Dear Parents,

In 2020 every Auburn North student has worked so hard to exceed their potential in all learning areas. Each student’s achievements will be celebrated tomorrow, Wednesday, the last school day of the year when semester two reports go home.

As you know, this year our school SAYING has been:

‘In 2020,

We Will Work As One Team

To Achieve Every Dream.’

While 2020 has presented all of us with many challenges I am very proud to say that we have worked BRILLIANTLY as one cohesive and harmonious team this year and our students (with strong, positive support from their parents), staff and school have all achieved their 2020 dreams. CONGRATULATIONS everyone.

EVALUATION of OUR 2018 – 2020 SCHOOL PLAN

As explained in the previous newsletter, this term our school has been evaluating our 2018-2020 school plan to determine if we achieved the plan’s expected outcomes and improvement measures. To evaluate our success, we have been analysing data from a number of sources including:

• School-based student wellbeing and student learning data.
• NAPLAN data (from 2018 and 2019).
• Teacher surveys.
• Parent surveys.
• Meetings with Year 4 – Year 6 students.

Teachers, students and parents were given the opportunity to:

1. Reflect on the past three years; and to
2. Suggest areas they would like to see improved or introduced over the next four years.

Our staff was absolutely delighted that more than 200 of our families responded to the parent surveys. Thank you, parents. You are such VITAL members of OUR Auburn North FAMILY and we always value you and your input.

Early next year we will present the findings of the evaluation process to parents and we will share the new 2021-2024 school plan with parents once it has been finalised.

Semester 2 Reports - A 'Celebration of Success'

Semester 2 student reports will go home tomorrow, Wednesday, the last school day of the year. I have read and signed each of the 680 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 encourage you to sit down with your children Wednesday afternoon to join in their celebration.

Thank You 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 educated, cared for and nurtured by the very best leaders and teachers.

I would like to thank and congratulate all our K-6 classroom teachers and specialist support teachers for their commitment to maximising the learning and welfare 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 by providing such a broad range of extra-curricular programs for them. 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. Thank you, TEAM.

I would like to thank and congratulate all members of our grade 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 grade teams using their exemplary leadership knowledge and skills. Thank you, TEAM and congratulations to:

• Ms Evans
• Ms Goicoechea
• Ms Woodward
• Ms Lynch
• Ms Hamm
• Mrs Bou-Rizk
• Ms Harvey-Latham
• Ms Collins
• Mr Bazzi

Our executive team is ‘SIMPLY THE BEST’. Despite the challenges this year our exemplary executive team has ensured that Auburn North's high expectations have underpinned all 2020 programs and initiatives, and the quality of their whole-school management and organisation is second to none.Thank you, TEAM and congratulations to:

• Mrs Tukuafu
• Mrs Southgate
• Mrs Clift
• Ms Mirzai
• Mrs Strong
• Ms Wallace
• Ms Cortejos
• Mrs Acar

Ms Gerdes has continued to be the dynamic leader of our Technology programs. Thank you, Ms Gerdes.

Our wonderful office team of Mrs Acar, Mrs Abouraad, Mrs Serhan, Mrs Moujaes, Mrs Iannitelli, Ms Khandil, and Ms Helmy has continued to provide the very best and most caring support for our students, parents, and staff, and always with a big smile. Thank you, TEAM.

Our three general assistants, Mr Don, Mr Ray, and Mr Aziz have worked exceptionally well 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, Team.

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

Staffing Information and Farewells

A number of members of staff are leaving us this year. They are moving for a number of reasons including moving to schools closer to their homes and moving interstate. We certainly are going to miss them.

We would like to thank each one of these special members of staff for being so committed to the education and welfare of our students while they were members of our Auburn North Family.

The teachers who are ‘moving on’ are:

• Ms Evans
• Ms McGrory
• Ms Collins

Ms Evans, Ms McGrory and Ms Collins have not only been excellent classroom teachers but also excellent grade leaders. In fact, Ms Evans has been the leader of both Kindergarten and Year 4.

We also farewell Mrs Moujaes, who has been an important member of our excellent office team. Mrs Moujaes will be moving to a school closer to her home.

We wish all of these members of staff all the very best in their future careers.

Happy Holiday

After our school family’s exceptionally successful year it is now 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.

Tomorrow is the last school day of the year. Students return to school on FRIDAY, 29th January 2021 (Year 1 to Year 6), while our new 2021 Kindergarten students commence the following week.

Mark Harris

Principal

The last day for Term 4 is Wednesday 16th December. We wish all our families a happy and safe holiday break.

