Eight years ago, Gwynne Park Primary School in the Perth outer suburb of Armadale sat as a striking reflection of much of the community surrounding it.

Key points: Gwynne Park Primary School is in one of Perth's most disadvantaged suburbs

Gwynne Park Primary School is in one of Perth's most disadvantaged suburbs The school has identified five focus areas, leading to much better NAPLAN results

The school has identified five focus areas, leading to much better NAPLAN results Attendance rates reached their highest level in 2018, well above expectations

Students were violent, parents were aggressive, teachers came and left before anyone could remember their names, leadership was hard to maintain and academic performance was low.

Not anymore.

Despite the suburb of Armadale continuing to be one of WA's most disadvantaged metropolitan communities, the school has defied expectations, recording a marked increase in academic achievement, student attendance and staff stability.

According to Gwynne Park Primary School's deputy principal, Sam Prodonovich, the turnaround has been largely down to a "commitment to the mundane".

Sorry, this audio has expired Gwynne Park Primary - the story of the little school that could

"We've always had talented, hardworking, compassionate people working there and we've always had families that love their kids, no matter what their circumstances," Mr Prodonovich told ABC Radio Perth's Focus program on Monday.

"So those things have always been consistent, but what we needed to do was to really get a bit of guidance about how we focused our energy.

"It was a case of having a bit of bravery about setting the priorities, because in schools we get overwhelmed."

Better focus boosts NAPLAN results

Mr Prodonovich said the school identified five focus areas — phonics (letters and sounds), writing, numeracy, mindfulness and digital technologies.

Deputy principal Sam Prodonovich says the school's 2011 NAPLAN results had many "red flags". ( ABC News: Briana Shepherd )

"Then it was about following them through and being really diligent and really methodical," he said.

"Doing the small, boring things really well, and often, that's what makes a difference in performance."

The changes appear to have paid off, with the latest NAPLAN results also demonstrating improved academic outcomes.

"So most of our results were at the tail end of the bell curve," Mr Prodonovich said of the school's 2011 results.

"We had a lot of red flags and they were fairly consistent over time but we've been shifting those … all of them are in the yellows and greens now.

"We're in the middle of that bell curve now … and in some circumstances we're in the top 5 or 10 per cent of like-schools for literacy and numeracy results.

"Particularly in areas of writing [which has seen a national trend of decline], our school has gone against that trend which is really, really impressive."

'We have kids with fluid lives'

Gwynne Park Primary School, situated on the Byford side of Armadale, sits in the bottom 7 per cent of schools in Australia for socio-economic advantage.

Of the some 455 students who attend, 150 of them are considered at significant educational risk and require weekly case management by the student services team.

Students like Jezire Raven take part in an after-lunch mindful meditation session. ( Supplied: Gwynne Park Primary School )

On top of that, about 30 per cent of the students are transient.

"We have families that rely on services like Foodbank, Parkerville Children and Youth Care, they rely on the Department of Communities and Child Protection. We have quite a few kids in foster care," Mr Prodonovich said.

"We have kids with fluid lives. They're not sure what's happening tonight, they're not sure what's happening tomorrow."

Despite all of this, last year Gwynne Park recorded its highest ever rates of attendance, well above the expected level for the school.

And over the past five years, staffing had become increasingly stable — with the fresh consistency integral to the school's success.

"We used to have up to 30 per cent of staff turnover every year, and that's really hard to run a program and run initiatives and do them properly when a lot of the knowledge walks out the door," Mr Prodonovich said.

Armadale MP Tony Buti, a former school teacher himself, said since being elected to State Parliament in 2010, he had watched the remarkable transformation at Gwynne Park — a school he remembered for its "terrible reputation".

"I was in despair when I went to a lot of the schools in my electorate, not of the actual schools but the circumstances and the background that these students came to from their home environment," he told Focus.

"But Gwynne Park — and there are some other schools — what they have done to make that environment a very safe place for these students to go to is incredible.

"To educate many, many kids from a lower socio-economic area you need a community, you need a village … and that's what Gwynne Park has."

Meditation and mindfulness

At the beginning of last year, Gwynne Park Primary School became the first to partner with Mindful Meditation Australia to create a whole-school approach to wellbeing.

Championed and run by the school's other deputy principal, Julie Bolingbroke, the students now engage in meditation regularly, with the school even creating a specific "meditation room".

Students say they feel relaxed and calm after their meditation sessions. ( ABC News: Jessica Strutt )

And while perhaps the idea of sitting still — the silence broken only by the sounds of a Tibetan singing bowl being hit — could seem an unusual approach for a school like Gwynne Park, the practice has been welcomed by students, parents and staff alike.

"This school, it's probably better than other schools because they do a lot of activities," Year 6 student Ben Millar said.

"You do meditation, the art teacher does it. She just tells you to breathe in, breathe out and close your eyes.

"You do a 30-minute session and it makes me feel relaxed and comfortable, calm."

The school even does meditation at assembly, when all 450-odd students are joined by staff and parents sitting in quiet contemplation.

"In meditation, you imagine anything you want in the world," Ben's younger sister Hayley said.

And what does she imagine?

"Stuff that makes me feel happy," the Year 4 student said.