Broadmeadows Primary School
Learning to Learn
Broadmeadows Primary School faces the challenge of supporting struggling students to develop effective learning behaviours to lead their own learning. Supported by Social Ventures Australia, the school has embarked on an initiative to integrate brain-based learning across the school, and has achieved significant student outcomes in the first year of the partnership, with 100% of students involved in the brain-based learning program demonstrating improvements in learning behaviours.
Broadmeadows Primary School is a K-6 Primary School in North Western Melbourne, Victoria. The school has the equivalent of 33 staff, and a student enrolment of 281 students, including:
- 58% of students in the bottom quartile of socio-educational advantage
- 75% of students from English as Second Language backgrounds
- 12% of students from refugee families
Approximately 30% of students at Broadmeadows Primary School are on in-school case management for social, emotional or academic issues. The achievement levels of these students are two to three years behind other students, as they tend to be frustrated and disengaged, which in turn leads to low achievement. These students require support with learning, and in particular, with adopting effective learning behaviours, in order to overcome the aforementioned issues and lead their own learning. The school faces the challenge of identifying strategies for developing these learning behaviours, integrating these strategies into the curriculum, and building teacher and parent capacity to support these strategies.
Broadmeadows Primary School is using the resources and support from Social Ventures Australia to implement a brain-based learning program designed to support students to develop self-awareness and metacognitive strategies and techniques to optimise learning. This involves the creation of a toolkit in consultation with educational experts, training and support teachers to use this toolkit with the curriculum, and developing tailored solutions for individual students to further learning. Students are deeply engaged in implementing the solution, including giving and receiving regular feedback on learning progression.
Broadmeadows Primary School was recently featured in the 730 Report on Channel Nine. Click here to watch the feature or read the transcript.
