Port Douglas State School

Welcome to Port Douglas and our school’s website. It is indeed a pleasure to be the principal of such a vibrant and supportive school. The success of our school is due to the hard work and dedication of our entire school community.

Port Douglas State School is a part of the Douglas Cluster of schools. We are uniquely positioned both geographically and culturally. Our region is adjacent to two world heritage sites, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and the Daintree Wet Tropics. The kuku yalanji are traditional custodians of our district. We have inclusive practices that allow us to recognise and celebrate the diversity of our students. This is supported by the School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support programme that we run at our school.

The Far Northern Region of Education Queensland has developed a Service Commitment which endeavours to provide real-life opportunities for all of our students upon completion of schooling. Specifically this means that by the end of year twelve or equivalent, we are committed to ensuring 100% of students achieve:

• An OP and enter University or;
• A clear VET pathway to employment or;
• Paid employment of 25+ hours/week or;
• Alternative pathways for some students with special needs.

For our school this means that we must ensure that our students have an assortment of opportunities and experiences that allow them to successfully transition to high school. This requires us to ensure that our students have a deep understanding of the Essential Learnings that our curriculum offers. You can refer to the following link for further details: http://education.qld.gov.au/qcar/essential-learnings.html.

Our school values the following five roles of citizenship:

• Eco-citizen (Sustainability)
• Healthy citizen (Identity, Relationships and Wellbeing)
• Creative citizen (Creativity)
• Informed citizen (Thinking, Reasoning, Communicating)
• Democratic citizen (Civics and Citizenship)

These roles shape the way that we plan the work for our students. We do this by affording our students a wide variety of academic, social and emotional development through an extensive range of programmes and opportunities. Examples include:

• Academic activities – learning journeys, joint science programmes with the CSIRO and James Cook University, robotics
• Physical activities - surf-lifesaving, bike education, gymnastics, triathlon, cheer-leading,
• Social activities – bush dance, end of year concert, talent shows

This year we will be conducting our Triennial School Review (TSR) to review the last three years at our school and to inform us of the direction the school should undertake over the next three years. Central to this process is the development of a shared vision of what education in the 21^st century at Port Douglas should look like. This is underpinned by a culture of high expectations and supportive school environment.

We look forward to your continued interaction with this website and with our school community. Should you have any further queries or questions please contact me via email on the address below.

Kind regards

Andrew Oliver

Principal