Dear Parents,

As I explained in my Principal’s Address that I delivered during last week’s Year 3 – Year 6 Presentation Day Assembly, there is no doubt in my mind that this year has been our school’s most dynamic, most successful, and most outstanding since I arrived 19 years’ ago.

We have always been a high-performing school but we have set new standards of excellence this year in terms of the quality of our:

• Leadership
• Teaching and Teacher Professional Development
• Learning
• Parent Involvement
• School Cohesiveness
• School Performance

Our year of outstanding successes in these areas are the result of the way in which all members of our multi-award-winning Auburn North Public School Learning Community have worked together tirelessly and in perfect harmony this year.

A little later in this newsletter I have included an extract from my Principal’s Address that outlines some of the reasons why I believe 2018 has been our BEST-EVER YEAR.

SEMESTER 2 REPORTS – A ‘CELEBRATION OF SUCCESS’

Semester 2 student reports have gone home with children today. I have read and signed each of the 705 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 this afternoon or this evening to join in your children’s 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.

I would like to thank and congratulate all members of our 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.

Our leaders have ensured that Auburn North's high expectations have underpinned all 2018 programs and initiatives and the quality of their management and organisation this year has been truly outstanding. Thank you and congratulations Leaders.

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 in which our parents are raising their children is a model for parents in other schools. Thank you and congratulations Parents.

I would also like to thank our outstanding Office Team, Mr Dave, Mr Ray, and Mr Rodriguez for their commitment to the Auburn North community and for working so hard for our students, staff and parents. Thank you and congratulations Colleagues.

And, of course, we must thank Mrs Daujotis, without whom Auburn North would not be the very special place that it is for our students, staff, parents, and myself. Thank you and congratulations Mrs Daujotis.                                                                                                  

Finally and, most importantly, I would like to congratulate our girls and boys. Each of our students began their year determined to see their Dreams come true and due to their commitment to always being their best and doing their best, they have seen all or nearly all of their Dreams come true. Wonderful work girls and boys.

STAFFING INFORMATION and FAREWELLS

A number of members of staff are leaving us this year. They are moving for a number of reasons including taking study leave, moving overseas, or transferring to schools that are much closer to their homes. 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 learning community.

The teachers who are ‘moving on’ are:

• Mrs Zammit
• Mrs Marsh
• Mrs Sullivan
• Ms McGufficke
• Mrs Blanchard
• Ms Sin
• Ms Boden
• Mr Rodriguez   
• Ms Cheung 

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.

Today is the last school day of the year. Students return to school on Wednesday, 30th January 2019 (Year 1 to Year 6), while our new 2018 Kindergarten students commence the following week.

Mark Harris

Principal

EXTRACT from PRINCIPAL’S ADDRESS

This year all Auburn North staff, students, and parents have worked so hard together as one cohesive, happy team to develop:

• a school learning community of the very highest standing.
• a learning community based on trusting and mutually-respectful relationships.
• a learning community that is a model for what public schools can achieve when its students, staff and parents lead, teach, learn and parent together in perfect harmony.

It would seem that the leaders of the NSW Department of Education share my view, as demonstrated when Mr Scott, the Secretary, wrote “The work of the Auburn North team stands as an example to all of us working in public education”, and when Mr Dizdar, Deputy Secretary, said this year “No school, no school does cohesive school community better than Auburn North.”                                            

For a number of reasons I believe this year has been our school’s most outstanding and most successful for its students, staff and parents and a wide range of evidence supports my view. 

At the end of last year we developed our new 2018 – 2020 School Vision. Our three-year Vision is ‘to be Australia’s most outstanding future-focused learning community’. We very importantly defined what we meant by future-focused.

We believe that if our students are going to be successful now and in the future then they need to develop three sets of outstanding skills. We believe that by the end of 2020, our students need to have developed outstanding Basic Skills in literacy and numeracy, outstanding Technology Skills, and outstanding 21st Century’ Skills such as critical and creative thinking, and collaboration.

At the end of last year we also strategically defined what an outstanding future-focused learning community would mean for our leaders, teachers and parents, and also developed our school Mission and Strategic Directions which we believed would provide the foundation for our Vision to become a reality by the end of 2020.

As you know, our Mission is ‘to engage students in an extraordinary education, inspired by expert teachers and leaders, in partnership with supportive families’, while our three Strategic Directions are:

1. To engage all students to maximise learning outcomes.
2. To engage teachers and leaders in high-impact professional learning.
3. To engage families as partners in learning.

One of the main reasons why I believe this year has been our school’s most outstanding and most successful since my arrival is because of the way in which our leaders and teachers are strategically ensuring that the Mission and Strategic Directions are laying the foundation for our Vision to be realised. Evidence clearly indicates that this year:

• Our Students have been inspired by our leaders and teachers, that they have been engaged in an extraordinary education, and that they have maximised their learning outcomes at their respective stages of development.
• Our Leaders and teachers have engaged in high-impact professional learning and are becoming expert leaders and teachers.
• Our Parents have worked in partnership with staff and students, and have been engaged as partners in learning.

