Principal's Message

Yesterday I represented GEPS at a "Hub Day" - a network of school leaders working with Social Ventures Australia . Auburn West PS hosted us, and there were leaders from Hilltop Road, Hoxton Park, Appin and 2 schools near Mudgee - Cudgegong Valley and Wellington PS. These are school we work with in looking at new research, implementing best-practice strategies and building leadership across our school to maximise student learning.

Auburn West staff did a fabulous job sharing their school improvement journey, hosting us and letting us visit classrooms. The focus of the day was student agency and student voice - and I saw lots of examples of students being active learners. I was reminded of the power of a good learning intention and giving kids the criteria so that they know what "good" looks like in a learning task.

At GEPS - we use learning intentions every day. Sometimes we call them a "WALT" We Are Learning To... The research behind this is to really target the teaching for teachers; really focus the learning for students and to help with assessment of learning. Ask your child what they are learning in reading, writing, maths and Inquiry - they should be able to tell you!

Another great insight was listening to Auburn West staff talk about their Learning Conversations process. Many years ago we shared what we were doing with Learning Conversations - and Auburn West loved it so much they "smart borrowed" it (that's code for stole it - in the nicest possible way!). 

They use a process similar to ours, but only 15 minutes and they have a goal setting meeting in semester 1 and a follow up in semester 2. It's good to reflect on our own Learning Conversations journey. Our meetings are 30 minutes and we are really focused on students leading these meetings - using an artefact (piece of work, reflection on the term or powerpoint presentation) to support their thinking and talking about their learning.

In 2023 we've had more than 93% of families attending these conversations and we value them so highly we give teachers a day off class in order to make time to speak with families. It's no wonder we won an award for our Learning Conversations back in 2019!

What's been happening?

Over the past 2 weeks so much has been going on both inside and outside the classrooms:

• Stage 1 went to Bondi on a cooking excursion
• Stage 2 opened their classrooms to see how CTC starts
• RAWArt has been working with Stage 1 and Kindy - and students have been producing fabulous artworks
• our Fathers Day Stall was a huge success, and raised over $520
• Stage 3 visited The Rocks, on an excursion where they stepped back in time
• Koori Club went to The Australian Museum and saw a range of exhibitions
• Mrs Hockey returned! You'll be seeing her every Tuesday
• Kindy went to the farm and had the best time with the animals and their handlers
• Senior Choir went to a full day rehearsal at Marie Bashir PS - to get ready for their performance at The Opera House on 21/9
• Learning Snapshots happened for Guided Reading - where executive and teachers visited every classroom to observe a lesson and give feedback to the team
• the Story Heroes writing program is well underway in our 3-6 classrooms - with a competition happening to produce the best story!
• and of course, all classes have been madly practicing for their Performance Day item - which they will showcase on Wednesday 20 September after 11:30 in the hall.

I'd like to thank our families for supporting the learning programs at our school. For ensuring students are here every day, ready to learn, ready to think hard and challenge themselves, ready to play and ready to have some fun. 2 more weeks to go before our spring holiday break!