When Matthew Knight first heard the term mindfulness he wasn't so sure about it.
But now it's the very thing the principal of Cobram Primary School credits with beginning the struggling school's turnaround.
Cobram Primary School principal Matthew Knight has transformed his school.
"All our data was telling us our kids were really disengaged and not motivated and we needed to do something about it," he said.
"The kids' wellbeing had to be number one. We have a lot of kids who come to school in a state where they're not ready to learn so our job was to make sure from the start of the day they were ready and mindfulness was our vehicle to do that."
Mr Knight began making these big changes after becoming principal in 2017. He and his team launched improved literacy and numeracy programs and the results speak for themselves.
The school has rocketed from NAPLAN's lowest performance ranking to the highest. Its year-three results jumped from 15 per cent of students in the top two literacy bands to 59 per cent within two years.
Numeracy also dramatically improved, going from 13 per cent of year 3-5 students achieving high gain levels to 67 per cent in just one year.
"First seeing the results, it was amazing," Mr Knight said. "You grow a bit used to getting beaten over the head with your NAPLAN results.
"To see it in black and white was very satisfying."
This transformation led to Mr Knight being awarded one of this year's Commonwealth Bank Teaching Awards, which includes a $45,000 fellowship for school projects and professional development.
"For someone who has spent their life teaching in rural Victoria you don't expect that kind of recognition so it's very humbling," he said.
"I have a terrific team. Everyone's worked very hard for this."
Wooranna Park Primary School vice-principal Jennie Vine has been honoured for her work.
Victoria's other winner, Wooranna Park Primary School vice-principal Jennie Vine, was honoured for her efforts to give students some control over their education.
Working in a disadvantaged area in Dandenong, she realised she needed to help students see what they were capable of.
"My passion came after watching students in secondary so disengaged and not empowered and not feeling like active citizens," she said.
"It's so important for kids feel they're heard and given forums to discuss things. You've got to start them young."
Her answer was Enigma Missions, a program in which children develop long-term research projects on a topic of their choice.
Over the eight years it has been running her students have lobbied state parliament, worked alongside physicists and assisted Holocaust survivors and homeless people.
The success of the initiative is evident in the students' new attitudes.
"A lot of these kids' backgrounds don't really value education," Ms Vine said.
"Now their confidence just soars through the roof; they think they can go out and change everything now."
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