Cowes Primary School and Early Learning Centre is a vibrant educational setting where learning and relationships are central to school life. They aim to deliver opportunities and positive educational experiences which will stay with their students for a lifetime.
As students only pass through their school years once, Cowes Primary School knows that their learning foundations must be sound in preparation for future growth.
A school is only as good as the teacher in front of the class and that is why Cowes Primary School strives to ensure there is a great teacher in front of every class, a welcoming environment and engaging learning spaces that are well resourced to maximise student outcomes.
At Cowes Primary School, teachers work in professional learning teams to collaboratively plan units of work that engage students’ curiosity and allow them to explore areas of personal interest. They implement best practice and tailor the classroom learning experiences to the needs of their students which maximise the achievement of all.
Strong Literacy Foundations
You cannot build a quality house on poor foundations, nor can you develop strong readers and writers without equipping them with essential foundational skills.
Cowes Primary School has strong systematic synthetic phonics approach to literacy, coupled with decodable readers to support students in developing their ‘code knowledge’ which is essential for developing skilled readers.
The school’s full-time speech pathologist, Lesley O’Donohue, is playing a pivotal role in laying strong literacy foundations for all students. Lesley has been leading professional learning for all staff and is simultaneously working to support students with speech or language deficits.
Facilities
Cowes Primary School is spaciously spread across 14 acres and is much larger than traditional government school sites. The luxury of space has allowed the school to provide students access to a 25m pool, tennis courts, vegetable garden, Early Learning Centre, large grass oval, four purpose built playgrounds, including a specialised sensory play space and a three-acre native bush sanctuary.
Island Landscaping has just completed a full refurbishment of the school’s vegetable garden. The space has been transformed and students are very excited about utilising the space to grow and harvest fresh produce.
The school has recently completed a competition-sized gymnasium to meet the growing needs of students and the local community. Students have loved the new digitalised display screen measuring four by five metres which has allowed them to showcase their learning.
School Council are currently working to prioritise additional buildings and grounds projects.