Our success in strategically developing and implementing our 3-year School Plan and its Mission and Directions to achieve our Vision was acknowledged by Mr Scott, the Department’s Secretary. In his letter to our school last month after his visit, Mr Scott wrote:

“This morning I recounted the story of my visit to Auburn North to all the Directors of Educational Leadership, telling them of the careful way you have considered the strategic plan and thoughtfully addressed it through priorities of your work at school.”

Evidence clearly demonstrates that our school this year has performed better than ever before in assisting students engage in an extraordinary education, to assist them love their school and love learning, and achieve outstanding outcomes in the academic, social, emotional, and technological areas.

One reason why I believe 2018 has been our school’s most outstanding and most successful year is because of the significant development of our students’ social and emotional skills as indicated by the fact that this year a record number of students have been presented with gold badges, banners and books, and a record number will be attending tomorrow’s principal’s morning tea with their proud parents and teachers for always demonstrating our school Values of Honesty, Kindness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness and Friendship, and for always doing their very best in all their school endeavours.                                                                        

Another reason why I believe this year has been the most outstanding and most successful for Auburn North students is because of the excellent programs in which they have participated to assist them develop outstanding 21st Century skills and Technology skills. I have just finished reading the best set of K-6 Reports I have had the pleasure of reading, and many of the teachers’ comments reflected positively on the development of students’ critical thinking, creative thinking, and collaboration skills.

In the area of technology, our Future-Focused Technology Team has effectively implemented a number of programs and strategies that have had a significant impact on the development of the Technology knowledge and skills of our students, teachers, and parents, including coding and lego-robotics, with exciting new programs planned for implementation next year. 

As you know, the main focus at Auburn North has always been on assisting students develop outstanding Basic Skills in Literacy and Numeracy, and this has certainly been the case this year. We believe these skills are absolutely essential if our students are going to be successful now and in the future, and we believe if they don’t develop them in primary school then they may never develop them.

A range of evidence demonstrates that 2018 has been the most outstanding and most successful year since 2000 in terms of the development of our students’ Literacy and Numeracy skills. Evidence includes:

• 90% of K-6 students have achieved our annual highly aspirational literacy and numeracy learning targets, our best-ever result. Of course, the students who did their very best this year but did not quite make that target will receive additional support next year to assist them achieve their 2019 targets.
• Our 2018 NAPLAN results were our best ever. They included:
  • Both our Year 3 students and Year 5 students outperforming Like Schools and ALL schools in all five Literacy and numeracy areas, and
  • From the more than 1,600 public primary schools in NSW:

• Our Kindergarten to Year 3 value-added learning growth was in the Top 1% of all schools.
• Our Year 3 to Year 5 value-added learning growth was also in the Top 1% of all schools.
• Our Year 5 to Year 7 value-added learning growth was also in the Top 5% of all schools.

I think you would agree with me that these are truly outstanding results, results that reflect the way in which our students, staff and parents have worked together this year in perfect harmony.                                                                          

Girls and boys, as you know, our 2018 saying has been “In 2018, We Will Work As One Team To Achieve Our Dreams”. I know that the dreams of many of you have included being presented with a gold badge, achieving a particular reading level or writing goal, achieving each lesson’s success criteria, receiving a school banner and book, being invited to attend the principal’s morning tea, and achieving your best-ever school report.

Boys and girls you most definitely deserve to be very proud of your achievements this year however, I’m sure you are aware that you are so lucky to have been taught this year by the most wonderful classroom teachers and specialist support teachers, all of whom have assisted you achieve your dreams in 2018.

Girls and boys, I have been a teacher and principal for 38 years and in all that time I have never seen a more outstanding team of teachers and delightful group of adults assembled in any in one school at any one team as the teaching team that has been working so hard at Auburn North this year. This is another reason why I believe 2018 has been our school’s most outstanding and most successful since I arrived.

I think Tabina spoke for all students when she explained to Mr Scott during his visit:

“The three main features that make Auburn North Public School so special for me are its students, teachers and our parents. Every day, students of Auburn North wake up with a big smile on their faces, excited to go to school, to learn and have fun. This is encouraged by the teachers who come here every day to help engage students in learning and prepare us to engage in exciting school programs and activities.”

Our outstanding executive team knew that if we were going to move towards achieving our Vision ‘to be Australia’s most outstanding future-focused learning community’ then they had to develop and implement a set of high-impact professional learning programs, programs that were going to prove to be the most effective professional learning programs ever developed and implemented at Auburn North.

The programs and strategies they developed and implemented have included regular in-class support, mentoring and coaching sessions, lesson study programs, the triad initiative, the use of vidoes, and innovative whole school professional learning practices.

