Welcome to Elwood Primary School

We are an inner bayside school, established in 1916, with most of our students drawn from nearby areas with the school recently introducing a neighbourhood boundary.  The school is in a quiet, residential area close to other facilities such as public transport, beaches and shopping villages.  

The school population reflects the characteristics of the Elwood community with its diversity of socio–economic and cultural backgrounds. The mix of professional, creative and performing artists, often with very flexible work arrangements, supports and enhances the school’s learning and teaching programs.

One of the strengths of the school is the value placed on ‘community’.  Parents and teachers work in an educational partnership to support each child’s learning journey. Parental involvement in the many aspects of school life is highly valued, including the school markets which provide a strong sense of connectedness, and a major source of school fundraising.

The school population will be 720 in 2012 made up of 31 classes and a prep enrolment of 125.  The school is located in three buildings. There has been significant development of the school’s internal and external facilities recently: spacious playgrounds (including a park, half soccer court, cricket pitches and nets, asphalted basketball, volleyball and bat tennis courts, creative play areas and sandpits), a modern Library, Hall, Performing Arts Centre and the Junior Learning Centre (recently completed 6 classroom BER project) . 

Classrooms have all been refurbished and all have electronic whiteboards. Information and communication technology is integrated into all learning and teaching programs. 

The school’s programs reflect our priority focus on the wellbeing of students, and are designed to assist in developing skills for life long learning.  The values which form the basis of the school’s actions are: empathy, energy, respect, integrity and responsibility. They include the YCDI Foundations of organisation, persistence, getting along and confidence, all of which promote resilience in students. Programs are based on the belief that students have the ability and the right to learn and we ensure that the environment is friendly, calm and orderly, safe and responsive to the community’s diversity. We celebrate success in all areas of student achievement.

We specifically focus on high quality programs with a clear commitment to student achievement in English and Mathematics as well as all other VELS areas.  Professional learning is a key strategy for the school with a literacy & numeracy coaching model in place. The school is focussed on personalising its curriculum, to further meet student needs and abilities. In 2011 we commenced the implementation of the Australian Developmental Curriculum in grades P-1 and this will extend to grade 2 in 2012.

The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program is conducted with all students in Grades 3 and 4.  The aim of the Kitchen Garden Program is pleasurable food education. Students experience firsthand the links between growing, harvesting, preparing and sharing fresh, seasonal produce. This program is a key driver in the ethos of the school and our strong community links.

Specialist teaching areas include Performing Arts, Visual Arts, Physical Education and Sport, Reading Recovery and Indonesian. An Outside School Hours Care program, operated by Camp Australia, is located on the school site.

Rob Csoti

Principal