Annual Report
Each year All Souls St Gabriels School reports its achievements and progress to the school community.
This is done on the annual Speech Day. A detailed written report is presented to every member of the community present, and is re-printed in the school newsletter (Phoenix Rising) that week, and again in the school year book (the Phoenix) at the end of the year.
Copies are also available from the school office on request at any time during the next twelve months.
A copy of last year's Headmaster's Report may be read below.
Headmaster's Report 2007 Size [135kb]
Statutory Annual Report
As of 2005, the Queensland Government also requires the school to present various information as part of our website. Much of this information is presented in great detail throughout this website.
However, the statutory information required by the government is presented below:
- Introduction
All Souls St Gabriels School is an independent co-educational day and boarding school catering for students from Pre-School to Year 12. It is located on the Flinders Highway at Charters Towers and has a current (mid 2005) enrolment of approximately 350 students. The school presents pathways for students aiming for tertiary entrance or job entry.
- Extra-Curricular Activities
All Souls St Gabriels School has an extensive extra-curricular programme. This encompasses a large sporting programme, horse and cattle clubs, a considerable commitment to the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, an array of Community Service initiatives, an extensive performing arts programme and a myriad of clubs and activities.
- Staff Development
Professional development of staff is high on the agenda with regular initiatives being centred around curriculum reform, effective teaching and learning, fostering literacy and numeracy and supporting the needs of identifiable groups and individuals within our school community.
- Social Climate
The pastoral care programme in the Junior School is based around the pivotal relationship of student and class teacher, whereas in the Senior School we have "vertical" tutor groups that are based on Houses by gender and include students in all year levels from 8 to 12. It is our experience that such a system fosters maturity and leadership in older students and a sense of purpose and belonging for younger ones.
- Parental Involvement
Parents are recognised and valued as pivotal stakeholders and are actively encouraged at the school through involvement in classrooms, school community events, information evenings and Parents' and Friends' Association initiatives.
This process is complemented through an extensive and very active Past Students' Association.
- Year 3, 5 & 7 Testing
The school does not publish the information regarding the Year 3 and 5 test results due to the very small cohorts at these levels. Privacy restrictions make such publication difficult and annual variations of just one of two students can have a significant effect on data comparisons from one year to the next.
We are greatly in favour of providing worthwhile information to parents, but in this instance the small enrolments can give misleading information, which skews results favourably or unfavourably from year to year.
| Year 7 Test results for year 2006 | ASSG | QLD | National |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reading and viewing | 655 | 679 | 90% |
| Writing | 637 | 696 | 100% |
| Numeracy | 623 | 653 | 75% |
However, the following observations should be noted about Year 7 cohorts at ASSG.
- A large proportion of the students will have been enrolled at ASSG for a very short period of time, as traditionally the school enrols rural students in the year prior to commencing secondary schooling, in order to assist students to make a smooth transition to school life after spending the majority of their early years being home schooled.
- Year 7 cohort is still reasonably small and results can therefore vary greatly from year to year.
Apparent Retention Rate
This rate is defined as the number of full time students in Year 12 expressed as a percentage of the number of students enrolled in Year 8 five years previously.
| Apparent Retention | Year 8 | Year 12 | Retention Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999-2003 | 27 | 15 | 55.6% |
| 2000-2004 | 19 | 12 | 63.2% |
| 2001-2005 | 19 | 25 | 131.6% |
| 2002-2006 | 44 | 31 | 70.45% |
| 2003-2007 | 55 | 37 | 67.3% |
These retention rates vary greatly due to the mathematical variations caused by the small number of students. As enrolments increase, the retention rate should be greater and more predictable.
Michael Tucker
HeadMaster
19 June 2007