Principal's Message

Parents, what do you want for your children in 2023? Do you want them to:

• Love school and love learning?
• Be taught by the most caring and outstanding teachers?
• Develop outstanding Basic Skills in literacy and numeracy?
• Develop outstanding Technology Skills?
• Develop outstanding 21st Century Learning Skills such as collaboration, critical thinking, creative thinking and communication?
• Make friends with perfectly behaved students who are totally focused on their learning and exceeding their full potential in all areas?
• Have the opportunity to participate in a wide range of extra-curricular programs?
• Attend a school where staff, students and parents teach, learn, parent and live together in perfect harmony?

If these are some of the things you want for your son or daughter this year then the Auburn North staff believes Auburn North is the perfect school for your child and for the rest of their Auburn North friends.

In the past Auburn North Public School has achieved outstanding outcomes in the areas of leadership, teaching, student and staff wellbeing, student learning, parent involvement, and parent engagement. However, I believe 2023 will prove to be our Auburn North FAMILY’S most exciting and most successful in the 23 years I have had the good fortune to be its proud principal.

There are a range of reasons why I believe this to be the case. They include:

1. As one of the NSW Department of Education’s Ambassador Schools, we will have the opportunity to become an even better school by learning with and from other high-performing NSW public schools and by participating in educational research projects with some NSW universities;
2. Every year from 2000 to 2022 our students were taught by excellent school leaders and teachers. However, I believe in 2023 we have assembled the most outstanding TEAM of leaders and teachers I have seen in any primary school or high school in the five countries in which I have taught;
3. We have developed our aspirational 2021 – 2025 school plan which includes a clear Vision and  Mission, and strategic directions, improvement measures, and targets;
4. We have developed Programs, Strategies and Practices that will be strategically utilised over the next three years to assist our students and our school learning community achieve truly outstanding outcomes; and
5. Our students, staff and parents will continue to work, learn, and parent together in perfect harmony as one united school learning community. 

OUR 2021 – 2025 SCHOOL VISION and MISSION

 Our school's 2021 - 2025 Vision is:

‘Our Vision is to be a truly outstanding future-focused learning community for all members of the Auburn North family.'

Our school's 2021 – 2025 Mission is:

‘Our Mission is to engage students in a truly outstanding education, inspired by expert leaders and teachers in partnership with supportive families.'

We believe the following features of our school will contribute to the realisation of our Vision:

• Our research-based and evidence-based, data-informed, action-planned culture.
• Our ongoing pursuit of excellence.
• Our strategic utilisation of human, financial, and physical resources. 
• The development and implementation of highly effective leadership, teaching, learning, and parent involvement and parent engagement and participation programs.
• Our commitment to ensuring that our students experience a world-class education because they deserve nothing less.

We have strategically and importantly defined what we mean by “future-focused”. We believe if our students are going to be successful this year, in the future, and become successful life-long leaners they need to:

1. Realise and exceed their full potential academically, emotionally, socially, creatively and technologically to become happy and successful well-rounded young people.
2. Develop outstanding Basic Skills in literacy and numeracy, Technology Skills, and 21^st Century Skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and citizenship.
3. Live and breathe our six school values which are kindness, friendship, respect, fairness, responsibility, and honesty.

Over the next four years we will ensure that our school leaders, teachers and parents participate in a range of high quality training programs and workshops to develop the confidence, knowledge and skills to assist students develop this skill set, to exceed their full potential, and to enable them to live and breathe our values.

It is going to be a very exciting four-year journey.

OUR NARRATIVE

“We believe we have developed a school learning community that is something special, something wonderful, something exceptional. We believe our school community appreciates each individual’s uniqueness and calls forth their potential and provides opportunities for human fulfilment.

We believe our school community serves as a model for what education can become when students, staff, and parents learn, teach, and parent together in perfect harmony to achieve THEIR Vision.” 

OUR THEME

Our school is one of the most multicultural schools in Australia and in fact the world. Our students and their families come from more than 60 different countries and speak more than 40 different languages. Our school really is the United Nations. Our school's Theme since 2000 had been that Auburn North provides ‘The Best of All Worlds'. This theme reflected the fact that our school was blessed with a rich tapestry of cultures from around the world, where we respected each other and celebrated our own and each other's cultures.

This theme also reflected the fact that all members of our community believed that our learning community was multiculturalism at its very best and multiculturalism at its most successful. We believed that only in an inclusive public school like Auburn North Public School could students learn one of life's most important lessons. That lesson was that regardless of a person's culture, religion or colour we are all essentially the same, that we all want to live safe, happy, healthy and successful lives.

While our multi-award-winning school had been recognised and acknowledged as an outstanding and high-performing learning community, in 2015 all members of our community believed that we must always be moving FORWARD. They believed that we must always keep our eyes, ears and minds open for better and more effective ways to maximise leadership, teaching, learning and parenting outcomes in our school.

