AITSL supporting teachers, National Check-In Week, and more
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National Check-in Week explained in this video. Just 30 minutes to set up and then 3 minutes a day to check-in with your students' wellbeing.
Enjoy your Australian Education News
- Message from our Chair, Sharron Healy
- Register to join our new school film partnership
- National Check-in Week 2022
- AITSL's teacher support strategy
- Family engagement training for beginning teachers
- ACSSO's 75th anniversary
- Caught you being great: intern Chloe Hamilton
- Save the date in 2022.
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Read our Chair's message
We are very keen to hear from parents and families also, either through your local school parent organisation or individually. Your needs matter, whether you're a member or not, and we want to include them when discussing our expectations with the three major parties.
A confident start
Welcome back to school in 2022 and to in-person learning! For many students, teachers, and families, it is the start of a new school year where we're feeling fairly confident that enforced remote learning is not on the horizon.
Well into Term 1 now, we are seeing schools manage Covid cases in students and staff without having to close the doors, which is such a positive for everyone. Most students have no doubt spent this first month of school catching up with friends and developing or restoring their social networks. These things are vital to getting children's and young people’s mental health back on track, which in turn will facilitate their ability to reconnect with the academic side of their schooling.
Pre-election planning
ACSSO has had a very busy start to the year. In fact, there wasn’t much downtime at all. We are currently in the process of building our pre-election policy expectations for whichever party is in government following the next Federal election. This weekend our directors and member representatives are meeting to thrash out exactly what that will look like.
We are very keen to hear from parents and families also, either through your local school parent organisation or individually. Your needs matter, whether you're a member or not, and we want to include them when discussing our expectations with the three major parties.
Please, email me at any time at president@acsso.org.au with what you believe our government schools require to facilitate the best wellbeing and educational outcomes for your children.
As part of our pre-election strategy, we are inviting the education spokespeople from the Liberal and National Coalition, from Labor, and from the Greens to participate in webinars. In those online forums you'll be able to submit questions and we will delve into their party’s plans for improving opportunities for students in public schools. More details to come.
Save the date!
ACSSO turns 75 this year and we will celebrate this great achievement of parents advocating for, and supporting, government school families and working with education officials, stakeholders and departments at the highest level, during our conference to be held on the weekend of 5-6 November in Canberra. Please save the date and consider joining us for this amazing milestone!
Sharron Healy
Chair
Australian Council of State School Organisations
February 2022
ACSSO partners with Filmpond
ACSSO has partnered with Filmpond to help schools support family engagement practices in 2022. Through our partnership, you will have access to our film templates which allow schools to quickly and easily make professionally edited short films.
We will be writing to you soon with more information. In the meantime, please take a few moments to register your interest here.
ACSSO's film templates will guide you and your school through the process of creating professional standard films on topics such as:
- Your Local Parents Association
- Transition to High School
- A Day in the Life of Your Classroom.
A shining example of what you can do can be seen here with Plumpton Public School’s Filmpond creation, A Day in the Life of Kindy.
National Check-in Week - only 3 minutes a day
Students have experienced huge disruptions over the past two years. Now, more than ever, it is important to connect with our students, learn how they feel and provide the support and skills they need to thrive throughout their lives.
To help bring focus to the wellbeing of our youth and start important conversations regarding their emotional needs, join us for National Check-in Week, 21-25 March 2022.
National Check-in Week is FREE and only takes 30 mins to set up and 3 mins a day to check-in.
Register your school at www.nationalcheckinweek.com
Registered schools will receive free access to the Life Skills GO Emotion Check-in until the end of Term 1.
Teacher Support – with you in 2022
The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, or AITSL, is often associated with the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers and the Australian Professional Standard for Principals. AITSL also provides a broad range of evidence-based guides and tools to assist teachers and leaders progress through the career stages outlined in the Standards.
AITSL recently launched Teacher Support. The campaign celebrates and esteems the profession, showcases AITSL’s resources, and provides relevant, timely content to teachers and leaders to support them throughout Term 1.
Stage 1 consisted of a radio campaign in all capital cities from 10 to 18 February. This raised awareness of and thanked teachers and leaders for their important role, particularly at the start of the year. It recognised the additional challenges at the start of 2022.
Stage 2 commenced on 22 February and provides useful and timely support for teachers and leaders. A dedicated web page (www.aitsl.edu.au/teachersupport) showcases a curated range of AITSL tools and resources.
Explore Teacher Support if you are:
- wanting to improve your classroom practice
- looking for wellbeing resources
- a beginning teacher
- a beginning teacher in a remote setting
- inducting a beginning teacher
- a leader supporting casual relief teachers to develop
- a new or aspiring leader or principal
2022 - ACSSO's 75th Anniversary
Mark your calendar for 5-6 November, 2022 for the ACSSO national conference and 75th anniversary event.
Soon we will publish more details on this event and how you could nominate your school for one of our inaugural Susan Ryan Awards for inclusive family engagement in education.
We will meet in Canberra and mark the occasion with a celebration of 75 years as the voice of families in government schools. A key feature will be the presentation of the inaugural Susan Ryan Awards for Exemplary Family Engagement.
Caught you being great!
Last week we had the pleasure of hosting our first Schools Industry Partnerships intern for 2022, Chloe Hamilton.
Chloe is a Year 12 student at Chifley College, Senior Campus. She was terrific support to our secretariat and a credit to our awesome government schools. Good luck in your final school year and thank you Chloe!
We love to hear your stories of schools and communities doing great things. They don't have to have made it to mainstream media already.
Send your #caughtyoubeinggreat stories to contact@acsso.org.au and use the hashtag on Facebook to find other wonderful stories.
Save the date!
5-6 November 2022: ACSSO National Conference, Canberra. Watch newsletter for updates.
Got a conference for school communities? Let us know and we'll add the information to our national newsletter.
Tell us your thoughts about education in Australia
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.
