A Sydney preschool that celebrates diversity has become the first public school in New South Wales to receive the rare "excellent" rating in the Government’s rigorous ranking system.
Lansvale Public School Preschool is located in Fairfield - one of the most ethnically diverse areas in Australia - but also one of the most disadvantaged.
According to its principal Mark Diamond, the secret to Lansvale’s success is its focus on multiculturalism.
"Whatever financial wealth our parents do or don't have, they make up for it in their religion, their strength of culture, their linguistic capacities," he said.
Lansvale Public School Preschool is located in one of the most ethnically diverse areas in Australia. Source: SBS News
Ninety-four per cent of the children come from non-English speaking backgrounds and almost half of those are Vietnamese.
"They often arrive with very little English because their parents may have been professionals or held a very steady job in their place of birth," Mr Diamond said.
"But they've come to Australia in difficult circumstances sometimes."
At Lansvale, specially trained staff are on hand to support bilingual children and their families, so preschoolers can play and learn in their native language.
Community Language Teacher Kim Nguyen believes staff are pivotal in ensuring bilingual learning skills occurred both at home and at school.
"The strong two-way communication links through the school website, preschool blog... and daily storytelling remain pivotal in learning English and the children's home language simultaneously,” she said.
But learning is across the board as Mai Lu – the mother of two former students, Lachlan and Calvin, discovered.
"Both boys learned to be savvy users of highly engaging ICT tools but they also gained a love of music and dance,” she said.
"I was always so entertained when watching my boys perform at preschool concerts.”
An 'Excellent' rating is the highest an education and care service can achieve under the National Quality Framework.
Services covered by the framework are assessed and rated against seven areas of the National Quality Standard.
There are five ranks that an overall rating can achieve: Exceeding National Quality Standard, Meeting National Quality Standard, Working Towards National Quality Standard, and Significant Improvement Required.
Those services that are awarded 'Exceeding National Quality' in all areas can apply for the elusive “Excellent rating”.
But perhaps the highest compliment is beyond standards.
"I truly believe that Lansvale Public School Preschool deserves the excellent rating because the educators work so hard,” says Lucy Ibrahim, mother of student Ali.
“My son wants to come to school everyday.”
