Quick reference guide - annual report
Most mandatory sections of the annual report are auto-populated with available data sources and generic statements in School Planning and Reporting Online (SPaRO). Schools will continue to complete the sections where centralised data is not available.
To access the annual report in SPaRO, go to the 'Annual Reports' tab at the top of the page, and select the year from the dropdown menu.
Note: the current annual report year will be available in SPaRO in week 5 Term 1. Adding content into School plan > Strategic direction > Annual reflection and School plan > SIP funding sources > Needs-based funding annual reflection will auto-populate into the annual report.
The following actions are required by schools.
Optional commentary or analysis
Throughout the report, schools can add optional commentary or analysis to provide greater context and interpretation on the auto-populated information.
Schools can also add captions to uploaded images to provide a detailed description or add more information, such as on the graphs in the ‘parent/caregiver, student, teacher satisfaction’ section.
SPaRO information and requirements
SPaRO is accessed through My Essentials in the staff portal. Principals can assign themselves access at the principal level in AMU, and can then assign contributor access (editing rights) or staff access (read-only rights) to other users in their school.
Note: the principal is the only user with rights to publish the annual report.
Completing the sections in SPaRO
The following overview table summarises the sections which require action, or where action is optional:
| Section | Required | Optional |
|---|---|---|
| Cover page | No action required | Upload an image. The school logo will be used if an alternate image is not selected. |
| Introduction | No action required | Include messages from the principal, school community and students. |
| School background | No action required | Not applicable (NA) |
| Self-assessment and school achievement | Complete the annual School Excellence Framework Self-assessment Survey (SEF S-aS) in the Self-assessment section of SPaRO. | Include a commentary to support the auto-populated SEF S-aS table. Select 'Do not publish' to exclude the SEF S-aS table from the printed report. |
| School plan - Strategic directions | Complete an annual evaluation of planned initiatives under ‘Summary of progress’. Evaluate and report on the degree of achievement towards each annual progress measure. | N/A |
| Needs- based funding and other school focus areas. | Complete the annual reflection for needs-based funding. This can be completed in the School Plans section (SIP funding sources > Needs-based funding annual reflection or in the Annual Report template). | NA |
| Student information | Schools are required to ascertain the post school destinations of their school leavers from years 10, 11 and 12. This is included in the post school destinations table as a percentage of the student body. | Include commentary to support the auto-populated student information. |
| Workforce information | No action required | Include commentary to support the auto-populated workforce information. |
| Financial information | No action required | Include commentary to support the auto-populated financial information. |
| School Performance - NAPLAN | No action required | Include commentary to support the auto-populated NAPLAN information. |
| School Performance - HSC | No action required | Include commentary to support the auto-populated HSC information. |
| Parent/caregiver, student, teacher satisfaction | Schools are required to seek the opinions of their school community to gather feedback on school performance and satisfaction. This is included as a narrative. | Upload up to 10 images. These can include snapshots of survey data. |
| Policy requirements | No action required | Include commentary on the implementation of the Aboriginal Education, Multicultural Education and Anti-racism policies. Include information on other school programs. |
| Director endorsement | Following discussions between the DEL and principal, DELs complete a checklist to endorse the annual report. | N/A |
| Confirmation | Confirm that annual reflection and annual report are complete. | Schools that do not have a School Website Service (SWS) provided website will need to save a PDF of the report and publish it on their School planning and reporting page. |
Contact information
If you have a question about completing your annual report please email sparo@det.nsw.edu.au or contact Strategic School Improvement on 02 7814 3853.