Sale Primary School - known locally as "545" - is located in the Wellington Shire in Gippsland, 210 kilometres east of Melbourne. It was first established in 1853 but has occupied its current site, adjoining historic Victoria Park, near the centre of town since 1883.

Go to the 545 history page to read about our past and view historic photos of our school

The school's motto is; 'At 545 We Care', and this motto and the school's identified values, guide all school based decision making.

• In respecting the individual, we value the whole person, we treat people equally and we strive to maintain a safe environment where "risk taking" with learning is encouraged.
  
• We value teamwork, which provides support and features cooperation between staff, students, parents and the broader community.
  
• Having fun is essential in maintaining a healthy work ethic.
  
• We value learning that strives for excellence, has high expectations and works towards continuous improvement.
  
• Professional commitment and open, honest communication are essential for the maintenance of high professional and ethical standards.
  
• We value our past while planning and building for a better future.
  
  

The school has a happy, relaxed community atmosphere that fosters a strong and active partnership between students, staff, parents and the local community. Parent Surveys generally show a high degree of satisfaction and student opinion surveys reflect a connectedness to the school.

Sale Primary School (545) draws its pupils from the town itself, and from outlying areas, including the R.A.A.F. Base at East Sale, with students from defence force families making up around 10% of the student population. The school employs a Defence Force Transition Aide to assist transition of students from defence force families. 545 sustained a period of growth during the late 1990's, and the school's enrolment has consolidated above 500 students in recent years. The school currently has an enrolment of 571 children, with approximately 10% movement of students each year.

The school community actively supports the school through School Council with sub committees in the areas of Finance, Buildings & Grounds, Curriculum and Fundraising. Parent Club operate the school's canteen and provide a fundraising and parent support role to the school, often coordinating whole school activities such as our annual Garden Party (fete). The Parent Representative program provides a classroom parent contact to assist the teacher in coordinating parent helpers for a range of classroom activities, including excursions. Parents are also provide significant assistance at sports carnivals, arts performances and in the classroom.

The school operates a whole school approach to student management based upon positive rewards, the celebration of student successes and the development of social skills. A range of student leadership opportunities exist, including: Junior School Council, Young Leaders, Peer Mediation, house and music captains, conducting whole school ceremonies (assemblies, ANZAC Day services), parent information days and 'back to school' day..

545 provides a comprehensive approach to the provision of support programs across the school. 545's program for students with disabilities is highly regarded within the local community. 545 also provides welfare based programs such as Seasons (grief program), pastoral teachers for senior students, Prep buddies, as well as maintaining close links with the Wellington Student Support Services Team and a range of Community Support Agencies. In late 2007 the school was successful in obtaining a Commonwealth Grant to employ a School Chaplain which will increase it's capacity to cater for the welfare needs of students staff and members of the school community.

The Sale Primary School has also focused significant energy and resources in recent times to strategically improve the school's facilities, equipment and grounds. This has resulted in beautifully landscaped grounds with a range of playground facilities for students. The teaching spaces are well resourced; with 120+ networked computers and 40 wireless linked laptop computers for student usage, multiple digital cameras, AV access for classrooms. All teaching spaces are air conditioned and there are fully equipped teacher workspaces to facilitate teacher planning and lesson preparation.

The Sale Primary School operates 24 classrooms in 2008 and endeavours to keep classes as small as possible. The school provides specialist teaching areas in LOTE (Japanese), Physical Education, Music and Visual Arts. We provide intervention programs such as Reading Recovery and Special Needs Literacy across the school in areas of identified need. The school provides a range of extension programs in each of the above programs as well as Tournament of Minds. Private music tutors are also available at the school to provide tuition in a range of musical instruments.

 Click here to see the 545 staff list