouldn't be letting them down."

At Altona P-9 College -- where posters in the foyer talk about creativity, courage, teamwork, humour, friendship, kindness, hope, persistence, gratitude and fairness -- Mr Chisholm welcomed Ms Gillard's "education crusade" but said results at his school were generally "very good".

The most recent NAPLAN results showed the school was above the state average for reading and numeracy in Year 3, below average in Year 7 but roughly average in Years 5 and 9.

He said it was well known that students in disadvantaged government schools trailed students from wealthy private schools by up to two years "but that certainly doesn't apply to this school", even though almost 30 per cent of students came from the bottom quarter in economic terms.

He said he had not been contacted by Ms Gillard or her office to discuss the school's performance and while it would "absolutely" benefit from increased resources, many schools were much worse off.

"When I see state schools that are dilapidated and falling apart, in a rich intelligent country like Australia, I think that is inexcusable," he said. "If anything can be done to rectify or even out that inequity I think that's a good thing."

Mr Chisholm said he felt "a real tension" about the clear inequities between rich and poor schools in Australia but there was little to be gained from "bashing independent schools". He regarded the Gonski report as "a good starting point" and "a step in the right direction" in the challenge to raise education standards. He said the government's response appeared to be "fairly measured".