Cooinda Primary School (5071)



School Overview


Our School, Our Community, Our Story

Cooinda is indeed a 'happy meeting place' where personal excellence is a driving force, where diversity is celebrated and equity is pursued to support all students in their future pathways.

Cooinda Primary School values and celebrates diversity. As the first school in WA to have a name other than the relevant suburb or street name, the name 'Cooinda' was chosen. It is the Noongar word that tells of a 'happy meeting place' and our school continues to build its philosophy around enabling all students to find successful pathways to ongoing learning. Our school proudly continues to acknowledge and welcome the contributions of the local Aboriginal people and the broader multicultural contributions of all families. The cultural diversity of our school continues to be a distinctive attribute in our community, enhancing the development of our staff and students as whole and contributing to Australia's multi-cultural community. We have over 30 languages or dialects other than English represented in our school families.

Cooinda Primary School remains well respected within the broader East Bunbury community. There is an embedded belief that it is safe, happy and welcoming to all. We continue to attract families from across the region as a consequence of being known for the support it provides to students and families with children who have particular educational needs. We continually work to remove or adjust barriers to ensure successful teaching and learning. We employ all knowledge, skill and resources available to us to ensure equity of opportunity.

Our broader parent community continue to indicate a high regard for the school and during 2020 in particular, expressed their gratitude for the manner in which the school, as a whole, established and maintained strong communication with families. Our students also reflect this regard with a recent student survey indicating our children feel very confident in talking with their teachers and receiving feedback that helps their learning.

The school has invested in establishing an engaging and interactive physical environment that supports play and learning. We encourage risk taking and personal excellence. As a school we seek to provide a wide range of learning opportunities within and outside the school boundaries. We encourage learning connections to the local community and actively contribute to environmental stewardship.

Since 2018 the school has offered the Specialised Learning Program for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder, being the only primary school outside the metropolitan area to do so and building on the school's vision to support to all students. As a targeted initiative the program aims to accelerate learning of students who as a consequence of their autism, are experiencing challenges with engaging with the curriculum, managing the complexities of social situations and communication, and negotiating a setting as socially demanding as a school. Specifically trained teachers and education assistants support students from Kindergarten to Year Six through tailoring programs using evidenced based strategies. We have established strong relationships with Eaton Community College as they host the secondary setting for the program.

Effective teaching and strong community partnerships support and strengthen student achievement and performance across learning areas. Research clearly articulates the importance of quality teaching in making a positive difference to student performance. We acknowledge and celebrate the rich diversity of our staff across culture, experience and personal attributes and actively promote their ongoing development as effective educators who know their students and demonstrate a commitment to excellence in their practice that is reflective, collaborative, evidenced-based and responsive to student diversity, with a purpose of continual renewal in teaching and learning pedagogy.

Cooinda Primary continues to use the Department of Education Planning documents for Public Schools to underpin its local context. The School Board has also sought feedback from our parent and broader business communities in regard to strategic directions for the past two planning cycles. This feedback remains useful as we move into new planning cycles.

Our vision for Cooinda students is to prepare them for the modern world where they are able to thrive in a global society. Cooinda Primary School is committed to developing all students to be best prepared for life in the future. Success is based on a strong foundation in literacy and numeracy knowledge, and understandings, along with the confidence and competence to use this knowledge. Alongside this we aim to develop students with the knowledge, skill and confidence to become positive and productive members of a sustainable, global community and active contributors to their own local community.
We want children to leave our school well placed to succeed in their ongoing educational pathway.

Our Priorities
Our school planning continues to be focused on raising the performance of our students with a particular focus on increasing the level of progress made across each school year. While acknowledging the importance of aiming for sound levels of collective achievement, our focus on building progress for all students is our paramount goal. The school recognises the changing composition of our families and community, and continues to adjust and adapt to help meet the growing complexity of need, both in the academic and social and emotional fields.

We continue to ensure
* opportunity for self-reflection is valued, spaced and meaningful,
* what is evidenced as best teaching practice is evidenced, and teachers are supported to enact it.
* ensure student work and student voice as evidence is collected and shared to inform all planning in a manner that places it at the forefront of classroom practice.
* quality feedback remains a key agreed strategy across the school and will continue to drive the agenda for both staff, students and parents.

Cooinda has maintained a focus on exploring more effective and efficient ways to ensure continuous and ongoing whole school reflection and improvement. In the approaching planning cycle the school will continue to trial and develop more efficient and effective ways to achieve this.

Another key school driver has been the building of a global understanding and connection. Cooinda Primary School has now established a range of relationships and partnerships within and beyond the local community. These have elements of civic responsibility, friendship, cultural diversity and a broader understanding of sustainability. Similarly, the school has valued and promoted a strong focus on personal values and a self-driven attitude to achieving success. It has increased the range of partnerships to build strong mental health. This continues to be a key foundation of our school and community.

Cooinda staff remain committed to ongoing self-reflection with a purpose of continual renewal in teaching and learning. To strengthen this process an evidence based approach will link performance of individual students and groups of students to the performance of the school, and ultimately to system performance. A similar evidenced based approach will also drive ongoing teacher effectiveness through self-reflection and collaboration with colleagues. Targets for excellence will have a strong emphasis on ensuring a range of data guides the ongoing improvement agenda.