The Education Directorate has defended the use of personalised and inquiry-based learning at a school where students were not progressing in foundational literacy skills.
Margaret Hendry School had two directorate support programs since it opened in 2019 but was the subject of a special purpose review in June this year after it was unable to sustain the improvements.
Inquiry-based learning focuses on investigation and problem-solving to help develop students' critical and creative thinking, however the report found that low growth in literacy skills made it hard for some students to engage in this type of learning.
Staff told the reviewers that the school's workshop model did not allow for explicit teaching of all components of a literacy and numeracy program.
They expressed a lack of support in how to implement a balanced approach to teach literacy and numeracy that included explicit teaching.
The school is organised into four "learning communities" of 90 to 160 students with mixed-ages from kindergarten to year 2 and years 3 to 6.
The review found each learning community operated independently like four schools within a school which created more workload for teachers.
"Staff are aware of the learning gaps in fundamental literacy and numeracy skills but feel structures do not support improved student outcomes," the review report said.
Education Directorate executive group manager of school improvement Mark Huxley said the review did not show that the philosophy of personalised and inquiry-based learning was not working.
"I think what it did show was that there was strong support for the approaches from the parents," Mr Huxley said.
"One of the practical things that's happened from the start of Term 3 is that we've prioritised the literacy blocks at the school ... with this explicit focus on reading."
Mr Huxley said literacy specialists and external literacy consultants had been brought into the school to assist teachers with delivering the Australian Curriculum and the ACT public schools' "10 essential practices" which includes explicit teaching of phonics.
The school has had a high turnover of staff with 30 per cent of current staff in their first three years of teaching and 50 per cent of current school leaders in their first three years of service.
More than one-third of students come from families where English is a second language.
The reviewers found these factors combined with rapid enrolment growth resulted in a loss of strategic focus and a lack of a consistent, whole-school approach to teaching, wellbeing and behaviour management practices.
Data suggested high levels of physical aggression among kindergarten students, particularly in the first session of the day.
The review found structures in the physical environment of the school could cause students to be disengaged with the learning, resulting in students "absconding".
It found no school-wide behaviour management practices and that there was no extrinsic rewards system through the positive behaviours for learning program.
Mr Huxley said there was no intention to make significant modifications to the open plan learning spaces at the school and the school was working to strengthen its positive behaviours for learning program.
The school had 641 students as of February this year. An expansion of the campus to allow for an extra 600 students was opened in August.
The Canberra Times understands dozens of families have left the school since it opened, but Mr Huxley said it was continuing to grow.
"It's actually been the highest growing school in the system that I think we've ever had and the numbers coming through the preschool at the moment, it's the largest cohort of any in the school to date," he said.
Principal Kate Woods has been at the school since it opened in 2019. Mr Huxley said he expected her to continue in the role next year.
School climate survey results from 2022 showed that only half (53 per cent) of students and teachers agreed that students were getting a good education at this school.
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