Audience
All state schools
Purpose
This policy sets out the Department of Education's (the department) commitment to realising the potential of every student through continuous evaluation and improvement of school performance.
The policy provides direction for schools about the requirements for school performance planning, monitoring, reviewing and reporting to ensure alignment with the strategic direction established by the department and reflected in
Equity and Excellence: realising the potential of every student
(the education strategy).
Policy statement
State schools are committed to improving school performance in accordance with the legislative requirements of the
Education (General Provisions) Act 2006 (Qld), Education (General Provisions) Regulation 2017 (Qld), the
Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cwlth), the
Financial Accountability Act 2009 (Qld), Financial and Performance Management Standard 2019 (Qld) and
Public Sector Ethics Act 1994 (Qld) and the
Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld)
The department’s processes to evaluate and improve school performance are:
- school performance planning
- monitoring
- reviewing
- reporting.
The department requires data, information assets and records pertaining to these processes to be managed, protected, kept and disposed of in accordance with the
Financial Accountability Act 2009 (Qld), Financial and Performance Standard 2019 (Qld) and
Public Records Act 2023 (Qld).
Principles
Five principles underpin school performance planning, monitoring, reviewing and reporting. The principles have been adapted from the department’s Strategic Plan and the education strategy.
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Principle
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What this means for the department
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Accountable
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Complying with legislative instruments, relevant standards and codes of practice.
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Aligned
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Linking to and between:
- learning, wellbeing and engagement, and culture and inclusion needs
- transitions across every phase of learning
- relevant curriculum contexts
- school priorities, resources, actions, measures and intended outcomes
- short- and long-term planning
- the department’s strategic direction.
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Collaborative
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Partnering with families, early childhood education and care services, other schools, organisations and the community supports:
- responding with precision to diverse needs
- scaling learning across school and regional boundaries.
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Inclusive
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Embracing diversity by creating welcoming, inclusive and accessible educational settings, supported through reasonable adjustments and differentiated support, for students of all backgrounds, abilities and identities.
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Capable
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Using, generating and sharing learnings from data, evidence and implementation in an ethical, systematic and sustainable way.
Addressing priorities through focussing on creating the conditions to support the learning of individuals and the organisation.
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Requirements
School performance planning
School performance planning is undertaken to understand and respond to the present and future needs of the school community, including transitions, and take advantage of available or emerging opportunities.
The department requires each school to engage collaboratively with their community to provide clarity, direction and focus for the school, to shape everyday actions and to foster ongoing improvement.
Each school must document – within short- and long-term plans – priorities, actions, methods of short- and long-term evaluation and measures of impact.
Each school must allocate human, physical and financial resources effectively, efficiently and appropriately to support the implementation of plans, within an approved school budget that details the intended use of school resources.
Monitoring
Each school is required to monitor and evaluate information in collaboration with identified stakeholders, to ensure that enacted plans and budgets continue to meet the needs of the students and the school. Monitoring processes and their outcomes are communicated to the school supervisors and are used to determine and agree to further actions, where required.
Monitoring occurs on an ongoing basis, aligned with short-term methods of evaluation, which are detailed in plans. Monitoring the school budget occurs at least quarterly.
Reviewing
Each school is required to engage in a school review, facilitated by the School and Region Reviews (SRR) branch, at least once every four years to guide school performance planning.
Reporting
Each school, with the exception of Outdoor and Environmental Education Centres, is required to publish their School Annual Report (SAR) for the previous calendar year according to requirements set out in the Annual Reporting Policy.
Each school must publish the School Review executive summary (school review) or SRR-led validation report (school-led review), which is prepared following the department’s review of the school, on the school’s website.
Additionally, this policy allows for reporting against specific grants and targeted funds for recipient schools – the audience, format, frequency and content determined by the funding provider.
Definitions
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Term
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Definition
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Community
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All partners and school personnel (see also – Partners).
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Composite class setting
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A kindergarten program delivered in a multi-age setting, by a teacher where full-time education is also being delivered to school-age children. For teaching and learning purposes, composite delivery may be referred to as multi-age.
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Non-composite class setting
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A kindergarten program delivered by a dedicated kindergarten teacher in a purpose-built kindergarten building/space established to accommodate kindergarten children only.
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Partners
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Partners are the people, businesses or organisations with whom schools establish and sustain strategic relationships in order to provide students or staff with access to experiences, support, and intellectual and/or physical resources not available within the school.
Parents, carers, kinship and families, including students, are recognised as integral partners in education.
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Partnerships
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The strategic relationships schools establish and maintain with partners.
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State Delivered Kindergarten (SDK)
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The program under which state schools operate face-to-face kindergarten in either a composite or non-composite class setting.
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State schools (schools)
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Institutions funded by the State of Queensland that provide:
- primary, secondary or special education to persons enrolled at the institution, or to persons enrolled at other state schools; and/or
- face-to-face kindergarten programs delivered through a State Delivered Kindergarten.
State schools include Schools of Distance Education, Community Schools, Educational Units, Specific Purpose Schools, Outdoor and Environmental Education Centres and schools accredited with the Council of International Schools.
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Student
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Any person who is enrolled or attends a state school, and for the purposes of this policy, includes a kindergarten age child registered in a State Delivered Kindergarten.
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Transitions
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The social process of continuity and change, unique to each student and their family, which occurs over time — from home to early childhood and care settings, into school, from primary to secondary (across every phase of learning), between schools, and from secondary to post-school destinations (further education, training and employment).
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Legislation
Delegations/Authorisations
Other resources
Superseded versions
Previous seven years shown. Minor version updates not included.
1.0 School performance policy