# NSW Education Week — Classroom Activities & Open Day Ideas > Plan a memorable NSW Public Education Week with open day routines, classroom showcase ideas, and parent visit activities for K-6 primary teachers. ## What NSW Education Week is and why it matters NSW Public Education Week is the NSW Department of Education's annual celebration of public schools, traditionally held in the first full week of August (typically Term 3 Week 3). It's a chance for schools, families, and the wider community to recognise the work of public educators and showcase student learning. For classroom teachers, the week is part PR, part open day, part celebration — and it lands at a busy point in the term. If you're a K-6 classroom teacher in a NSW DoE school, Education Week usually means hosting parents and carers for an open morning, putting up a polished classroom display, helping with whole-school assemblies, and squeezing in a showcase lesson that lets visitors see what learning looks like in your room. Done well, it builds parent partnerships, reinforces school pride, and gives students a genuine audience for their work. Done poorly, it eats half a week of teaching time. This guide pulls together the activities, displays, and routines that experienced NSW primary teachers use to make Education Week meaningful without rewriting their whole program. ## Plan your Education Week in three layers The teachers who get the most out of Education Week think about it in three layers: 1. **The classroom showcase** — what visitors actually see when they walk into your room 2. **The student-led element** — how children explain and present their learning 3. **The parent take-home** — what families leave with so the conversation continues at home Each layer is small on its own. Stacked together they create a memorable open day without adding hours of planning. ## Classroom displays that earn their wall space Education Week is the right time to refresh your classroom display walls — but resist the urge to print and laminate from scratch. Use what students have already produced. Strong displays for Education Week typically include: - A **"Look what we're learning"** board that maps current units to syllabus outcomes in plain language. Parents want to know what their child is doing, not just see pretty work - A **student work showcase** that pairs assessment criteria with annotated samples — high, medium, and developing — so families understand the standard - A **process wall** showing drafts, edits, and final pieces (especially powerful for writing units) - A **classroom values display** or shared norms students helped create - A **photo timeline** of the year so far — events, excursions, milestones For K-2 classrooms, large-print headings, photos of children working, and tactile elements work best. For Years 3-6, more written reflection and self-assessment can be included. See our guide to [classroom display ideas](/teacher-guides/classroom-display-ideas) for layout principles that work across stages. ## Student-led activities for open day The most powerful Education Week visits are the ones where students do the talking. Some routines that work well: - **Tour stations**: Children rotate parents through 4-5 desk stations showcasing different learning areas - **Show-me partners**: Each student pairs with their visitor and walks them through one piece of work, using sentence stems like "I'm proud of... because..." - **Mini-lessons**: Older students teach a parent something they learned that term — a maths strategy, a writing technique, a science concept - **Question prompts**: Pre-prepared questions for parents to ask ("Tell me about a time you got stuck and what you did") to deepen the conversation Practising these routines for 10-15 minutes the day before makes a huge difference. Without rehearsal, kids freeze. ## Activities for the rest of the week Outside the open morning itself, here are some quick wins for the surrounding days: - A **gratitude letter** to a current or former teacher (great writing task, lovely outcome) - A **"day in the life"** photo essay students take across a school day - A **public school history** mini-investigation for upper primary - A **book swap** or **maths challenge** that families can do together at home - An **acknowledgement of country** display refresh, often co-produced with students These keep momentum across the week without taking over your program. ## Reduce the load on yourself A few practical tips from teachers who've run Education Week many times: - Do display planning the term before, not the week of - Ask students to take home one piece per day in the lead-up so the room isn't overwhelming - Use ready-made printables for invitations, name tags, and place cards rather than designing fresh - Give yourself one day to reset the room afterwards — don't try to teach a full program on the last day of the week For the broader yearly view of when Education Week falls alongside other major events, our [key education dates 2026 guide](/teacher-guides/key-education-dates-2026) lists Education Week alongside the other major calendar markers NSW teachers plan around. And if Education Week is also when your new year-level allocation for next year is confirmed, the [back-to-school classroom setup guide](/teacher-guides/back-to-school-classroom-setup-primary) will save you Term 4 planning time. ## Education Week classroom resources _(Dynamic listing feed — browse at the page URL for live results.)_ ## Classroom display & showcase resources _(Dynamic listing feed — browse at the page URL for live results.)_ ## Classroom posters for parent visits _(Dynamic listing feed — browse at the page URL for live results.)_ ## Frequently Asked Questions ### When is NSW Education Week? NSW Public Education Week typically runs in the first full week of August, which usually falls in Term 3 Week 3. The exact dates and theme are confirmed annually by the NSW Department of Education and published on the Department website. Most NSW DoE schools host their open morning mid-week and whole-school assemblies later in the week, but the timing of individual events is set school by school. ### What activities work best for an Education Week open day? The strongest open-day classrooms combine three things: a polished display showcasing current learning, a student-led element where children walk parents through their work, and a take-home item families leave with. Avoid trying to run a normal lesson while visitors are present, because children get distracted and parents want interaction. Tour stations, show-me partners, and student-taught mini-lessons all work well in that window. ### How do I make a strong classroom display for Education Week? Focus on student work over decoration. Include a learning intentions board that links current units to syllabus outcomes in plain language, an annotated work sample wall showing different standards, and a process display revealing drafts and edits. Add photos of children working and the classroom values they helped create. Keep the colour palette simple and the headings large enough to read from the doorway. ### What can parents do during a classroom visit? Give parents a clear role so they do not hover awkwardly. Use pre-prepared question prompts they can ask their child (for example, asking about a piece of work the student is proud of), pair them with their child for a short tour of the desk stations, and offer a take-home item such as a class newsletter, photo, or piece of writing. Limit visits to 30-45 minutes so families with multiple children can rotate through different rooms. ### How do I balance Education Week without losing teaching time? Plan the week in advance and absorb the disruption rather than fighting it. Slot showcase activities into existing units, so a writing display draws on the current writing program and a maths fluency demonstration uses existing routines, then keep the curriculum rhythm steady the rest of the week. Avoid scheduling assessments or new unit launches in the same week, and give yourself one quieter day afterwards to reset the room and catch up. --- Source: https://teachbuysell.com.au/teacher-guides/education-week-nsw-classroom Marketplace: https://teachbuysell.com.au