Sunset State School's Mission Statement
“Inspire children to achieve success through engaging and challenging opportunities in a safe and supportive environment, while catering to individual, social, cultural and emotional needs.”
Sunset State School is located in Mount Isa in far North West Queensland. The Sunset community is immensely complex, comprising an Indigenous student population of approximately 200 (80%) and other students from many other places such as the Philippines, Fiji and South Africa. Family income is lower than the state average which sometimes affects students’ educational opportunities. Engaging our families and lifting academic performance is a priority for our school.
Our objectives sit in 3 broad categories: support children to attend school regularly, engage all our students in quality teaching and learning, and create a safe and supportive environment for all children at our school. We are moving to a success paradigm where pride and achievement are the norm.
Sunset State School provides a curriculum that accommodates the wide variety of learning needs which present at our school with our main focus on Health and Physical Education, Number, Reading Comprehension and unstructured cooperative play.
Currently our attendance rate is 84% up from 79% at the start of 2011. We record late arrivals regularly at the rate of approximately 10% declining. The gap between Indigenous and Non Indigenous attendance is up to 14% and at present remains steady. Approximately 10% of our total student population move between our school and others at least once every year and return at various stages throughout the school year.
Teaching staff at our school are supported by:
- Principal
- Head of Curriculum
- Head of Special Education Services
- Guidance Officer
- Support Teacher: Literacy and Numeracy
Sunset State School currently offers:
- support for students participating in our Sporting Centre for Excellence
- air conditioned, double teaching spaces
- full time Teacher Aide support in most classes
- cultural awareness programs through our Indigenous Education Worker
- a supportive and inclusive environment through our School Wide Positive Behaviour Support programs
- social and emotional skills training through our Pathways to Resilience programs
- opportunities for community input through our Local Consultative Committee and Parents and Citizens Committee
- support for students and their families in order to access a quality education
- Gifted and Talented programs
- quality school camps for students who reach their Strive for 95 targets.