Fairfield Public School is a government-funded, co-educational, primary day school, located in Fairfield, a western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1889 and opened by Sir Henry Parkes, the school caters for approximately 435 students from kindergarten to Year 6. The school is operated by the New South Wales Department of Education and it is opposite of Fairfield High School.
With 97% of the school's students being of a non-English speaking background, Fairfield Primary School is one of the most multicultural schools in Sydney. The motto, "Learning Together", represents the school's united partnerships and values. The school features a house system and has an official song titled 'Lift Up Your Voice'. In June 2014, Fairfield Public School celebrated 125 years of education where former New South Wales governor Marie Bashir, and as well as former principals, visited the school and participated in a special assembly; the school choir performed I Am Australian in Bashir's honour, and the school's drumming group played for her.
History 19th–20th century
Fairfield Public School was established in 1889 following a campaign by local residents for the establishment of a public school in the district. The school began receiving children more than a month before its formal opening ceremony, which was held on Saturday, 23 February 1889 and conducted by former Premier of New South Wales Sir Henry Parkes.Sir Henry Parkes, "Opening of the Fairfield Public School: Sir Henry Parks on Educational Progress", The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 February 1889, 9. Parkes and Lady Parkes were met at Fairfield railway station by Alderman Stimson and David Dale, president of the Fairfield Progress Association, before being taken to the school. The schoolroom had been decorated with garlands of evergreens and flowers for the occasion, and the ceremony attracted a large gathering of parents and children.
The ceremony was presided over by Stimson. A pupil gave an address welcoming Parkes on behalf of the school's students, while Lady Parkes was presented with a flower bouquet. Stimson spoke about the local campaign for the establishment of the school and expressed the community's pleasure at Parkes, whom he described as one of the founders of the colony's public education system, attending to open it. In his opening address, Parkes discussed the development of public education in New South Wales and the principles of the Public Instruction Act 1880, describing Fairfield as an example of the colony's system of public schools. He emphasised the importance of access to elementary education regardless of social background and encouraged the pupils to take advantage of their education. At the time, the school had approximately 120 pupils enrolled and an average attendance of about 90. Parkes concluded the ceremony by formally declaring the school open; the proceedings ended with cheers for the visitors and the singing of the national anthem.
Parkes compared the lack of educational facilities of a quarter of a century prior with the system of government-funded education being finally constituted through Australia throughout the late 19th century, making it an extraordinary advantage over the children of former time periods or of those in other nations. Parkes also remarked to the students that they had a special privilege in attending this school, as they had their entire lives to gain from the teaching they received at that period. Mr Willis, the school's first headmaster, had his house within the school grounds (facing The Horsley Drive) in the late 1890s. In the late 1890s and early 1900s, the students were called to school each day to ring the solid iron school bell three times at 9am and again at 9:30 am.Mrs Eva Stone (née Jeffress) in Fairfield Public School Centenary Committee, Fairfield Public School Centenary 1889-1989, (Fairfield Public School, 1989), 15. The school has organised sport picnics from as far back as the 1920s, with some events being notable enough to be reported in local newspapers like The Biz.
In 1958, Fairfield Public School had an enrolment of approximately 1,350 pupils, down from 1,400 the previous year. The Biz described it as having once been the second-largest primary school in New South Wales, but reported that its enrolment had declined as new schools opened in the surrounding area. Around 15 per cent of its pupils were described at the time as "New Australians". Jack Settler was headmaster, with A. Weichmann serving as deputy headmaster. By 1958, Fairfield Public School was one of the largest primary school in New South Wales, though enrolments in that year decreased from 1400 to 1350 students (despite an increase of enrolments in schools of the surrounding areas). In the 1950s, approximately 15% of the students were recent immigrants to Australia. Since the 1960s, classrooms have oftentimes been renovated through government-funded painting, with blue being the school's emblematic colour.
21st century
On 15 March 2002, a pedestrian bridge over The Horsley Drive was opened to link the school with Fairfield High School on the opposite side. The bridge was named the Eva Wesley Stone Pedestrian Bridge, after Eva Wesley Stone (1894–2001), who was Fairfield's oldest resident and lived in Fairfield all her life, in addition to attending the school in the late 1890s/early 1900s.