Therefore, our learning community decided that while it was very important that Auburn North students continue to learn one of life's most important lessons and that they continue to learn and develop outstanding knowledge, skills and attitudes in Literacy, numeracy and all other subject areas, it was also very important that our students develop outstanding Technology Skills and 21st Century Skills to be successful now and in the future in our rapidly changing world.

We revised our school theme and further developed and improved our leadership, teaching, learning and parenting programs and practices to reflect this development. Since 2015 our school theme has been that Auburn North provides “The Best of All Worlds for 21st Century Learners”.

Therefore, to be high achieving people now and in the future our students this year and in the future will be focussing on maximising their 'Basic Skills', Technology Skills, and their 21st Century Skills.

AWARDS ACKNOWLEDGING OUR SCHOOL’S OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCES

Auburn North Public School has been recognised and acknowledged as an outstanding learning community by the NSW Department of Education. Over the past seven years we have been presented with a range of State awards acknowledging our excellent performances and results in areas such as leadership, teaching, learning, parent participation, and community cohesion. Some of these awards include the:

• 2022 NSW Department of Education's 'Secretary's Award for School Achievement - Auburn North's Collective Teacher Efficacy Project'.
• 2022 NSW Department of Education's 'Secretary's Award for an Outstanding School Initiative - Commendation - 'Effective Reading Instruction Project.'
• 2021 NSW Department of Education's 'Secretary's Award for School Achievement - Auburn North's Collaborative School Culture.'
• 2021 NSW Department of Education's 'Secretary's Award for an Outstanding School Initiative – Use of Video for Self-Reflection and Peer Reflection.'
• 2020 NSW Department of Education's 'Secretary's Award for an Outstanding School Initiative – COVID-19 Blended Approach to Flexible Learning Project.’
• 2019 NSW Department of Education's 'Secretary's Award for an Outstanding School Initiative - Leadership for Whole-School Improvement.'
• 2019 NSW Department of Education's 'Secretary's Award for School Achievement - Parents as Partners in Learning Program.'
• 2018 NSW Department of Education’s ‘Secretary’s Award for an Outstanding School Initiative – High Impact Teaching Strategies.’
• 2018 NSW Departments of Education’s ‘Secretary’s School Achievement Award – Maximising the Learning, Social, and Emotional Outcomes for Refugee Students and Parents.’
• 2017 NSW Department of Education 'Secretary's Award for an Outstanding School Initiative'.
• 2017 NSW Department of Education's 'Secretary's School Achievement Award'.
• NSW Director-General's 'School Achievement Award'
• NSW Minister for Education's 'Cohesive Community School Award' (runner-up previous 2 years) 

Our learning community believes that our school will continue to be recognised as an exceptional school if we:

1. continue to develop and implement exemplary professional learning programs and practices.
2. increase further parent participation in THEIR school and in their children's education.
3. assist each student become and remain intrinsically motivated to exceed their full potential.
4. assist all students maximise their Basic Skills, Technology Skills and their 21st Century Skills
5. achieve our 2021 - 2025 School Vision and Mission.

K-6 SCHOOL-BASED OUTCOMES, “NAPLAN” and “MY SCHOOL” RESULTS

One of the main reasons why our school has been recognised and acknowledged as a high-performing school is because our school always achieves excellent K-6 school-based learning outcomes and NAPLAN results. Over the eleven years  the ‘My School' website has existed, our school has usually outperformed ‘Like Schools' in at least seven of the ten areas in Year 3 and Year 5 and outperformed 'All Schools' in Writing.  These performances demonstrate what can be achieved when staff, students, and parents teach, learn and parent together to assist students EXCEED their full potential.

Every year since 2017 we have outperformed or significantly outperformed Similar ('Like') Schools in all five literacy and numeracy areas for BOTH Year 3 and Year 5.

IN CONCLUSION

Finally, I consider it an honour and an absolute privilege to be a member of this multi-award-winning school community. There are many reasons why I love being the principal of Auburn North and being a member of the Auburn North FAMILY. They include the:

Students, who are beautiful, who live our six values (honesty, kindness, respect, respect, fairness, friendship, responsibility), who work so hard and who take great pride in their efforts and achievements.

Staff members, who are delightful, happy people who work so hard and so effectively together so that our students love school and exceed their full potential in all areas of endeavour.

Parents, who are so respectful and kind, who are committed to the education and welfare of their children, and who are so supportive of our staff and school.

Mark Harris

(Very Proud) Principal

"We're all different but still the same." Auburn North Student

"Everyone has different beliefs and to live in a harmonious community we must respect the beliefs of others. That is what makes Auburn North so special." Auburn North Student

"I am very impressed by the exceptionally caring attitude of the Auburn North teachers to the students, parents, and all members of our community. I am inspired by the very positive learning attitude of the Auburn North students." Auburn North Parent

"I find our school is very harmonious and like a second home and everyone is friendly and like sisters and brothers to me." Auburn North Parent