Dear Parents,

The other members of the Auburn North staff and I hope you and your families are well.

2024 HAS BEEN OUR SCHOOL’S MOST SUCCESSFUL YEAR IN THE PAST 25 YEARS

This time last year I wrote in the newsletter that 2023 had been the best-ever year for Auburn North Public School since I arrived 24 years ago. I believe our 2024 school year has been our school’s most successful year in the past 25 years, which is when I began at Auburn North.

Over the past two weeks all Auburn North staff and students have been celebrating some of their many, many outstanding 2024 achievements.

As you know, our 2024 school saying has been:

“In 2024 get ready to soar, by doing our best and then a little bit more.”

From the beginning of this year all members of our Auburn North family (ie students, staff and parents) were determined to soar high by doing their best and then a little bit more.

I believe this year has been our school’s most successful year in the past 25 years in areas such as:

• Leadership
• Teaching
• Learning
• Student and Staff Wellbeing
• Parent Engagement and Participation
• School Climate and Cohesion
• School Performance

I’m very pleased that a range of evidence supports my opinion that in 2024 all students, staff and parents have SOARED HIGH by doing their best and then a little bit more.

Our student learning results have been the best we have ever achieved. They include:

1. Our K-6 students demonstrated excellent progress in all areas of their learning.
2. In the state-wide ‘Check-In Assessments’ program our school outperformed Similar schools and All schools in all grades.
3. Our NAPLAN results were our best-ever. Our year 3 and year 5 students outperformed similar schools and the state average in all 10 areas. From the more than 1,600 primary schools in NSW, our school achieved in the TOP 1% of all schools in terms of learning growth from Year 3 to Year 5. These are extraordinary results.

This year’s exemplary student wellbeing programs and practices have resulted in a record number of students receiving our student wellbeing awards. These include:

• More than 90% of students being presented with at least one principal’s award during our morning assemblies.
• More than 90% of students being presented with their gold badges by their very proud parents. These students received rewards at the end of each term and they will be travelling to the movies next week.
• More students than ever before received at least 60 of our school’s values-based commendations. Yesterday, these students enjoyed a special principals' morning tea or afternoon tea with their proud families and teachers.

 This year, we have enjoyed our most successful parent engagement and parent participation programs. This has led to more parents developing the confidence, knowledge, and skills to be active participants in their school and in their children’s learning.

 In the area of parent participation:

• We developed a different and improved format for our ‘Meet the Teacher Program’. This resulted in more parents participating in the program than ever before.

• More parents than ever before attended our ‘Three-Way Conferences’ program, our ‘Education Week’ and ‘Book Week’ programs, and our sports fun day programs.
• More parents than ever before participated in our outstanding and innovative ‘Parents as Partners in Learning’ program. Videos of eight of these workshops are housed on our school website.

Thanks to Mrs Ashfaq, our Harmony House programs have again been overwhelmingly popular with our Auburn North parents and parents from the wider Auburn community. These programs have been in the educational, health, cultural, and recreational areas.

A YEAR OF HIGHLIGHTS

I believe this year has been a year of highlights for our students, staff and parents. I wanted to ask some of our students what their 2024 highlights have been. Some of what Anoosha, Kinza and their little sister, Wareesha wrote was:

“I really loved starting at big school. I’ve learnt lots of new things and I’m up to book level. My teacher is the best.”

Wareesha from Kindy

Kinza wrote:

“I love being in Year 4 and spending time with my lovely teacher, Ms Olle. One highlight is that I’ve been learning the compensation strategy which is in our lesson target revision. It’s great fun. I love the quizzes we do on google classroom and I’m almost up to my principal’s morning tea. 

Anoosha wrote: 

“This is my last grade of primary school before I soar to another chapter of my life. I love all my friends, and I will miss them.

This school is like my whole life. All the teachers are the best and I’ve been selected for so many roles such as sports captain and the daily morning board monitor, I’ve been a member of PSSA teams, and I’m up to my principal’s morning tea.

Recently, I was selected to attend a special award ceremony to be presented with the Jason Clare Community Achievement Award.

I promise I will keep trying my best and then a little bit more.”

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Please ask your children what their 2024 highlights have been.

I would like to congratulate our students on always doing their best and for being the kindest, most honest, most caring and most respectful children I have had the pleasure to meet.

Congratulation girls and boys.

I would like to thank and congratulate our parents for being such delightful people who always support our school and who have worked so hard this year for their children. The way our parents are raising their children is a model for parents in other schools.

Thank you and congratulations, Parents.

SEMESTER 2 REPORTS – A ‘CELEBRATION OF SUCCESS’

Semester 2 student reports go home with students next Tuesday. I read and signed each of the 640 reports and each one is a ‘CELEBRATION OF SUCCESS’. The reports reflect your children’s progress over the past six months and demonstrate how effectively and successfully our students, teachers, and parents have worked together collaboratively and cooperatively all year to facilitate student success. Congratulations girls and boys.

I hope you sit down with your children next Tuesday to join in their celebration.

THANK YOU all ANPS STAFF

The quality of education that a student experiences in a school is very much dependent on the quality of a school’s leaders and teachers. Auburn North students have been blessed this year to have been nurtured and taught by truly outstanding leaders and teachers.

I would like to thank and congratulate all K-6 classroom teachers and specialist teachers for their commitment to maximising the wellbeing and learning outcomes of our students and for working so very hard this year.

I would also like to thank our teachers for making learning fun and rewarding for our students and for assisting our students love their school and love learning.

Thank you and congratulations, Teachers. You have been an absolute pleasure to work with this year and I wish all of you a relaxing and happy holiday.

I would like to thank and congratulate all members of our distributed leadership team for their inspiring leadership, for their unrelenting pursuit of excellence in everything they have done this year, and for developing their high-performing teams using their exemplary leadership knowledge and skills. This excellent leadership team includes the members of our executive team and our nine grade leaders.

Our leaders have ensured that Auburn North's high expectations have underpinned all 2024 programs and initiatives and the quality of their management and organisation this year has been truly outstanding.

Thank you and congratulations, Leaders.

Our excellent “Ambassadors of First Impressions” (ie our office administrative officers) have continued to provide the very best service to our students, parents, staff, and visitors, and always with a big smile.

Thank you and congratulations, Ambassadors.

Our two general assistants, Mr Frank and Mr Ray, have worked so well together as one team to ensure our school grounds and equipment were well maintained to facilitate high-quality teaching and learning, and to enable children to play in attractive surroundings.

Thank you, Mr Ray and Mr Frank.

And Johnny, our pedestrian crossing friend, has ensured our students, parents and staff were always able to safely cross Adderley Street.

Thank you, Johnny.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

After our school’s most successful year ever, it is just about time for students, staff, and parents to enjoy a well-earned holiday. On behalf of my staff, I wish you a safe and peaceful holiday.

Our 1-6 students return to school on Thursday 6th February.

Our new 2025 Kindergarten students also start on Thursday 6th February.

Mark Harris

Principal