Sunshine Coast schools to share in $9m for great results

Parents will be able to see exactly how much funding their child’s school will receive as part of the Newman Government’s Great Results Guarantee.

Premier Campbell Newman and Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek released the funding amounts today while visiting Brightwater State School with the Member for Buderim Steve Dickson.

Mr Newman said funding had been purposely targeted at the early years, so schools like Brightwater State School on the Sunshine Coast would be a big winner.

“The research is absolutely conclusive – the sooner we get in there and identify the learning needs of a student, the more likely that student will succeed,” he said.

“This is a ‘stitch in time’ approach that will pay dividends down the track when our students progress through to higher education, training and eventually employment.

“What the Great Results Guarantee does is sets a goal and provides the means for a school to not only achieve it but be able to recognise why some students may be experiencing difficulties.”

Minister for Education, Training and Employment John-Paul Langbroek said he wanted to be able to give parents peace of mind and stressed the importance of the school community being part of the process of formulating the guarantee.

“The more involved a community is with the school the more likely students will enjoy a successful education experience,” he said.

“We want parents to set their expectations and for our schools to meet them.

“This also shows that we are delivering on our election promise to revitalise frontline education services after years of neglect by Labor.”

Member for Buderim Steve Dickson said he was thrilled to hear that the five schools in his electorate would be better off.

“Brightwater State School, Buderim Mountain State School, Kuluin State School,

Mountain Creek State High School and Mountain Creek State School will all share in more than $1 million additional funding this year as part of the Great Results Guarantee,” Mr Dickson said.

Principal of Brightwater State School Robyn Taplin said her school community was delighted with the news.

“These funds will provide us with the opportunity to implement and expand on programs that provide on the ground targeted support for all students to result in improved outcomes,” Mrs Taplin said.

“We will expand on the suite of personalised programs we currently offer to our academically able students to increase the number of students we have achieving significantly above the National Minimum Standard.

“Some of the funds will go towards offering parent training so that they feel better equipped to support their young learners at home.

“Our guarantee will be to ensure that the funding goes directly to where it is needed and that’s with our students to see all of them achieving at and above the National Minimum Standard.”

For a full list of school funding amounts and more information on the Great Results Guarantee go to www.education.qld.gov.au/resultsguarantee .