Overview

Public Education Week is an annual celebration of NSW public education and the achievements of our schools, teachers, and students.

Communicating Public Education Week

Public Education Week is a great time to celebrate your achievements and success with your students, school staff and the wider community.

Use your school website, newsletter, social media pages and other channels available to spread the word and build excitement about Public Education Week 2026 and what it means to your community.

Key messages

You can share the following messages with your community about Public Education Week 2026.

• This week is Public Education Week, a time for all of us to come together and celebrate our commitment to inspiring excellence. Let’s take pride in being part of NSW public education and the endless and far-reaching achievements of our students and staff.

• This week, let’s celebrate all that you do to inspire excellence in every student, including high potential and gifted learners.

• This is an opportunity to acknowledge our exceptional staff, celebrate the achievements of our students and recognise why we proudly choose public education, where every child is supported to reach their full potential.

Resources

Share our Public Education Week 2026 resources on your own communication channels like Facebook, Instagram, school websites, newsletters and school noticeboards.

The following downloads include generic designs for ease of use, as well as links to customisable templates in Canva that will enable you to create your own designs and personalise the message for your school, organisation or event.

Social media templates in Canva

Canva is an online design and publishing tool that makes it easy to create visual content.

• Public Education Week social templates in Canva

You can add your own images and text to personalise the social media templates for your school.

See the Canva guide to editing photos for help.

Using our Public Education Week virtual meeting backgrounds is an easy way to celebrate and show your support. Microsoft has a guide on changing your MS Teams background.

Poster and award certificate templates

• Poster template in Canva - A4 size
• Poster template in Canva - A3 size
• Award certificate in Canva - portrait and landscape size

Share our Public Education Week posters and award certificate templates in print and digital format.

Create Public Education Week Awards using the certificate template. Enter recipient details or use the bulk create function to create multiple certificates.

New to Canva?

Staff can access your Canva for Education account by signing in using your @det.nsw.edu.au email address.

Learn more about using Canva for Education on the Technology 4 Learning webpage and follow the design tips on the Canva Design school tutorial page.

Social media

Show your parents, carers, and local community how your school is celebrating Public Education Week. Use the hashtag #PublicEdWeek26 and #InspiringExcellence in all your social media posts.

Don’t forget to follow the tips in the department’s staff social media toolkit (staff only) and ensure parental permission is in place for any students you feature on social media.

These links and suggested captions below can be used on your school's Facebook accounts.

Remember you can also enter the Inspiring Excellence Content Creator Competition (staff only) by submitting a short social media video that celebrates how your school inspires excellence.

Social media template for supporters

Template 1: announcement post

Public Education Week 3 to 7 August 2026 celebrates this year’s theme, Inspiring excellence.

[Insert additional text here for your post]

Let's come together to celebrate the incredible achievements and excellence of NSW public schools.

#PublicEdWeek26 #InspiringExcellence

Template 2: engagement post

During Public Education Week 3 to 7 August 2026 discover how NSW public schools inspire excellence in every student, including high potential and gifted learners.

[Insert additional text here for your post]

Join us to celebrate the achievements of public education!

#InspiringExcellence #PublicEdWeek26

Template 3: appreciation post

Learn more about the achievements and excellence of our NSW public schools during Public Education Week 3 to 7 August 2026!

[Insert additional text here for your post]

Let’s celebrate the impact of public education!

#PublicEdWeek26 #InspiringExcellence

Curriculum resources

Take your Public Education Week celebrations into the classroom!

There are a range of curriculum resources available to teachers including high potential and gifted education resources. Teachers can use these as classroom activities during Public Education Week to help engage students in school events during the week.

Public Education Week 2026 launch

Schools and their communities can use the Public Education Week 2026 launch video in school assemblies and their social channels to help mark the week.

Watch the Welcome to Public Education Week 2026 video, featuring Secretary Murat Dizdar and Prue Car, Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Early Learning, at your school assembly to launch Public Education Week with your school community.

Video available Term 3, Week 1.

Acknowledgement of Country for Public Education Week

When commencing your Public Education Week activities, we recommend reflecting on the theme of Inspiring excellence in your Acknowledgement of Country.

Consider how your school helps Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students realise their potential and aspirations. You may wish to involve students in writing an Acknowledgement of Country or use our template as a guide.

Host an event or activity

Plan an event or activity at your school, early childhood education and care provider or workplace during Public Education Week and invite your local community to join.

View the 'Event in a box' guidelines (staff only) to help you plan a Public Education Week event. These guidelines include a range of resources and templates to simplify organising a successful school event.

There is flexibility for schools and communities to celebrate the week before or after these official dates.

Event and activity ideas for schools

There’s a range of ways you can celebrate Public Education Week in your school:

• Create a Public Education Week launch event early in the week at a time that suits your school community.

• During Public Education Week showcase achievements of your school community through events highlighting academic achievements, or student performances or art shows. Involve parents and carers and community leaders.

• Invite alumni to your school to share their success stories, highlighting how public education help them achieve their potential and achieve excellence in their chosen fields. This is an opportunity to celebrate your alumni’s success and inspire your current students.

• Share stories from your school’s alumni on your website or social media to connect with your broader community. Use our customisable social media tile on Canva linked above to showcase your alumni (always check with them for permission first) and remember to add the hashtags #PublicEdWeek26 and #InspiringExcellence.

• Open Days/Nights: Organise an Open Day event where current and prospective parents, students, and community members can come together and hear about your school’s programs and activities, meet the principal and teachers, and tour your school. You can also share your Open Day guide.

• View the school open event planning (staff only) for resources to assist your event planning and proceedings.
• Take the momentum from your Open Day during Public Education Week and build a schedule of Open events for the rest of the year e.g. school expos or school tours.
• Open days, school tours and events, information evenings are opportunities to raise your school profile, connect your school with families and the broader school community, and showcase the valuable learning experiences you provide to your students.