P&C News


03/03/2010 The Minister Congratulates P&C Groups
  Minister congratulates P&C groups

       P&C Day ideas
 
02/03/2010 P&C Day 2010 - 'Try a little Kindness'
  P&C Day 2010 -'Try a little kindess
 
18/02/2010 New award for Child care workers
  New Award for Child Care Workers
 
18/02/2010 New award for Child care workers
  New Award for Child Care Workers
 
16/02/2010 P&C is appalled at the shortage of teachers teaching essential subjects like Mathematics
 ‘P&C is appalled at the shortage of teachers teaching essential subjects like Mathematics.’
 
11/02/2010 Newcastle Herald "Put it to the test"
100206 NH put to the test.pdf
 
11/02/2010 Explaining ICSEA
 Explaining ICSEA_EMSAD_FEB 11

 
29/01/2010 League tables Minister??
 Media Release League Tables Minister??
 
27/01/2010 Parents back threatened Sats Boycott
 Parents back threatened Sats Boycott
 
18/01/2010 My School Website: Will it portray accurate information about schools?
 Media Release my school website will it portray accurate information about schools
 
13/01/2010 GILLARD'S $1M CULT HANDOUT SHOWS NEED FOR URGENT FIX TO SCHOOL FUNDING
 GILLARD'S $1M CULT HANDOUT SHOWS NEED FOR URGENT FIX TO SCHOOL FUNDING

For the A current Affair Federal Funding For Exclusive Bretheren story please click on the link below:

http://aca.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=993226
 
18/12/2009 P&C congratulates the 2009 HSC students who achieved First Place in their courses
  P&C congratulates the 2009 HSC students who achieved First Place in their courses 
 
18/12/2009 P&C congratulates all students who have completed their HSC in 2009
 Media Release P&C congratulates all students who have completed their HSC in 2009’
 
16/12/2009 HSC students congratulated (NSW)
 HSC Resuls for Class of 2009

 TOP HSC Students honoured
 
16/12/2009 What does your P&C Fund?

What does your P&C Fund?

 

A survey by the Federation of Parents and Citizens groups across New South Wales has found that Parents are paying for essential educational resources, including teaching positions, in many Public schools.

 

Please visit the link below to view the survey results, President Dianne Giblin’s interview with the ABC and  our Publicity officer Helen Walton’s  Audio interview with the ABC.

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/16/2772922.htm

Please click below to see the full survey results
 ABC questionnaire with compiled answers 

 
16/12/2009 Building the Education Revolution Bulletin No. 6
  BER Bulletin 6.
 
11/12/2009 Schools Spectacular 2009 Telecast on ABC TV

This year’s fantastic show  featured a large orchestra, a big band, great singers, and lots of dancers. Telecast of the Schools Spectacular will  be on ABC TV please find the details below:

ABC1 Sunday 13 December 7:30pm – Edited Program
ABC2 Sunday 20 December 7:00pm – Full Program

 
11/12/2009 The dangers of league tables - AEU President, Angelo Gavrielatos and Di Giblin, President of the NSW Federation of P&C Associations, discuss the dangers of school league tables. (VIDEO
The dangers of league tables
 
04/12/2009 STOP Bagging Public Education - Justice Kirby's speech

 

Justice Michael Kirby's comments in SMH in support of Public Education stating that public school communities do not lobby as well as their private counterparts - not something we weren't aware of.

The Age  is running a blog regarding his whole speech - please take the time read his speech and to make comments regarding Public Education.


Blog on Public and Private Education and Justice Kirby's Article

 
25/11/2009 P&C Applauds the government for trialing an alternative to scripture studies
 Media Release 'PC applauds the government for trialing an alternative to scripture studies' 

 First time in 100 years Ethics Classes will be taught in NSW
 
04/11/2009 School Administrative and Support Staff Recognition Week (2-6 November)
 SAS Staff Recognition Week 2 - 6 November 2009 DG's message
 
13/10/2009 SCHOOL RESULTS WEBSITE SHOWN TO BE BADLY MISLEADING
 School results website shown to be badly misleading
 
30/09/2009 SCHOOL CENTRES FOR EXCELLENCE ANNOUNCED (NSW)

The NSW Minister for Education and Training Verity Firth today announced the first round of schools to become Centres for Excellence to develop high quality teaching and improve teacher training. NSW is locating Centres for Excellence in 13 primary and secondary schools around the state, from next year. By 2011, 50 Centres for Excellence will be located in every region, Ms Firth said. Each Centre will form the ‘hub’ for a cluster of schools which will extend the benefits to a further 200 schools across the state through Connected Classroom technology.
  School centres for excellence announced

 
30/09/2009 Parents line up to give students ethics lessons
 
28/09/2009 We are the largest parent organisation in the Southern Hemisphere - Hardly a small interest group.
 'We are the largest parent organisation in the Southern Hemisphere - Hardly a small interest group'
 
