Echuca East Primary School 

Echuca Education

Echuca East Primary School was first established in 1885 on a site in Goulburn Road east of its present location. A new school unit of four classrooms opened on the present Eyre Street site in the last term of 1958. This unit was subsequently extended to eight classrooms and in 1975 was extended further by the provision of a library. Since then a series of relocatable buildings have been sited to provide for a population growth. The student population is drawn from city and rural areas mainly east of the city.

The school is situated in a unique park environment incorporating extensive parkland and a recreational reserve. This includes tennis and netball courts, football oval and guide hall. Active and passive areas are available for student and community use. The school community is continually working towards upgrading the school's buildings and grounds. Numerous State Garden Awards have been won in recognition of some of these developments. Teaching areas reflect an environment that supports learning, and specialist facilities are provided for library, art, music and physical education. The school environment has been designed to be safe for students with disabilities. Physical arrangements have been made to allow wheel-chair access to a number of classrooms and resource areas.

A construction project is under way which will see eleven classrooms, multi purpose room, music room and toilet facilities completed before the end of the 2000 financial year.

Echuca East Primary School believes that all students have the potential to learn and that best results are obtained in a safe, caring, well planned educational environment. Within this environment the students are expected to develop self discipline, work co-operatively with others, take pride in their school and their work, value achievement and respect staff and other students. All children are seen as unique individuals requiring consideration to meet special needs as they occur. Excellence is promoted in all aspects of student learning with emphasis placed on carefully structured literacy and numeracy programs. The school aims to provide a learning environment of the highest quality to improve the standard of achievement and to enable students to reach their potential. A Parent Participation Policy aims at promoting parent participation in a wide range of activities throughout the school. A Junior School Council has been created to provide students with an opportunity to express opinions and put forward suggestions to improve the school. Through this involvement an increased sense of school ownership is created.

A broad and relevant curriculum is offered which has programs providing moral, social, intellectual, cultural and physical development. The school emphasises the optimal development of each student in the eight key learning areas of : English, Mathematics, Science, Technology, Languages Other Than English, Studies of Society and the Environment, The Arts, Health and Physical Education. All educational programs are subject to a planned review.
The school values and encourages the use of flexible groupings, co-operative learning, problem solving strategies, integrated curriculum, equal opportunity practices, team planning and inquiry learning. Programs which are current and will be developed further include Languages Other Than English, Music Extension and Special Abilities (strategies to extend talented and gifted students.)

Two Koorie Educators provide educational support for Koorie students at all grade levels.

Students with disabilities and impairments are supported by an integration teacher and integration aides.

On-going professional development of all staff is considered to be of great importance in pursuit of the school's overall aim of providing a high quality learning environment