Key Takeaways
- An Inspiring Setting: Blue Gum Community School operates within the magnificent, heritage-listed Arts & Crafts mansion, Mount Errington.
- Relationship-Focused: Ratios of 1:12 in primary classes and 1:8 in preschool far exceed standard state metrics, allowing students to call teachers by first names.
- Anti-Competitive Values: Traditional gold stars, stickers, and comparative certificates are replaced with a focus on collaborative problem-solving and intrinsic motivation.
Operating in a heritage mansion with exceptional teacher-student ratios, this anti-competitive school prioritises relationship-centred learning.
“What is Blue Gum?” This is the central question shaping Hornsby’s newest preschool and primary school as they introduce their unique educational philosophy and rich story to our community.
Since opening in 2022, Blue Gum has offered families a fresh approach to education. Principal Jill McLachlan envisioned a school of engagement, joy, and deep connection.
By intentionally resisting the old “factory model” of education – which values rigid uniformity and following instructions without question – Blue Gum creates an environment where students are encouraged to think outside the box.
At Blue Gum, this factory model of schooling is nowhere to be seen! The school is built in a stunning and heritage-listed Arts & Craft Mansion, the spaces are warm and inviting, there’s not a uniform in sight and the students call their teachers by their first names. Ratios of teachers to students (1:12 in Primary; 1:8 in Preschool) are above the mandated state ratios and powerfully position Blue Gum to place significant and supportive relationships at the centre of their curriculum.
Blue Gum stands out for its anti-competitive approach, swapping stickers and certificates for intrinsic motivation. Instead of comparing students, the school fosters a collaborative culture where diversity is celebrated as a gift.
The focus is entirely on teaching children how to do life well together. By learning with and from one another – and staying in conversations even when they are hard – students build true community, resisting the easier but lonelier road of isolation.
In all this, because of their small size, it is not unusual to see a Blue Gum class out and about in the local community, visiting Hornsby Library or wandering through Lisgar Gardens.
With no bells or interruptions in their days, there is time for these important encounters together – to have fun, to invest and to simply be! They embrace just enough gazing at the stars, with their feet still firmly on the ground!
Principal, Jill McLachlan shared with The Post:
‘We want our students learn how to be more human together, to develop deep understandings of concepts, to learn to write in order to author texts, to fall in love with books, so they become life-long readers, to engage with mathematics, design, science, history and so much more, in order to better understand the world and to be able to contribute to it with intention, imagination and empathy!
We want them to investigate, to discover and to invent, to navigate difficulties and learn from mistakes, to accept themselves as just a part of a bigger story and in doing so, recognise their need of each other!
And in that we want them to leave us confident in who they are, loving learning, humble and switched on, knowing that they matter and they belong.
We don’t want our students to survive school. We want them to thrive.’