Year 6

 Farewell Report 2020

Can you believe it? Seven years ago, we entered this hall ready to find out our first primary school class. We were filled with anxiety and excitement as we finally entered “Big School”. And now, the last memorable year of primary school has gone by. 1904 days of saying “Good Morning, Mr Harris” has gone by, filled with all kinds of emotions. This year has, nonetheless, been a unique experience for all of us. We have all been through a lot of ups and downs as we adjusted to a new normal.

Let’s start at the beginning of our book with the first chapter. We began our schooling journey in 2014, where we saw eager, little kindy students ready to pursue all their dreams and ambitions. These Kindy students are none other than the graduating Year 6 students. There was one man who stood beside all of us when we needed him most. He is none other than our principal Mr Harris.

It’s rewind time! Let’s look back at the memories we made in 2020. Who could forget our wonderful experience with Rangers Jamie and Nick. We made windmills, flashlights, solar ovens and got to witness two amazing explosions! We learnt all about energy, electricity and light, and participated in an obstacle course while answering different questions about Science. During our incursion we applied our prior knowledge to build an electric circuit which we learnt in class. This incursion taught us the incredible skill of collaboration and how when we work together we can achieve so much more. Still, there was a lot of competitiveness between teams but I think we’re all sure science ended up being the winner there. It was a fun-filled day full of smiles and laughter.

Who could forget Year 6’s very last Book Week?  Everybody dressed up as their favourite book character and we all got to do a scavenger hunt related to the theme for this year, “Curious Creatures, Wild Minds”. We have Miss Gerdes to thank as she was the organiser for this year’s Book Week. Year 6 teams participated in the scavenger hunt all competed for the glory of winning the precious Kit-Kat. The atmosphere was intense. Year 6 got to paint beautiful artworks in RFF related to the book, ‘Yahoo Creek’.  Miss Gerdes helped us build our technology skills while we attended her ANCLIC lessons. 

Due to COVID-19 this year, Year 6 was not able to attend the annual camp excursion. However, our teachers were able to find a solution by giving us the opportunity to go to the Collaroy Centre for a day. We took part in many activities such as the giant swing, high ropes, rock climbing, challenge course, and archery. Even the teachers participated in the activities because the students challenged them to. Students were able to embrace their adventurous side and connect with nature. Year 6 learnt that challenging yourself will make you a braver person.

This year and over the years that we have been at Auburn North Public School we have been given the opportunity to support the younger students by helping them out in a program called 'Peer Support'. This year unfortunately, because of COVID-19, we couldn’t do it. However, over the past years we have helped students from Kindy to Year 2 in becoming confident, young learners and we have improved our own leadership skills. Not only that, Year 6 got to do debating where teams had to build well-structured speeches and debate head-to-head.

All in all, Auburn North Public School has had a big influence on us over the last seven years. It has shaped us into who we are today and Auburn North Public School’s valuable lessons will be taken by Year 6 students into high school and further in life.

Over the years, our peers have helped us achieve our goals. Rafay and I would like to thank the Year 6 teachers, Mrs Varley, Ms Edwards and Mrs Bazzi for helping and supporting us through this unique school year. Leading the teachers was a spectacular principal, Mr Harris. He has been at this school for 21 years now and has never said “No” to a challenge. 

We entered school in 2014 excited to start primary school and now we end our primary school adventure with a sense of accomplishment and we are proud of what we have achieved over the last 7 years. Every moment has been a memorable one, whether it's been a little group disagreement that we solved or Mrs Varley's class fish dying twice. Every little memory will be remembered. Graduating during a pandemic no doubt will shape and influence us into becoming resilient young adults. 

Remember to never change yourself for anyone. Always be bold, be you and most importantly, be yourself. Each and every one of you has the potential to do exceptional things. In the end, despite all the things that we’ve faced this year, I think it’s safe to say that we’ve made it. We are the ‘Best of All Worlds', and Auburn North has clearly embedded that message into us. In a day or so, all of us will depart and head off to new schools, but for now, until the very end, WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER. 

Thank you,

Sibgha and Rafay

In 2020 a new initiative was implemented in the form of the stage three extension literacy group. Its main goal was to further challenge and extend students’ learning in the areas of reading, writing and public speaking.

The focus in term three was Poetry. The students learned about a variety of poetic devices to give meaning, visual organisation and sound qualities to poems. Some of the descriptive poetic devices they explored included simile, metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia, descriptive vocabulary, juxtaposition, different types of imagery, and colloquial language. Some of the acoustic devices they learned about were alliteration, consonance, assonance, dissonance, a variety of rhyme schemes, rhythm, meter and enjambment.

