We hope you have settled well into the new school year.  

Today we announce the launch of the Minister's and Secretary's Awards for Excellence. These awards provide opportunities for NSW Public Schools to celebrate their best and brightest, most innovative and dedicated.  

There are six award categories: 
• Minister’s Award for Excellence in Student Achievement
• Minister’s Award for Excellence in Teaching
• Secretary’s Award for Excellent Service
• Secretary’s Award for an Outstanding School Initiative
• Secretary’s School Achievement Award
• Public School Parent of the Year

Visit our website for further information. 

We are in the process of sending out cheques to the 2017 scholarship recipients. You or your school may have already received your cheque and the final distribution is being made in the next week.

The highlight of our events calendar is our Annual Awards Ceremony.  Please save the date: Wednesday 17 May 2017. Join us at Sydney Town Hall to celebrate the many success stories in our public education system. 

Michelle Stanhope, General Manager

Applications for the Una May Smith Scholarship for students with an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander background, close on February 27. Please encourage students in year 1 to apply.  This generous scholarship supports a high potential student through their primary, high school and tertiary education. 

The Public Education Foundation’s Camburn Withers Scholarship supports indigenous students enrolled in Connected Communities Schools to strive and reach their full potential by providing support  to successfully complete their primary years of schooling.

This year for the first time, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students can apply for the Dr Heather Radi Scholarship. This scholarship helps students complete their senior years of schooling and transition to university or vocational post-school training.

To be eligible for the Camburn Withers Scholarship and the Dr Heather Radi Scholarship, students need to be enrolled in a Connected Community School. Applications for these scholarships also close on February 27. 

More information can be found here.

This is your chance to study at Harvard University with the Public Education Foundation’s Harvard Club of Australia Education Scholarship. 

The Scholarship provides a successful applicant with the opportunity to ‘reflect, refocus and recharge’ through a professional education program tailor-made for school Principals.

What courses are on offer as part of this Scholarship?

Scholarship funds, valued at approximately $14,000, are available for two courses at the Harvard Graduate School of Education - Principals Center. The choice is:

• Improving Schools: The Art of Leadership: suitable for 1-5 years of leadership experience. Course Dates: 25 – 30 June 2017

• Leadership: An Evolving Vision: suitable for 3+ years of leadership experience Course Dates: 9 – 15 July 2017

There is a new, exciting scholarship for senior education executives to study at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, USA. The Teachers Mutual Bank Executive Leadership Scholarship provides an opportunity for current Directors or Executive Directors in a State of Federal Department of Education to undertake a short professional leadership program. 

Each Scholarship is valued at $16,000 and includes all tuition fees for one of the following courses:

• Creative Collaborative Solutions: Innovations in Governance
• Driving Government Performance: Leadership Strategies that Produce Results
• Leadership Decision Making: Optimising Organisational Performance
• Leadership in the 21st Century: Chaos, Conflict and Courage

- Travel insurance, return airfares and accommodation for the duration of the course.

The application closing date for all the above scholarships is 27 February, 2017. More information can be found here.