WESTGROVE PRIMARY SCHOOL PROFILE
Westgrove Primary School aims to provide a comprehensive education that engages all students in meaningful learning, enabling them to reach their individual academic, social, emotional and physical potential.
Westgrove Primary School is located in northwest Werribee. It is in its tenth year of operation after commencing in 1995 and takes its name from the housing estate in which it is located. The estate was developed by the Urban Land Authority and as such provides affordable housing for the community. The area is bounded by the Werribee River and Tarneit Road.
The school boasts excellent modern facilities designed around an attractive central courtyard. The school was built with a core of ten permanent classrooms to house a population of 350. The school currently has 16 relocatable classrooms and 12 permanent classrooms, with a further 4 permanent buildings almost completed. An extension to the library has just been completed. The school has a gymnasium, library, art/craft room, music room, two technology resource centres, canteen, music studio and administration facilities. In 2005, the school opened a swimming pool as part of a joint user agreement with Paul Sadler Swim School.
The school population has grown rapidly from our opening enrolment of 240 in 1995 to our current enrolment of 640 in 2007. With the establishment of an enrolment zone at the beginning of 2003, we expect enrolments to plateau in the next few years, with a possible slow decline in the foreseeable future.
The school is located adjacent to Quantin Binnah Community Centre with whom strong ties have been developed. The Centre has its own kindergarten and approximately one third of our prep intake each year is drawn from this Centre. The Centre also utilises some of our facilities for their ‘Before and After School Care’ and Holiday Programs. The school gymnasium and technology centres are also made available to, and used regularly by, community groups out of school hours at minimal cost.
The school logo “Together We Grow” exemplifies the underlying principle of Westgrove as a caring, sharing school, which has the welfare of the students and community as a high priority. The school implements a range of welfare programs, including social skills programs, buddies and Peer Support. The school also has a strong emphasis on support services to assist special needs children, including speech pathology, occupational therapy and psychology, and strong links to community support services. Westgrove PS is one of 5 local schools who employ a Family Support Worker from within their own budgets to further assist families in need.
Currently there are seventeen Students with Disabilities and Impairments funding, with a range of physical, emotional and intellectual needs, supported by an extensive integration program.
Sequential programs operate in the eight Key Learning Areas. Team planning of integrated units of work is a strong feature of curriculum delivery. Specialist programs operate in Technical and Visual Art, Music, LOTE (Italian), Performing Arts and Physical Education. Additional programs have been implemented to reflect the school’s commitment to catering for individual learning needs of students, including Reading Recovery, Bridging the Gap, English as a Second Language, outdoor education, swimming, art extension, technology extension and music extension (choir, band, instrumental music).
The school places a strong emphasis on the development of a curriculum based on Thinking Skills which ensures that the learning needs of individual students are recognised and met. Program planning across the school utilises a variety of Thinking Skills tools such as Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences, Bloom’s Taxonomy, Debono’s 6 Hats, DATT and Mind Mapping to engage students in meaningful learning.
Vision
The underlying philosophy of the school is guided by the following
principles:
Westgrove Primary School aims to provide a comprehensive education that engages all students in meaningful learning, enabling them to reach their individual academic, social, emotional and physical potential.
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