Today we stand in footsteps millennia old. May we acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land, who long before us lived, loved, explored, protected the land, educated and raised their children.
We have been providing quality, public education to the families of Alice Springs for almost 50 years. Gillen caters for students from preschool to year six.
Our red sandstone school is set on around eighteen well-maintained acres, with 3 undercover playgrounds, a basketball and netball court, ample oval space and a grove of shady trees. With around 250 students we have plenty of room for students to play and learn. Our preschool has its own spacious and adventurous playground.
Our students, staff and community worked together to decide on our school values of Kindness, Creativity and Pride. These values guide how we all behave and the decisions we make. Our school operates within the School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) framework. This values-based approach means we teach, model, acknowledge and correct for the behaviours we want to see. We keep behaviour data and use it to respond and continually improve.
As a school we pride ourselves on having a very friendly and welcoming environment. Not only are we proud to have many students with a strong and rich Aboriginal heritage, with as many as 10 indigenous languages spoken among them. We also welcome many students from around Australia and across the world. At our recent Harmony Day celebrations, we acknowledged families from around 20 countries. It is a joy to see our students, from such a rich diversity of cultures, play and learn together; it is a great model for what a strong community and a strong country can be.
I can confidently say that Gillen Primary School is a great place to learn and to work. If you are interested in finding out more give me a call, or better still come in and visit us and have a look around.
Donna O’Brien
Principal