28/09/2009 Scrap HSC for national test
 Scrap HSC for national test
 
28/09/2009 Almight row over ethics class in schools
 Almighty row over ethics class in schools
 
23/09/2009 P&C welcomes the forum on Cyberbullying with key stakeholders
 P&C welcomes the forum on Cyberbullying with the keystakeholders
 
11/09/2009 Naplan results released -Message from the DG
 September 2009 message from the DG
 
14/08/2009 P&C’s Research Paper: ‘Parents and P&C’s – A Discussion Paper’
 Media Release P&Cs Research paper Parents and P&C Discussion paper

 To view the discussion paper please click here

 
08/07/2009 School reporting laws back before parliament (NSW)
  School reporting laws back before Parliament
 
01/07/2009 League tables and the recent legislation

 

There has been much in the media in regard transparency over school reporting and league tables.

 

Under the legislation, passed through state parliament last week, common test results including NAPLAN and the HSC will be available on Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard’s website. In NSW this data and much more information has been available for many years on each school’s website as part of their annual report and will continue to be.

 

The Greens, with support of the opposition and some independents, were successful in moving an amendment which prevents the compilation and publishing of simplistic league tables from this data. 

You can view the amendment:  Amendment 


The P&C Federation applauds this amendment.  Simplistic league tables that compare schools based on test results mislead parents, undermine quality education and stigmatise schools that serve disadvantaged communities. Parents need open, frank and continual communication with schools on a regular basis to provide them with a clearer picture than a table produced out of one day of testing.  To know what’s happening in education and to be in touch with your child’s progress and school performance you need to be in partnership with your school.

 
29/06/2009 Safe Sexting- no such thing
 Sexting no such thing - facts
 
22/06/2009 Education Tax Refund

How do I claim the Education Tax Refund?

  • In your tax return.
  • If you don't lodge a tax return, claim on a separate form or over the phone.
  • If you use a tax agent, make sure you ask them to claim for you.

The Education Tax Refund lets you claim up to 50% of eligible education expenses for school children. If you are eligible, you can get back up to $375 for each primary student and up to $750 for each secondary student.

 

You can claim things like text books, stationery and even internet costs.

 

If you receive Family Tax Benefit Part A for a child at primary or secondary school, you will be eligible. Some other people are eligible too, to find out more about this and other information such as what you can and can't claim go to australia.gov.au/educationtaxrefund or call the Tax Office on 13 28 61. 
   Remember, you need to keep all receipts for expenses you claim.

 

In addition, the Tax Office has prepared, specifically for schools, some frequently asked questions and answers. These questions and answers can be found on the Tax Office website by following the link below.

 Australian Tax office FAQs

 
22/06/2009 Learning Support Coordinator Program

More than 1,800 people working as support teachers learning assistance have been told by their union that the department is planning to abolish their jobs and reduce support for students with disabilities in mainstream schools.

That isn’t true. Let me explain what we are doing.

Last year’s mini budget provided an extra $9 million a year to establish the Learning Support Coordinator Program. We’re evaluating that program this year to see whether to expand it in 2010.  Full letter below:

 Learning Support Coordinator Program

 
18/06/2009 Swine Flu Update 18 June 2009

 

Changes to the management of swine influenza

 

Weve started to see a small number of people in public schools diagnosed with swine flu. In response, NSW Health conducted contact tracing in some schools which led to some people being placed into quarantine.

Id like to thank everyone who has cooperated with this process and acknowledge the effort involved in responding to a difficult health issue.

There are currently around 2,000 confirmed cases of swine flu in Australia and over 300 confirmed cases in NSW.  Despite everyones best efforts we now have instances of community transmission in NSW and this will continue to increase.

Australia will enter a new phase of the swine flu response, called Protect. Transition to this stage will begin immediately. 

The approach is changing because the virus strain is currently not as virulent as anticipated.  Generally the virus produces a mild disease in most people, a severe disease in some, and a moderate effect overall.

This year it is likely many more people will come down with flu-like-illnesses than in recent winter flu seasons because fewer people will have effective immunity to the swine flu virus.  

The aims of the Protect phase are to ensure that people at an increased risk of complications from flu are treated early to try to prevent severe illness from developing, and to help control institutional outbreaks in settings such as boarding schools or schools catering mainly for children with special needs.

This new phase means we need to change the way we manage our response to swine flu. 

On the advice of NSW Health, we no longer need to exclude staff or students who are well, and who have been to an area where there is known community or school transmission of the virus.

This means any staff member or student who has been excluded from school because of travel and is well can return to school immediately.

As the number of cases of swine flu increases in the community, school exclusions and closures are unlikely to help in limiting the spread of disease as many more children will catch swine flu outside school rather than in school.

