While looking back on 2019, the Schools Catalogue Information Service (SCIS) team decided to share with you one of the year’s most popular Connections articles. It was written by the UK School Librarian of the Year, Emma Suffield, who talks about reading initiatives that helped increase her school’s lending numbers by 400 per cent over the past five years. If you are interested in how Saint Wilfrid’s Academy did it, this article is a must-read!

With school holidays coming so soon, it’s a great time for the school community to plan ways to relax and recharge. For some students, it’s an extra special time as they make the move up from preschool or primary school, or perhaps to a new school altogether. The Student Wellbeing Hub supports educators, parents and students to learn more about building social and emotional skills that support students’ transition stages and maximise their wellbeing and positive learning outcomes.

Image: Hero Images/Getty Images

This year, myfuture produced four Insights papers, building an evidence base that informs and supports the transition from study to the world of work.

The latest Insights paper ‘Exploring post-school education and training’ explores the importance of post-school education and training, and explains how myfuture helps students and other young people to explore education pathways.

The end of a year can bring staff changes. The Early Childhood Resource Hub (ECRH) interviewed Queensland University of Technology’s Paula McDonald about research focused on staff retention and the experiences of 80 early childhood educators and why they choose to stay in the sector.

Image: Supplied by Paula McDonald

When it comes to end-of-year preschool celebrations, the Early Learning Languages Australia (ELLA) program encourages children to learn about diversity. At Anzac Terrace Primary School (pictured), students and their teachers explore the many ways people celebrate – and the different reasons families and communities come together. Explore this theme with the ‘Everyday ELLA ideas for celebrations’ tip sheet, which features many different cultural celebrations.

This year’s development work on The Girls in STEM Toolkit, from initial design through to user testing, content creation and web building, has unearthed the increasingly important need for schools and families to encourage and inspire girls to take an interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths).

Teachers and students can stay up to date on STEM and all things relating to The GiST by subscribing to The GiST Newsletter or following The GiST on Facebook and Twitter.

The Digital Technologies Hub has had a busy year supporting schools with the implementation of the Australian Curriculum: Digital Technologies. Take a look back at our new and most popular resources in 2019.

Tech4DT – Everything you need to know about popular classroom technologies in schools, including suggested year levels, associated apps, links to lessons and scope and sequence.

This year over 3,500 preschools have participated in the Early Learning Languages Australia (ELLA) program. ELLA is a fun and easy play-based program that introduces children to languages via interactive tablet apps. Open your preschool to language, culture and understanding. Applications for 2020 are still open for you, so don’t forget to apply.

Are you supporting young people to explore the next move in their career, education or training? myfuture helps young people develop career plans, explore career pathways and manage work and study transition. Incorporate resources in your 2020 lesson plans, or download and share our new slide presentation to introduce myfuture to your school community.

2019's top five viewed resources in Scootle are available in one convenient learning path. Have you used these resources in your classroom?

This month also features new resources supporting maths, history, civics and citizenship, science and design thinking. Explore the rich and diverse history of Broome; consider the impacts of climate change; find out what happens in Parliament; and engage your students through inquiry-based mathematics sequences.