About Blue Gum
Blue Gum Community School is a small not-for-profit community school, open to children aged 3 to 8 years.
We represent a new and hopeful option for families, in and around Hornsby, looking to re-imagine education and find joy as they enrol their child in a school that places rich learning encounters, creativity, exploration, collaboration, relationships and joy at the centre of every day.
Our approach
Our approach to curriculum invites children to take an active role in their own learning and creates daily opportunities for them to learn through hands-on research and small group work in beautifully designed spaces, supported by passionate and exceptional quality teachers.
We adopt a personalised, strengths-based approach to education where every child can be successful. Children’s individual interests and passions drive their learning, opening up unlimited research possibilities.
At Blue Gum we invite children to pursue deep understanding and knowledge through questioning, research and collaborative projects. We see even our youngest children as citizens of the present - citizens with rights and responsibilities.
Our educators see their role as walking closely alongside children, lending them strategies and skills along the way to enrich their learning.
Our approach recognises children as budding mathematicians, writers, scientists, artists, thinkers and more. We have a strong arts focus, integrating the arts as crucial languages for understanding and interpreting the world.
Blue Gum Community School highly values our Australian context, environment and inheritance, while also connecting globally – sharing with, and learning from, educators from around the world.
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Meet the Team
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Jill McLachlan
SCHOOL PRINCIPAL
Blue Gum Hornsby Community School (NSW)A Hornsby/Ku-ring-gai local, Jill McLachlan, has a long history in education as a teacher, academic, consultant and author (Unearthing Why: Stories of thinking and learning with children). She is a longstanding advocate for tapping into the often undervalued capabilities of young children and nurturing their innate desire to learn through immersion in authentic research projects.
Jill has led the project in Hornsby since 2019 and is the most likely person you will connect with in NSW, as you inquire about our new school.
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Maureen Hartung
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Best-Practice Education Group Ltd
Founding Principal Blue Gum Community SchoolMaureen Hartung is the Founder, Executive Director and Principal of Blue Gum Community School, first opened in 1998 in Canberra. The school has grown from strength to strength and is recognised both nationally and globally for its unique, contextualised and progressive approach to teaching and learning. In 2016 Maureen’s contribution to education was recognised with the Order of Australia Medal.
Maureen has worked in close partnership with Jill since appointing her in 2019, to see a new Blue Gum opened in another state of Australia.
