Strategic directions

The establishment of Western Cape College was one of the initial steps in a broader reform agenda at a State and National level to improve the education outcomes for Indigenous students. The College operates within this policy environment and actively contributes to the direction and development of education policy and reform, particularly in the Torres Strait and Cape District.

Western Cape College has taken a leading role in the implementation of the:

• Partners for Success Action Plan
• Education and Training Reforms for the Future
• Queensland Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Framework
• Preparatory Year
• Bound for Success: Cape York and Torres Strait Education Strategy
• Service Guarantee for Torres Strait and Cape: A Senior Schooling Strategy.

This commitment to fulfilling and contributing to systemic requirements has placed the College at the forefront of Indigenous education delivery. The College monitors and conducts qualitative and quantitative research to test the flexibility, appropriateness, rigour and quality of the education service provided to all the students of Western Cape College.

The major focus of the College when it was first formed was the senior schooling outcomes of Western Cape Indigenous students, this remains a strategic focus with the contribution and commitment to the service guarantee for senior schooling outcomes. As the College has embedded and extended reforms the strategic focus has shifted to 'halving the gap' between Indigenous students scores and state means on benchmark tests. The College has developed a coordinated approach to address the learning needs of students performing below state averages. This approach forms part of a larger strategic plan around curriculum development and efficiency, particularly around the areas of literacy and numeracy.

The Bound for Success Education Strategy has been adopted by the College as the framework for its current strategic direction. The College conducted an extensive audit on each of the 17 indicators outlined in the strategy to determine areas of action. These areas will drive the next three years of strategic effort.

The College sets a number of priorities annually, these priorities drive the strategic efforts for that year and ensure focus is maintained. The Western Cape College strategic priorities for 2006 are:

• Improve student outcomes
• Increase student attendance
• Increase retention and transition rates
• Implement the Bound for Success: Cape York and Torres Strait Education Strategy
• Embed and extend previous College reforms
• Create an organisational effectiveness model
• Build quality curriculum
• Move students into the workforce
• Improve the efficacy of resource management
• Action community engagement models.

The College outlines these priorities to key stakeholders at the beginning of each year, this highlights the College's commitment to demonstrating its accountability to the parents and students of Western Cape College.

Conclusion

Western Cape College is committed to delivering a quality P-12 education to the children of Western Cape communities. The last five years have seen significant progress in moving the Indigenous education agenda toward a platform of success at Western Cape College. The history of Western Cape College and the individual communities within which the College operates have established a unique environment within which to drastically improve the life outcomes for the children of these communities. Partnerships with business and industry and strong directions based on accountability, systems and process has developed a foundation from which the three campuses of Western Cape College can concentrate on the core business of improving the learning outcomes for each student. The data demonstrate significant improvement across all campuses on benchmark tests, attendance and year 12 outcomes. There remains a long journey ahead of Western Cape College to achieve success for its students but the significant steps toward achieving that success cannot be ignored.