Free parenting webinar with Andrew Fuller, New My School updates, career resources, and more No images? Click here Enjoy your Australian Education News
Please use the Forward button at the end of this email to ensure other parents and educators receive this news. Read our Chair's message
Keep engaging families, no matter what.'New normal' excludes familiesIt’s hard to believe that we are at the end of Term 1 already. This year has continued with a degree of disruption with lockdowns and border closures happening sporadically as coronavirus continues to circulate within our communities. School communities continue to follow advice of the jurisdictional health advice and we urge families to stay safe. What is concerning to us is that this 'new normal' frequently excludes parents from participating in many aspects of school life. It is imperative that schools don't accept the absence of parents in school life, but rather find alternate ways to engage their families. What is even more concerning is that while many restrictions are being lifted or easing, it has been reported to ACSSO that some schools have found it “easier” to continue restricting access to schools by families. While some schools may believe it's more efficient to remove all but students and staff from school life, all the research says that in the long term this will have a detrimental effect on student outcomes. In the end, family engagement helps the whole school. If you're looking for other ways to keep families involved in your school during movement restrictions, get in touch on contact@acsso.org.au Wellbeing and resilienceThe key findings of our survey last year identified the importance of family engagement and the connection for students and families with the school environment was imperative not only for student academic progression but mental health and wellbeing. With wellbeing of students, families and school staff on the front of our minds we invite you to join us on our first webinar on May 17. Clinical psychologist, Andrew Fuller will join us for an evening with his tips on Creating Resilient Families – scroll down to find further information and register your attendance. Consent educationSince our February newsletter, awareness of sexual assault, harassment and coercion has been heightened across the education sector. As adults it is always especially shocking to us to view the darkest sides of adolescent life and many of us are wondering: as parents and educators where are we failing and what can we do? So-called 'consent education' is most certainly a start. While the concept of consent forms an element of many personal development programs around Australia, we support the recent government announcements to explicitly teach consent in the classroom. Given the sheer number of harrowing stories shared by young people recently, our current level of consent education must not be enough. Everyone needs to understand and teach the concept - and that means families at home as well as teachers in schools. Meeting with the new Australian Education MinisterAlong with the ACSSO CEO and project officer, I met with the new Education Minister, Alan Tudge MP, on 11 March. Our discussions highlighted the importance of schools engaging with families in support of both the academic and wellbeing outcomes for young people. We will continue our dialogue with the Minister and his staff as we navigate our way into the different ways of operating coming out of what we hope is the worst of the pandemic. Planning ahead for our teamRecently, we held a planning weekend in Sydney with some directors joining us online (picture below) as we also begin to “work differently”. The weekend was extremely productive and keep an eye on our social media and further newsletters to see how you can assist in projecting the parent voice in support of public education. While we will introduce her properly next month, I would like to quickly welcome Natasha Coster to our Board. Natasha has a wealth of experience to support our work, both as a director and as a parent schools in NSW. And finally, may I take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued support of our schools so far this year and hope you have a safe, healthy break. I look forward to working with you in support of our young people in our nation’s public schools. Sharron Healy March 2021Please circulate the below webinar invitation to your school's families. Book now for Andrew Fuller's next free parenting webinarEnjoy a fun but practical online session this May with well-known Clinical Psychologist, Andrew Fuller, about building resilience and creating happy kids! Andrew is a long-time collaborator with ACSSO and his talks are always fun and informative. Topics covered will include: • The active ingredients of resilience • How parents can develop these in their children • Friendship and relationship skills • Neurochemistry and parenting • Parenting tricky kids • Creating happy kids • Building self-esteem and dealing with setbacks This free webinar is supported by ACSSO and will be held on Monday 17 May from 7.30pm to 8.30pm AEST. Click here to register. Andrew has worked with more than 3,500 schools and 500,000 young people in Australia, NZ, Asia and the UK. His teaching covers the core elements of resilience - connect, protect and respect (CPR). With these skills, young people can build The Resilient Mindset, which Andrew defines as "the happy knack of being able to bungy jump through the pitfalls of life to rise above adversity and obstacles”. Having worked with people who were on their last hope, Andrew has a mission to help everyone create futures they can fall in love with. Andrew Fuller is a Honorary Fellow at the University of