By 2008, Fairfield Public School had an enrolment of 619 students and served a highly multilingual community, with around 90 per cent of students assessed in Years 3 and 5 coming from language backgrounds other than English. The school operated community-language programs in Arabic, Assyrian and Vietnamese, while English-language support formed a substantial component of its teaching program, with the equivalent of six ESL teaching positions. An ESL Program Review conducted that year recommended greater integration of newly arrived students and further development of ESL teaching and assessment across the school. The school also participated in the Schools as Community Centres and Priority Schools programs, which supported links between the school, families and the wider community, as well as literacy, numeracy and student participation. Supported playgroups included Assyrian, Arabic, Sudanese and Cambodian families. More than 200 students participated in the school's Reading is RAD holiday reading program. The school's multicultural activities included a Multicultural Day involving students and parents, and in 2008 it commemorated 25 years of community-language education in New South Wales public schools. At the time, the school operated 27 classes and had the equivalent of approximately 43 teaching positions, including specialist ESL and community-language teachers. In sport, Fairfield Public School won the Lansdowne Zone Primary School Sports Association Champion School's Trophy in 2008 for the second consecutive year; its teams also won or shared premierships in soccer, Oztag and T-ball.
In 2014, principal David Smith decided to use the autotuned pop song Go! by Noise International for the school bell, because he thought it was a pleasant way to start lessons. In November 2016, Fairfield Public School had recorded the biggest increase of students in its Intensive English Centre. By 2016, refugee and English-language education had become a substantial component of the school's programs. An assistant principal was employed specifically to coordinate English as an additional language or dialect (EAL/D) and refugee programs, while staff participated in research and professional development concerning the education of newly arrived and refugee students. The school also worked with Mercy Connect and the St Vincent de Paul SPARK program to provide literacy, numeracy and social support to refugee students, and contributed to the organisation of the Fairfield/Liverpool Refugee Conference. The school began implementing Positive Behaviour for Learning in 2016, with consultation involving students, staff and parents; parent forums were conducted in both English and Arabic. Equity funding was also used to maintain smaller class sizes as part of the school's STARS model. In January 2017, over 200 families enrolled their children in the school, many of whom were recent refugees from overseas, including Syria – The new students received a pencil case, teddy bear and drink bottle.
By 2017, enrolment stood at 590 students, of whom 95 per cent were from language backgrounds other than English. Forty-eight languages were represented within the school community, with Arabic, Assyrian, Vietnamese, Bosnian and Tongan among the predominant groups. Refugee students accounted for 41 per cent of enrolments, including students who had experienced interrupted or limited prior schooling. The school's English as an additional language program (EAL/D) had been recognised for its approach to supporting students from non-English-speaking backgrounds. During this period, additional funding supported a breakfast club, technology programs and literacy and numeracy initiatives. In 2017, the school completed its first full year of implementing Positive Behaviour for Learning and held its first Aboriginal Community Forum. The Schools as Community Centres program also continued to provide support for families with children aged up to eight. In December that year, students from the school took part in the annual Christmas trolley run for the disadvantaged in Fairfield CBD, where students rode trolleys filled with food and were led by the school's drumming band to the Fairfield Uniting Church.
In January 2018, the school began to improve its indigenous education due to national population boom in school-aged Aboriginal children. In June 2018, the school's library picked up of new books from Dymocks, after Dymocks Children's Charities assisted the students to raise to help refill the school's library with 500 new books. In 2018, every new refugee student was given a "welcome pack" that featured a jump rope, colouring pencils, a colouring book and a tennis ball. By 2019, Fairfield Public School had 581 students, with 60 languages represented within the school community. Around 95 per cent of students were from language backgrounds other than English, while 40 per cent were from refugee backgrounds. Arabic, Assyrian, Vietnamese, Bosnian and Tongan were among the predominant language and cultural groups. The school maintained substantial EAL/D and refugee support programs, including specialist staff and support for newly arrived students.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the school shifted much of its teaching and communication online during the lockdown, with Seesaw becoming a primary platform for delivering lessons, instructional videos and communication with families. Support for refugee and newly arrived students continued remotely, with staff contacting families regarding students' learning and wellbeing, assisted by Arabic-speaking staff. The closure of international borders also affected enrolments; the school had 569 students in 2020 and anticipated that enrolment would fall below 500 in 2021 for the first time in a decade.
Demographics and statistics
Student population is transient; enrolment has decreased since 2020, with an enrolment of 503 students at the beginning of 2021, down from 565 at the end of 2020 and 617 students in 2015. In 2023, 437 students were enrolled, down from 462 students in 2022. As of 2023, the school has around 15 classroom teachers, 4 ESL teachers, 5 assistant principals, 4 administration support staff and 1 counsellor. The school's teaching staff features a blend of experienced and early-career teachers.