Students also experimented with different ways to visually present poetry, such as through the use of a variety of stanzas and shapes on a page. They wrote a wide variety of their own original poetry forms including rhyming poems, rap, free verse, blank verse, haiku, limerick, kennings, acrostic, ballad, cinquain, ode, soliloquy, sonnet, villanelle, diamante and shape poems about many different topics including Australian colonial and Aboriginal themes. Students analysed famous poems and used a range of comprehension strategies to get deeper meaning from them.

The students also entered the Auburn Poet Laureate Competition. Two of our students were selected as finalists.

In term four the group studied famous speeches from history, including learning about the social and political context of the time in which these speeches were given as well as analysing the vocabulary and public speaking techniques the speakers used to engage their audiences.

Ms Hindmarsh

What a year 2020 has been. Despite it being a very different year, 2N has learnt so much and has had so much fun. This term, we celebrated Book Week, participated in a Science incursion about push and pull forces where we made rockets and slime, and even learnt new gymnastic skills through a Sports in Schools program. In class, we learnt to develop our technology skills through using Spheros, which are programmable robots, and in Science, we learnt about volcanoes where we created our own volcanoes that we erupted using baking soda and vinegar!

Every week, we developed our persuasive writing skills through Writing Jungle and our maths skills through our Dinosaur Maths Groups. This allowed us to engage in quality teaching and learning with other Year 2 teachers and students. We have created so many memories this year as a class and as a cohort that we will cherish forever. I am so proud of 2N and Year 2 for overcoming any challenges they have faced this year and I have no doubt that they will continue to shine through to Year 3.

The Arabic community language students have been working very hard this year while participating in reading, writing, listening and speaking activities. It has been a pleasure teaching all the students and seeing their beautiful smiles during each lesson.

Throughout the year, Stage 1 students worked on identifying the letters of the Arabic alphabet and how they are written at the beginning, middle and end of words. They also enjoyed playing numeracy games to strengthen their knowledge of the Arabic numbers. This term, Stage 1 students have been learning about farm animals and are eager to finish their farm dioramas.

Stage 2 students learned about their different cultures and traditions this year. They also learned to introduce themselves to others in Arabic. Students also participated in the topics of seasons and healthy living, they were provided with many learning opportunities to build their vocabulary around both topics.

Stage 3 students enthusiastically participated in a rich task this year, which allowed them to create an Arabic school website for the Arabic speaking community. The students used the 21^st century skills and collaborative planning to develop their websites. This term, the students worked in teams to create a script for ordering food in a restaurant, they used their creativity to bring the scripts to life and performed them to their peers.

Each year Auburn North is fortunate to compete in the First Lego League (FLL) robotics competition. With support and resources from Macquarie University, students in years 5 and 6 form teams and develop their problem-solving, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking and communication skills while showing perseverance and determination to complete the required tasks.

This term 12 stage 3 students worked in two teams, The RePlayers and the Probots, and completed the four components of the FLL competition including:

• Robot missions, where the robot must be programmed to autonomously navigate around and through obstacles made of Lego, collecting points for each mission completed within a two-and-a-half-minute round.
• Robot design, where students are judged on the design and functionality of their robot.
• The innovation project, where students need to identify and then solve a problem related to the theme for the year, this year the theme was Replay
• Core values, where students are judged on how well they work as a team and demonstrate discovery, innovation, impact, inclusion, teamwork and fun.

Due to COVID, the event was held remotely this year and the robot missions were recorded. Students presented their innovation projects, robot designs and demonstrated the core values via a Zoom session with the judges.

Both teams were successful, with The Probots receiving the ‘Engineering Excellence Award’. This award is given to the team with ‘an efficiently designed robot, an innovative project solution that effectively addresses the season challenge and great core values evident in all they do’.

The RePlayers received the ‘Champions Award’ this year, the highest honour in the FLL regional competition. The Champions award ‘embodies the FLL challenge experience, by fully embracing the core values while achieving excellence and innovation in robot design, robot performance and the innovation project’. The RePlayers also have an opportunity to participate in the next round at the State competition.

The RePlayers were invited to attend the NSW State East competition where they competed against 40 other schools and robotics groups. The students had pre-recorded their robot mission attempts and then confidently participated in the Zoom session where they shared their innovation project, demonstrated core values and discussed their robots design.

Congratulations to all the students who participated in this program this year.

Miss Gerdes