Teacher and student Tell Them From Me survey findings and student learning data clearly show that these programs were not only the most effective ever implemented at Auburn North, but that they also achieved its three main goals. The goals were to assist each teacher develop the knowledge and skills to:

1. Become the very best teacher they could become.
2. Develop and implement programs to ensure all students were motivated, engaged and successful using strategies such as differentiation, strategic questioning, and providing timely, high-quality feedback.
3. Develop and implement programs to ensure students developed outstanding Basic skills, Technology skills, and 21st Century skills.

The excellence of this set of high-impact professional learning programs or, HITS as we call them, were acknowledged by the Department of Education this year when it was selected to receive the ‘2018 Secretary’s Award for an Outstanding School Initiative.’

I believe Auburn North this year has been expertly led and managed by the best and most cohesive executive leadership team in the state. We are so fortunate to have been led this year by Mrs Clift, Mrs Southgate, Mrs Tukuafu, Ms Mirzai, Ms Cortejois, Mrs Marsh, Ms Zammit and Mrs Strong.

Our school has always enjoyed a high level of parent involvement but this year more than any other in the past 19 years our wonderful parents have taken the opportunity to work in partnership with our staff and students and have engaged as partners in learning. This is another reason why I think this year has been our school’s most outstanding and successful since 2000.

Our staff and parents have continued to develop mutually respectful relationships, and our Harmony House programs have enjoyed their most successful year since they started in 2004. Mrs Daujotis’s educational, well-being, and recreational programs have continued to expand, and more parents have participated in them this year than any year in the past. 

However, the implementation this year of our hugely successful ‘Parents as Partners in Learning’ program has taken parent engagement and involvement at Auburn North to a whole new level. This program assisted our parents develop the confidence, knowledge, and skills to become more active participants in their children’s learning than ever before and, as you know, this program was featured on an SBS news bulletin this year and was one of the reasons why our school was selected to receive our second 2018 Secretary’s award, the ‘Secretary’s 2018 School Achievement Award’.

I do believe this year has been our most outstanding and most successful year since I arrived, and for that we should feel great pride, and all of us certainly deserve a well-earned holiday. However, as our school motto is ‘Forward’, I encourage all students, staff and parents to enjoy a relaxing break and return next year determined to make 2019 an even more successful year so that we move closer to making our Vision a reality, so that we do indeed become ‘Australia’s most outstanding future-focused learning community.’ Now, that’s a DREAM we all want to see come true.

“Graduation is not the end; it’s the beginning”. Orrin Hatch is right – there’s no finish line to success. Ehsaan and I are delighted to speak on behalf of Year 6 in this very special assembly. The day that everyone has been waiting for has finally arrived. We’re so eager to tell you all about the magnificent memories that have been made by Year 6 at this amazing school.

2018 has passed so quickly! We can’t believe we are already at this point – graduation. We are finally here and now it is time to go further in our lives, to high school and beyond. We will never forget our primary school teachers and all the love and care they have given us over the past seven years. There will be lots of ups and downs in our future but we know that we can stay focused on our goals, and we have a number of people to thank for that.

We would like to start by thanking Mr. Harris for leading ANPS to be the best of all worlds. You have been here for every single step we’ve taken. You have encouraged us to take pride in ourselves and our school. We would also like to thank all the Year 6 teachers: Ms. Cortejos, Miss McGrory, Miss West, Mrs. Varley and of course Miss Hope. You have been so supportive and caring all throughout 2018. You have helped us to achieve our goals so we are prepared academically, socially, emotionally, physically and technologically for high school.

We also owe a big thank you to the community language teachers, support teachers and classroom teachers at Auburn North. Our amazing school does not only have classroom teachers but many others who support us in every way they can. ANPS has been an ongoing second family who encourage us to exceed our potential. They have motivated us and worked with us to get us to where we are today.

Now, let’s go back to some memories we have made in Year 6.

(RING RING RING!)

Hello?

Do you remember the 5/6 camp?

Of course I do! I remember the Stage 3 students having amazing experiences like archery, kayaking and abseiling. We were so lucky to spend this time away making new friends and lifelong memories.

And who could forget Book Week? Every year we got to dress up as our favourite book character, parade like the stars we are and see our teachers looking like completely different people, or even animals! These experiences taught us that there is a time for learning, but there’s always opportunities to have fun too.

Our school events often bring together our harmonious community. Community Festival Day brings together parents, students and staff to celebrate each other’s culture and learn about the diverse group of people who make up the Auburn North family. We all got to experience performing a cultural dance in front of our school community, as well as share what makes Auburn North so great. One thing that makes Community Festival Day so special is that our parents and families celebrate with us. They care about us and Auburn North so much and we would like to finish today by thanking them.

To our parents and families: thank you for allowing us the opportunity to attend this spectacular school. We are thankful that you encourage us to have a positive attitude towards learning, ensure that we extend ourselves and support us to step out of our comfort zones. If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t be the people we are today.

Finally, to our Year 6 classmates – we leave you today with a quote that we hope will encourage you to not follow others and do what you believe is right:

“Do not follow where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”