In the transition period, staff or students who have been placed in quarantine by public health authorities should still maintain their quarantine.

This winter swine flu will be circulating with the seasonal flu viruses. It is especially important to protect our staff and students from the spread of flu this winter.

We will now be asking any person with flu symptoms to stay at home until they are well.

Symptoms of flu include fever with a sore throat or cough, muscle aches and pains or unusual tiredness. 

Where possible, you should make sure students who present with these symptoms are distanced from classmates and staff - preferably in a sick-bay - and the parent or carer called and asked to take them home.  Please advise them that they shouldnt return to school until they are well.

We need to continue to promote good hygiene practices at school and plan for higher than usual levels of absenteeism due to the flu season this winter.

New guidelines to help schools in managing this new phase can be located at;
https://detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/adminandmanage/ohands/hsi/index.htm

 

It is important that information about these changes goes out to your school community.  Please make arrangements for the attached information sheet to go out to staff, parents and carers as soon as possible.

 

For further advice on how to manage a situation at your school, please contact the Occupational Health and Safety Directorate on 9266 8958 or email influenza@det.nsw.edu.au.

 

Thanks again for your cooperation. Ill continue to keep you up to date with relevant information.

 

 With my best regards,

 

 

Michael Coutts-Trotter

DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

MANAGING DIRECTOR OF TAFE NSW

18 June 2009

 Swine flu information sheet 18 6 09

 
17/06/2009 Budget 2009 Message from the DG
 DG's Budget message 2009
 
15/06/2009 Schools to offer bilingual education

Some NSW primary schools will soon offer students a bilingual education, with subjects taught in Asian languages.
The NSW government is funding the four-year $2.25 million program in tomorrow's state budget, with the first four schools to start offering the stream next year. Schools will have to apply to be part of the program, which will be taught by specialist teachers and run alongside the standard English curriculum. NSW Education Minister Verity Firth said that with Asia on the doorstep, the program was vital to the state's future economic and social prosperity.
"We are preparing the future workforce to be fluent in key Asian languages including Mandarin, Korean, Japanese and Indonesian," she said. Ms Firth said research showed the best way to master a language was to start early. She said students would devote 90 minutes each day to language lessons starting in kindergarten, and the language would then be integrated into other subjects.
"For example, students will learn the grammatical components of Mandarin and will also be taught other subjects such as creative arts, health and technology in that language," she said. 

 

http://www.smh.com.au/national/schools-to-offer-bilingual-education-20090615-c81k.html

 

 

 
05/06/2009 Swine flue update- 4th June 2009

Dear Colleagues,

 

Update on Human Swine Influenza as at 4 June 2009

 

Thank you for your prompt action in implementing the changes announced in my message last night.

 

We’ve had further discussion today with NSW Health to clarify how to best implement the exclusion of staff and students who’ve been in greater metropolitan Melbourne, Mexico, Panama, USA, Canada and Japan.

 

As previously advised, children who have travelled to these locations will be required to stay away from school for seven days after their return to NSW.  It is important that we take this advice seriously and make sure we follow it in all our schools.

 

If there are other members of the family who DID NOT travel with the child to the locations I’ve mentioned they can continue to go to school. 

 

These arrangements also apply to the Department’s preschools.

 

NSW Health advises that anyone returning from one of these locations who develops flu-like symptoms should seek medical advice in accordance with the guidelines published on our influenza website at;

https://detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/adminandmanage/ohands/hsi/index.htm

.

NSW Health has this afternoon advised that school staff returning from travel to greater metropolitan Melbourne, Mexico, Panama, USA, Canada and Japan should be treated a little differently.

 

If a staff member has been to one of these locations and has been mixing with local school children (in a group of 10 or more) then they should be excluded from school.  Principals should make every effort to enable these staff to perform some work from home during their exclusion.

 

If the staff member has not mixed with a group of 10 or more school children then they may return to school, but be excluded if they develop any influenza-like symptoms.

 

This updated advice from NSW Health is based on an assessment of the current risk of transmission.

 

If a member of staff at your school is currently excluded from school because they have travelled to one of the infected locations, but have not mixed with a group of 10 or more local school children, they may now return to school as long as they are not displaying any flu-like symptoms.

 

If they have been directed into quarantine by NSW Health (for example because they were on a cruise ship where human swine flu cases have been recorded) they must complete the quarantine period.

 

If a member of staff is sick with any influenza-like-illness, regardless of where they have been, they should use sick leave and not attend school until their symptoms have fully resolved.

 

The Mitigation and Management Guidelines are being updated to reflect this advice and will be available on the website as soon as possible. These can be located at; https://detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/adminandmanage/ohands/hsi/index.htm

 

For advice on how to manage a situation at your school, please contact the Occupational Health and Safety Directorate on 9266 8958 or email influenza@det.nsw.edu.au.

