On Thursday February 23rd, 2006 Mr. Taylor attended the National Awards for Quality Schooling Presentation Ceremony held in  Parliament House Canberra. The ceremony was held in the Great Hall, at 10:00am. Brookvale Public School received a Schools Improvement Award for its 'Integration of Information & Communications Technologies into the K-6 Classrooms.

The Australian Minister for Education, Science and Training Hon. Ms. Julie Bishop M.P. spoke to all the awards winners about their achievements in education in Australia and then presented the awards. Awards for Improvement and National Achievement were presented to individual schools, clusters of schools, individual school principals, individual teacher and support teachers. The prizes ranged from $65 000 to $10 000. The 2005 awards were announced and presented in 2006.

Mr Taylor was also congratulated at the ceremony by Mr Tony Abbott, our member Federal Parliament who also attended the ceremony.
Brookvale Public School received a framed certificate and a cheque for $20 000. Brookvale also won an award in the previous year for its 'Peer Mediation & anti-bullying program'.

Mr Taylor met many other award winners from all over Australia during the two days and exchanged many teaching ideas. Mr Taylor also visited Richmond Public School which won an award in 2004 for its use of Interactive White boards which was very interesting.

Each school, principal or teacher was required to submit an application and provide referees to support their achievement. The awards recognised a wide range of achievements including student welfare, ICT and technology, environmental education, professional training, developing anti-bullying programs and peer support programs, improvements to students learning and linking school and community projects.

Below is Brookvale Public School's synopsis.

Our school is a multicultural Kinder – Year 6 government public school in Sydney. 65% of children are from non-English Speaking Backgrounds with the largest groups being Tongan & Italian. Most children are from low socio-economic backgrounds with 12% of children having high social, educational or behavioural needs. There is approximately a 20% turnover of students each year due to the transient population in the area. Two District Special Education classes are also located at the school. The parents and local community are very supportive of the school.

Most children at our school have high educational needs in all curriculum areas. We planned to alter our classroom practice so that we could better cater for all learning styles by integrating the use of ICT in all classrooms to support learning. Children are able to work at their own pace and the completed tasks are of a high quality for all children.

More than 50% children do not have access to high levels of computer use at home. Those who do have computers at home often spend most of their time playing games of no educational value. Using ICT in the classroom provided by school gives all children equal access to develop ICT skills and provides a better model for their use.

Staff inservice and skills development was also a high priority. Full day, part day and after school inservices were held to both improve teachers’ personal ICT skills as well as focussing on educational classroom software and its integration into lessons.

As a result we have seen an improvement in ICT skills and understandings in all staff and children. There has been an improvement in academic achievement with improved results in basic skills testing. Student numbers have also increased over recent years. There has been an improved self-esteem of children as well as the image of the school within the community.

Our staff wanted to improve the educational opportunities and outcomes for children by integrating ICT into the classroom to better cater for children with different learning styles. Staff also wanted to improve their classroom practice. A Technology Team of classrooms teachers was established in 2002 to investigate the use of ICT in the classroom and to plan its implementation. The Technology Team met regularly to develop and implement a plan to purchase hardware, furniture, software and network cabling into classrooms. Most importantly all staff were trained in ICT skills as well as regularly inserviced to develop teaching skills so that educational software and ICT is fully integrated into classroom practice.

As a result there has been an improvement in ICT skills in both staff and children. There has been an improvement in academic results of students and an increase in student enrolments based upon these changes. There has also been a growth of the self-esteem of children and better interpersonal skills as children share their learning experiences. Children are enthusiastic about their learning as ICT is now one of the classroom resources regularly used just like pens, pencils and books.