Wagga Wagga Public School

Wagga Wagga Public School is located in a large regional centre on the land of the Wiradjuri people. It has a proud history of providing a quality education as the first primary school in Wagga Wagga. Currently, it provides education for approximately 420 Kindergarten to Year 6 students within a caring, collaborative and inclusive environment. The school embraces families from a range of socio-economic backgrounds, including approximately 7 percent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and 16 percent from a non-English speaking background. At Wagga Wagga Public School, we support students to be happy, safe and active participants in their educational opportunities, to develop a love for learning and to pursue their personal best. This is achieved by ensuring evidence-based best practices are implemented in the classroom, as well as in school leadership and management. Individual student development occurs in an environment that allows all students to fulfill their potential. The staff and community are committed to the provision of a wide range of educational and extra-curricular opportunities. An active and collaborative Parents and Citizens' Association lead the parent community in supporting the school's continual improvement and actively nurtures positive school culture. The school prioritises student wellbeing and a strong sense of belonging, and in addition to the six mandated Key Learning Areas taught, behaviour education is treated as a subject. Through Play Is The Way, a social and emotional learning methodology, Wagga Wagga Public School's vision is to develop empathetic, independent, self-managing, self-motivated young people of good character. Students participate in physically interactive games and activities that both require and develop personal and social capabilities as they are being played. Students are taught five guiding concepts that serve as a moral compass and help them to do what they believe is the right and best thing to do. When embedded, these concepts prevent children from drowning in life and learning – hence, they are aptly called Life Raft concepts. Staff model, and students learn to use, an empowering self-reflective language that helps them to master behaviour in preparation for a responsible, fulfilling and meaningful life. The foundation of Play Is The Way is to guide students to demonstrate empathy and embrace habits of action by teaching the development of six key virtues- friendliness, good manners, courage, compassion, persistence/resilience, tolerance/acceptance. When understood, practised and habituated, these virtues result in people of strong character and empathy. The school emphasises the value of process and strengthens the skills of teamwork and cooperation in the pursuit of success. This is the Wagga Wagga Public School way.