Guildford+PS

**Team Members: Alisha Smith, Salam Haidar, Christine McGrath, Janelle Lee
 * __Guildford PS __**
 * Project Coordinator/Facilitator: **** Anita Byrnes

What is the context within which the action inquiry is being implemented? Describe in terms of: · geographic, demographic, socio-economic, etc · literacy levels – eg: as measured/identified by school BST data, in-school assessment tasks, past/current projects implemented, other relevant data · individual and group learning needs as they relate to deep understanding
 * __Context statement __**

Guildford Public School is located in the municipality of Holroyd in South Western Sydney and today serves a diverse and multicultural community. The school consists of approximately 375 students with a professional and dedicated staff of approximately thirty members. 84% of our students come from non-English speaking backgrounds (NESB) with approximately 20% of students from an Arabic background and 10% from Chinese. Other smaller but significant groups speak Tongan, Turkish, Vietnamese, Tagalog and Farsi as a first language. The school receives funding through the Priority Schools Program. The school aims to provide quality education for its students.  The school strongly believes in supporting the individual differences of all students from Kindergarten to Year 6 across academic, social, cultural and sporting endeavours. We place particular and explicit emphasis on English and Mathematics, with extended literacy and numeracy sessions delivered daily across all classes. Both literacy and numeracy results in NAPLAN tests indicate overall results fluctuating from just below state average to slightly above. The 2009 NAPLAN data has shown the need to further improve student performance in reading and in particular the use of comprehension strategies.

The school has chosen to have teachers from K-6 involved in this project in order to implement successful reading comprehension strategies throughout all stages of learning. The school management plan has targeted inferential comprehension as an area for training and development to further improve student performance through quality teaching and learning programs that would explicitly teach these skills.