Wonderful to be back at Marsden Road Public School in Liverpool Sydney as part of a Senate inquiry into increasing disruption in Australian school classrooms. Through explicit instruction including the explicit teaching of civics and citizenship, students are taught how to behave in the classroom and teachers are provided with the support they need to minimise disruption. Here, there are barely any incidents of classroom disruption. With committee chair Matt O’Sullivan, we also celebrated Australian Primary Principals Day with the incredible Manisha Gazula who has transformed the lives of her students at Marsden Road by adopting best-practice teaching and learning methods, based on the science.

Wonderful to visit Marsden Road Public School in Liverpool, Sydney, led by the absolutely inspirational Manisha Gazula. Through the introduction of explicit instruction and other best-practice teaching methods, Marsden Road is delivering incredible results. This has been transformational for the school’s 720 students, 90% of whom are from non-English speaking backgrounds. The best way to support disadvantaged students at school is to teach them to read and write, underpinned by the science, which is why explicit instruction must be adopted in every Australian classroom.

I walk into the staff room after school on a day when we don’t have staff or grade meetings, and I see these teachers in deep discussion on establishing writing expectations across K-2. This is how you ensure CTJ; so proud of my teachers ⁦@MarsdenRoad⁩ ⁦#themarsdenway