Melbourne and has been a scientific consultant for the ABC and a regular presenter on Radio National. He has established programs for neuroscience and education and the promotion of mental health in schools, substance abuse prevention, and the reduction of violence and bullying, suicide prevention programs and for assisting homeless young people. He is an ambassador for Adolescent Success, the Lion’s Club Alcohol and Drug Awareness Foundation and previously, Mind Matters. He has also been a principal consultant to the Dept. Education Bully Stoppers initiative and the national drug prevention strategy REDI. Computational thinking in practice - ACARA resourcesDid you know every time your child gets themselves dressed for school, or follows a recipe, they are using computational thinking? Computational thinking is a key idea of the Australian Curriculum: Technologies. It includes: If your child is in the early years (F–2) you may want to try the resource cards developed by ACARA’s Digital Technologies in Focus project to provide opportunities for students to use and develop their computational thinking skills when carrying out everyday tasks. The cards are suitable for families and for classroom applications. Help young people take next stepsSupporting school leavers to figure out their next steps after school is the National Careers Institute’s School Leavers Information Kit - or SLIK - and its dedicated contact centre, the School Leavers Information Service. The SLIK was developed to help school leavers with their education, training and work options. It provides:
The SLIK is supported by a Parents and Guardian’s Guide for School Leavers which helps you start careers conversations at home. School Leavers Information ServiceThe School Leavers Information Service (the Service) is a contact centre where school leavers aged 15 to 24 can ask education, training or work-related questions they may have. Trained NCI Information Officers are on the line ready to help people to:
The Service also offers school leavers a free, 45 minute personalised careers guidance session with a qualified career practitioner, where needed. There are three ways young people can get in touch with the Service: Call: 1800 CAREER (1800 227 337) If you know a young person who would benefit from the SLIK and the Service, link them to this video which provides a quick explanation. For more information, including some great articles about different paths school leavers may like to consider, visit www.yourcareer.gov.au/schoolleaver. How effective is our F-10 Australian Curriculum?Each year, ACARA presents stakeholder feedback on the implementation of the Australian Curriculum in a report titled Monitoring the Effectiveness of the Foundation – Year 10 Australian Curriculum. It reflects and annual process of collecting and synthesising future curriculum renewal. The 2018-19 report was recently published. The report contains feedback collected between 1 July 2018 and 30 June 2019, from departmental, school and curriculum authorities in all Australian states and territories, and from ACARA’s advisory and reference groups. The sector's feedback suggests a desire for refinement of the AC within its existing structure and decision, rather than wide-ranging revision. ACARA’s will advise Australia's education ministers on refinement of the AC by mid-2020. My School update releasedThe My School website has been updated for 2021 with new data including school profiles, school finance and post-school destinations. Data on 2019 senior secondary and VET in schools has also been refreshed. The cancellation of NAPLAN for May 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic means there is no NAPLAN data in the My School 2021 update. School attendance data for 2020 has also not been published as the data was severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of the different arrangements that were put in place for schooling across the country in response to health advice. ACARA CEO, David de Carvalho, said the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted lives across the globe and NAPLAN was cancelled to help school leaders, teachers and support staff focus on the wellbeing of students and continuity of education. “Each state and territory had a very different experience when it came to schooling," he said. "While in some states and territories students were still able to attend school in person, other states had to adapt quickly to teaching remotely, meaning the reporting data on attendance isn’t consistent.” The 2021 My School update contains:
Visit the My School website at www.myschool.edu.au and read the full ACARA media release here. Helping parents guide children's finance education Provided by The Wealth Academy:
Students of Devonport's Don College recently became the first Tassie school to partner with Share the Dignity and provide free feminine hygiene products for their students! This is a student-led initiative, with the view to de-stigmatise this issue and make a difference for those in need. Great show of respect from our students, we are very proud! We love to hear your stories of schools and communities doing great things. Send your #caughtyoubeinggreat stories to comms@acsso.org.au and use the hashtag on Facebook to find other wonderful stories. In February 2021 the following item was our readers' most clicked story. Please note, the submission date mentioned in this story has now passed. You can find out more about the Senate Committee's progress by tracking their inquiry and report here.
Help us to help you! Write to us at contact@acsso.org.au to share your opinion on current education policies so we can present the widest possible views to decision makers. |