Drouin West Primary School

Drouin West Primary School is located on the Main Neerim Road 7.5 kilometers north of Drouin. The student population is drawn from Drouin and the surrounding areas. All families make a commitment to drive to Drouin West as there is no bus transport. The staff at the school, develop and value the strong partnerships with families.

The original school site was established in 1874 making Drouin West the first school in West Gippsland. The facilities and grounds reflect the rural setting and have been extensively upgraded. Facilities include administration area, multi-purpose room with kitchen facilities, music room, visual art studio, science facility, library, open plan and traditional teaching and learning areas for each of the eight class groups. The school community has also upgraded the extensive garden and playground areas to give students options to play on the playground equipment, footy ground, soccer field, basketball court, sandpit, and undercover area. The grounds also include quiet garden areas, gazebo, maths garden and established oak trees which improve the aesthetics and ambiance of the school.

Enrolments have continued to increase over the last four years. It is anticipated this trend will continue in the future as there has been significant sub divisions opening up on the outskirts of Drouin. 

The Department of Education and Training’s placement policy can be viewed here.

Our school community explored many options to encapsulate the core purpose for our school and agreed on: ‘Nurture, Enrich, Inspire, Achieve’

Nurture: taking time to listen to students, getting to know their interests and strengths while building a rapport and strengthening relationships.  Providing a warm, caring, friendly and consistent approach to learning and behaviour. Creating a supportive classroom environment where students are able to learn and make mistakes, provide feedback to each other. Showing students that staff really care, by following up on issues, modelling and teaching the skills and behaviours students need to solve problems in a respectful way.

Enrich: provide a differentiated program to support and to challenge each student, to encourage student voice, ownership and responsibility of learning, and provide useful feedback so students achieve their personal best.

Inspire: students to achieve their best, teachers who are passionate. Make learning engaging by linking to real life experiences, providing hands on experiences, games, and personal challenges. Using videos, guest speakers, incursions and excursions to motivate students and help them explore new opportunities they would otherwise not have.

Achieve: students need to know what they will be learning each lesson and have teachers explain what they need to do to improve.  Setting goals which meet individual student needs and expecting students to do their best in every lesson. Acknowledging the effort, persistence and determination of their students and celebrating achievements.

The school follows the processes of Positive Behaviour Support to explicitly teach what students are required to do at school. Teachers focus on giving timely feedback and rewarded for appropriate Overall our student behavioural data shows that 94% of students consistently follow the school 4 B’s: Be a Learner, Be Safe, Be Kind and Be Respectful.

The school has had a focus on literacy and numeracy while also offering integrated curriculum units based on the Victorian Curriculum. Specialist programs include The Arts, physical education, reading intervention, Auslan and science. ICT is taught across the curriculum.

Staff development has been a high priority for the school with teachers involved in school based Professional Team Meetings, Network and Regional initiatives. In recent years, teachers have had support with direct coaching in classrooms to build their capacity.

Our Vision and Mission Statement