Albuera Street Primary School
Albuera Street Primary School is an inner city school situated at the western end of Battery Point in close proximity to the city centre, the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Salamanca, the Hobart dock area and the University of Tasmania. The student population comes primarily from the local Battery Point/Sandy Bay area. Our school community is quite diverse and we are fortunate to welcome families from many different cultural backgrounds. Because of the schools’ physical size and city location our enrolment is restricted to approximately 270 students. The size of our school contributes to the strong sense of community and belonging that we value.
The vision for Albuera Street Primary School is ‘Inspiring, Creating, Achieving!’. Our core values include Learning and Achievement; Relationships; Respect; Responsibility and Resilience. Our community aspires to excellence in teaching and learning. To this end we create a happy, safe, inclusive learning environment; meet individual needs; build positive relationships; offer an enriching curriculum, innovate and respond to change. Teaching for understanding, concept-based learning, developing higher order thinking and problem solving skills and cooperative learning are critical teaching approaches that underpin curriculum delivery at Albuera Street. The skills of critical thinking, collaboration, communication, creativity, citizenship and character are nurtured and embedded across the curriculum and learning environments.
Our teachers work collaboratively and have a high level of professional knowledge, expertise and ethical commitment. They are assisted by highly competent and committed administration and support staff. We have high expectations of all members of our school community. We aim for all students to enjoy a broad balanced curriculum which caters for the whole child. Our curriculum focuses on the key areas of English, Mathematics, Science, History and Geography (now Humanities and Social Sciences), Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Health and Wellbeing. Our students’ NAPLAN achievements reflect our focussed, whole-school approaches to literacy and numeracy and our use of relevant data to inform teaching and learning. We also provide a strong Arts curriculum with specialist teachers in the areas of Music, Drama and Art. Mandarin is our language other than English and provides a vehicle for our focus on Engagement with Asia and intercultural understanding. As a school community we have a strong commitment to Sustainability as a cross-curriculum priority. ICT is integral to teaching and learning across the curriculum. Civics and citizenship is also highly valued at our school. A highlight of this aspect of the curriculum is a biennial trip to Canberra for to all Grade 5 and Grade 6 students. We offer students many opportunities to develop and demonstrate leadership skills through programs such as our Student Council, buddy classes, mentoring and the Aussie Sports Leadership program.
We use School-wide Positive Behaviour Support as our approach to optimise both social and academic learning. As a school community we have an agreed set of positive behaviour expectations which we teach to students and then acknowledge and reward. Our school expectations were developed by the whole community and apply to all activities connected with our school. They are ‘We are: Safe, Fair, Respectful, Learners’. Approaches to bullying and harassment are integrated within our whole school approach. We collect and use data about what is happening in our school to support students, inform and improve our practice and to make our school a positive, proactive learning environment. We are an accredited ‘Move Well Eat Well’ school. In 2014 we began implementing ‘KidsMatter’, the mental health and wellbeing initiative for Australian primary schools.
At Albuera Street Primary we have a strong commitment to working in partnership with parents and our community. There are many ways in which families and community members may choose to participate in the life of the school. Our physical environment is welcoming, positive and conducive to learning in the 21st century. For further information please see our website or contact the principal.