Message from BOT - Recognising and Celebrating Achievement at GSS

We’re excited to share with you the work that has been done in the area of recognising and celebrating children’s achievement at Golden Sands School. Below is an overview of how this work has come about, the process that we’ve followed and the outcomes. You can find more detailed information about aspects of this work via the links at the bottom of this message.

Over the next few weeks you will receive more detailed information from Mel and her team about what this looks like in the day to day practise of the school.

We’d like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed to this work. To those of you who provided feedback both directly and via the community surveys, to those who gave their time to attend the focus groups, and to Matt, Koren, Helen, Nina, Naomi and Katie, for their time spent on this piece of work - thank you.

We know the key to successfully implementing this plan will be careful review. We may not have it exactly right and we anticipate reviews and tweaks along the way, but we are proud of what has been put together.  We believe that we have balanced our staff and community feedback along with our school’s philosophy to put something together that meets our strategic aim and that will ultimately be best for our children.

Thank you in advance for your support and constructive feedback as Mel and the team work towards implementing these changes.


What prompted this?  What was the issue?
We received feedback from our community and teachers that there was a disconnect between how achievement in sports was recognised and celebrated versus the arts, academic and cultural achievement.

The Board identified that the way we recognised and celebrated achievement, particularly in the area of sport, was not consistent with the school’s philosophy of intrinsic motivation.


The Aim
The Board set the following strategic aim:

Student’s progression in academic, social and sporting abilities will be acknowledged/celebrated.

• We will develop clear guidelines to ensure that we acknowledge and celebrate children’s learning achievements in accordance with the school’s values.

What did we do?
Formed a task force group to review current practise, researched the topic and developed a plan.

• Had the work reviewed by Dr. Alison Kearney

• Presented this to the staff then the Board for review

• Called for parents/caregivers to be involved in a focus group to review and provide feedback on the plan

• Reviewed the plan with a group of year 6 students and gained their feedback

What was the feedback and response to this?  What have we done?
We collected feedback from teachers, children, and parents.  Many different views and opinions were heard and discussed.  Our plan has been through many drafts but here are some of the changes made based on feedback:

• Teacher PROUD postcards - Parents can provide our wonderful teachers and staff with PROUD postcards to show their appreciation for what our staff do for GSS students.

• Competitive School Sporting Events - Swimming Sports, Cross Country and Athletics Sports will be offered as a competitive option for Years3-6. Original plans were Years 4-6.

• Criteria for Year 6 Awards will be included on our school website to ensure transparency.

• We have collected student voice from the children and will continue to include children in the review and reflection on how our new plan is working.

Please click here to view a more comprehensive list of feedback and our response.

Like to know more?
Link to philosophy, vision, values
Link to the sports philosophy
Link to work/readings
Link to the plan