The week-long celebration of public schools is a testament to the talent of the children and the dedication of the teachers who work hard behind the scenes to bring it all together.

Goulburn Plaza has been transformed into a collage of colour and activity by students from various schools.

The artwork of many local public schools including:

Bradfordville, Breadalbane, Goulburn High School, Goulburn East, Goulburn North, Goulburn Public, Goulburn South, Goulburn West, Gunning, Marulan, Mulwaree High School, The Crescent School, Tirranna, Windellama and Wollondilly Public Schools is on display.

Public Education Week Coordinator, and Wollondilly Public School Principal, Steve Armstrong said the theme of this year’s Public Education Week is Celebrating Local Heroes.

“The students are recognising local heroes. This could be their parents, or people who serve the local community such as policemen or fireman,” Mr Armstrong said.

“Each school is doing their own thing and holding their own open days. The main collaborative efforts among the schools this week are the performances and artwork in Goulburn Plaza as well as the Goulburn Community Public Schools (GCOPS) concerts - on each night this week in the Goulburn Workers Club. There are some really wonderful things happening this week.”

He said the students at Wollondilly are holding an open Classroom session and displays between 12.30 and 1.30pm today (Wednesday) at the school, followed by a picnic fruit break.

Various schools will be performing in Goulburn Plaza during the week, mostly during the lunch hour. Visit the Goulburn Plaza website for more details about specific school performances.

Meanwhile the GCOPS concerts have been progressing well, with a great range of talent from local schools on display.

Organiser Marianne Powles said a small team has been behind the organisation of this year’s series of concerts, including Penny Jago from Marulan Public School, Charmian Cribb, Helen Sharwood from Goulburn East Public School, Jonathan Taylor from Goulburn North Public School and trainee teacher Kelsey Betts, who has been assisting with stage managing the GCOPS concerts even while she was a student.

Ms Powles said preparations for the GCOPS takes the whole school year to organise.

“We begin in the fourth term of each school year. It takes all year to organise. We select the music at Christmas time with first rehearsal occurring in Term One,” she said.

She said this year’s concerts contain a number of songs from music theatre and a circus theme was reflected in the dance sections, which have been choreographed by Penny Jago.

TALENT: Andrei Gozhanskiy from Mulwaree High School was outstanding on guitar. Inset: Massed Public School Choir - students from Breadalbane, Dalton Gunning, Marulan and Wollondilly Public Schools.