MacGregor Primary School was established in 1972 in the southern suburbs of Brisbane. It was one of three schools opened in that year as prototypes of open area education. Through its distinctiveness as a school of excellence and enrichment, MacGregor draws its students from over 65 suburbs of Brisbane. Demands for enrolment have not abated, reaching a peak of 1286 students located in 48 classrooms in 1998. Because of the limitations of finite physical resources, the school has actively sought to carefully contain its enrolment levels through the implementation of its collaboratively developed enrolment management plan, slowly reducing its capacity to 1200 students located in 43 classrooms.
The school population is multi-cultural having a large percentage of a non-English speaking background. The major cultural group is Chinese deriving mainly from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia. Other cultural groups include Korean, Vietnamese, Indian, Pakistan European, African and Pacific Islander people.
Approximately 25% of the student population require and receive additional educational support. These include students of non-English speaking backgrounds, physical and/or intellectual impairments, speech language impairments and learning difficulties.
The school is a cluster school for the physically impaired, these children being supported by the Special Education Unit on site. The school has endorsed the principles of inclusion and all students with disabilities have been integrated into mainstream classrooms
The principles of effective learning and teaching together with cooperative planning and teaching underpin MacGregor’s educational programs from Prep to Year Seven. Flexible teaching spaces are designed to enhance learning experiences and outcomes of every student.
