Dear Parents,

At Auburn North we don’t like to waste any teaching and learning time. This was evident last Tuesday week, the first school day of this term. As soon as our Tuesday morning assembly finished, our students and teachers moved straight to their classrooms to resume outstanding teaching and learning after their holiday.

I cannot remember a more outstanding beginning to a term than the one we have enjoyed over the past two weeks. Last Tuesday week our teachers began implementing excellent programs in all key learning areas (subjects), and these immediately engaged our very enthusiastic students in their learning, students who are committed to always trying their very best in all their school endeavours.

Another very important reason why the beginning of this term has been so successful is because our PARENTS have been able to join us again in the mornings and afternoons, and because parents have begun to participate in our special Harmony House programs. Welcome back, parents.

I expect that this term and the rest of the year will be overwhelmingly successful for our students because our students, staff and parents will teach, learn and parent in PERFECT HARMONY.

OUR NEW FOUR-YEAR SCHOOL PLAN: 2021 - 2024

Like all NSW public schools, our school has developed a new four-year school plan. Our school plan includes:

• A Vision Statement
• A Mission Statement
• Three Strategic Directions

The plan also includes the programs, strategies, and practices that we will utilise over the next four years to achieve excellent leadership, teaching, student learning, student wellbeing, and parent engagement outcomes, and will result in our Vision becoming a reality.

Our Vision, Mission and Strategic Directions are outlined below. 

Vision Statement

Our school’s 2021 – 2024 Vision Statement is:

'To be a truly outstanding future-focused learning community for all members of the Auburn North family.' (That is, our students, staff and parents)

We have strategically defined 'future-focused'. We believe if our students are going to be successful today and tomorrow, and become successful lifelong learners then they need to develop:

• Outstanding basic skills in literacy and numeracy.
• Outstanding technology skills.
• Outstanding 21st century skills such as critical and creative thinking and collaboration.

We also believe students need to live and breathe our six school values of respect, kindness, fairness, honesty, friendship, and responsibility.

Our school learning community believes if our students are going to develop this skill set and if they are going to live and breathe our school's values then our leaders, teachers, and parents need to develop the confidence, knowledge and skills to assist our young people grow into successful adults.

To support us achieve our Vision, we have developed a school Mission Statement. 

Mission Statement

Our Mission Statement is:

'To engage students in an extraordinary education, inspired by expert teachers and leaders, in partnership with supportive families.'

Three Strategic Directions

Direction 1: Student Growth and Attainment

To further strengthen student learning in literacy and numeracy, we will be further consolidating our whole-school approach to literacy and numeracy, deepening all teachers' curriculum and assessment knowledge, enhancing evidence-based practices as outlined in 'What works best: Evidence-based practices to help improve NSW student performance' 2020, and maximising parent involvement and engagement.

Direction 2: 21^ST Century Teaching, Learning and Development (including Technology)

Through the analysis of data from student and teacher focus groups and surveys, and parent surveys last year, it was evident that despite some progress, there were areas for the school to further improve in terms of 21st Century learner dispositions, the integration of technology, and student use of technology.

Therefore, we will have a whole-school focus on further improving learning outcomes for all students and driving school improvement through the provision of high-quality professional learning for teachers and leaders in the areas of 21st Century learning skills, technology, and structured leadership development programs.

Direction 3: School Learning Community Wellbeing

Student wellbeing has been a long-term priority at Auburn North Public School. The school has adopted an integrated whole-school approach to assist students achieve high-quality wellbeing and learning outcomes and to assist them 'connect, succeed, and thrive.'

We have embedded this approach into all aspects of our school plans and they have been integral to the development, implementation, monitoring, assessment, and evaluation of our successive visions, missions, strategic directions, and improvement measures.

Our school will further support all students to become successful and engaged learners by developing teacher capacity to meet the needs of all students, enhancing student voice and connectedness, and improving wellbeing outcomes for students, staff and parents.

*** Finally, by continuing to learn, teach, and parent together as one happy and cohesive learning community the Auburn North staff believes the next four years will prove to be our school’s most exciting and successful in its proud history. We hope you agree.

WALK SAFELY TO SCHOOL DAY – Friday 14th May

Many of our students walk to and from school and of course it’s important that they always walk safely on their way to school and on their way home from school. One day each year in Australian schools a “Walk Safely to School Day” is held.

This annual event encourages students who walk to and from school to walk safely.

The “Walk Safely to School Day” is an excellent opportunity for schools, parents and students to:

• Highlight the importance of being a safe road user; and
• Talk about and role model how to be a safe pedestrian.

This year’s “Walk Safely to School Day” is to held on Friday 14^th May.

Please find attached to this newsletter a flyer titled “Walking together safely to and from school”. We encourage all families to discuss these important messages with their children so that our students and their parents stay safe while walking to and from school.

CLASS REPORTS – KP and 6E

For your reading pleasure, please find attached to this newsletter class reports from KP and 6E. We would like to thank the students in KP and 6E and their teachers Mrs Picken and Ms Edwards.

Mark Harris

Principal

Term 1 was fantastic in 6E! We had so many different learning areas that we were able to achieved success in.  We studied Natural Disasters and learned how to write an information report on either a volcano or earthquake. During this time we discovered that under the earth’s surface there are tectonic plates that continually move and these are what cause not only earthquakes, but volcanoes and tsunamis too. We also found out about the Richter scale that measures earthquakes and about the early warning systems that are in place to alert countries about tsunamis.

This term 6E are looking forward to more challenges and exciting learning opportunities. We are going to delve into creative writing and will all be working hard to create pieces of writing that captivate our audience! We will also be participating in a novel study on the classic Roald Dahl book ‘James and the Giant Peach’. As a part of this, we will be writing a chapter summaries, character reviews and analyzing themes that come up throughout the book. This will culminate in writing a full book review.

Maths will continue to sharpen our minds as we further develop our long multiplication and division skills and continue to learn more about fractions, decimals and chance.

Along with all of this we are going to continue to expand our knowledge and understanding of the history of Australia, and how our 3 levels of government work. We will also be reaching for the stars as we learning about our solar system and the planets within it!

What a fantastic start to Term 2 for our KP students! Students have returned to Term 2 with a positive approach to their learning. Boys and girls in KP are so excited to continue to grow and reach their individual goals across all learning areas.

Literacy

Our reading program commenced on day one with students already demonstrating commitment to achieving their goals and improving their reading. This term, students are learning to use their knowledge of letters and words to start writing sentences independently. Boys and girls are using their writing mats to find letters and high frequency words, as well as using words displayed in the classroom to assist with writing their sentences.

Numeracy

Students have been learning about addition and subtraction in Maths lessons. These concepts are introduced using the language joining groups together and taking objects away. Boys and girls use a variety of resources to learn these concepts.

Technology

KP dove straight into learning with Mr Prendergast in the ANTEC. Students are becoming increasingly more confident with using technology and are mastering the skill of logging-in to a computer.

NAPLAN is an annual assessment for all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. It tests the types of skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life. The tests cover skills in reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy. The students at Auburn North PS will complete these assessments in Weeks 4 and 5.