 

Please make arrangements for this updated information to be provided to all staff, parents and carers as soon as possible.

 

Thanks again for your continuing cooperation.

 

With my best regards,

 

 

Michael Coutts-Trotter

DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

MANAGING DIRECTOR OF TAFE NSW

4 June 2009

 
04/06/2009 Swine Flu Update from the Director General

Dear Colleagues,

 

Update on Human Swine Influenza

 

Thank you for your continuing work to implement steps recommended by NSW Health to contain human swine influenza.

 

We’ve now had confirmation from NSW Health that a small number of NSW government school students have tested positive to human swine influenza.

 

These children haven’t attended school during any period where they would have been infectious.

 

Parents of students at each affected school have been advised.

 

The actions to contain the spread of the virus in NSW, including targeted exclusion from school, have been effective to date.

 

According to NSW Health there are 70 confirmed cases of human influenza in NSW, and still no confirmed cases of community transmission.

 

This is not the case in Victoria.   Despite the best efforts of all involved, there is widespread community transmission of the virus in Melbourne with the number of confirmed cases increasing rapidly.

 

It is due to the changing situation in Victoria that NSW Health late today announced that from tomorrow, children and school staff who have travelled to greater metropolitan Melbourne will be required to stay away from school for seven days after their return to NSW. 

 

This is the same policy that we have had in place for overseas travellers returning from countries affected by human swine influenza.

 

I know that some of our school staff and students are attending tonight’s State of Origin rugby league match in Melbourne.  Based on the advice from NSW Health, those school staff and students should not return to school until after the seven day exclusion period.

 

If any of your staff and students coming to school tomorrow, Thursday 4 June, were in Melbourne the previous day or overnight, you will need to advise them they need to be in home quarantine. This will need to take effect immediately and parents will have to be contacted to collect their child. These students should be kept separate from the general school population.

 

This exclusion from school will allow time for any illness related to that travel to develop, and for prompt assessment and treatment to commence. If the person remains well after seven days they can return to school.

 

It is important that principals keep forwarding the Influenza Situation Reports to the Occupational Health and Safety Directorate.  The form is available on the intranet.

 

We will update the Mitigation and Management Guidelines to help principals through this situation. These can be located at; https://detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/adminandmanage/ohands/hsi/index.htm

 

NSW Health has advised that a number of principals have contacted public health units to obtain information about test results for students who may have been tested. 

 

Please don’t do this. The information is private and can’t be provided to you. If there is information you should have to manage the safety of your staff and students, I’m assured that public health staff will make contact with you.

 

I’d also like to remind everyone that you should refer any media enquires about the human swine influenza to the media unit for action. 

 

For more information about human swine influenza, please refer to the department’s intranet site:

 

https://detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/adminandmanage/ohands/hsi/index.htm

 

For advice on how to manage a situation at your school, please contact the Occupational Health and Safety Directorate on 9266 8958 or email influenza@det.nsw.edu.au.

 

Please make arrangements for this updated information to be provided to all staff, parents and carers as soon as possible.

 

Thanks again for your cooperation. I will keep you up to date with relevant information.

 

Could you please also contact your School Education Director by 9am on Thursday 4 June 2009, to confirm that you have received this email.

 

With my best regards,

 

 

Michael Coutts-Trotter

DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

MANAGING DIRECTOR OF TAFE NSW

3 June 2009

 
01/06/2009 Schools miss out on Lab upgrades

Hundreds of high schools will miss out on a $1 billion federal government program to upgrade science laboratories after the Government refused to widen guidelines for eligible schools.

Under the program, schools needing new science buildings are favoured over those asking for improvements to existing facilities.

NSW had proposed the Government spread the funding among more schools.

A working group of parents, teachers and principals in conjunction with the NSW Government argue a more cost-effective way to spend the money is to refurbish existing laboratories rather than construct new buildings from scratch.

But federal Education Minister Julia Gillard has rejected NSW's push to revisit the guidelines. A spokesowman for Ms Gillard said it was always intended the program would focus on the construction of new or "substantially refurbished" science labs "to support the maximum number of jobs possible" at 500 of the nation's neediest schools.

In a letter to Ms Gillard last month, the NSW group of parents and teachers urged the Government to revisit the funding arrangements "to enable more schools and a greater number of students to benefit".

"Given the first objective of the BER (Building Education Revolution) is to provide economic stimulus and generate employment opportunities across all communities, it would be consistent for the program to be implemented in a way that maximises the benefits in as many schools as possible," the letter says.

The letter is signed by Federation of Parents and Citizens Associations of NSW president Dianne Giblin, NSW Secondary Principals Council president Jim McAlpine, NSW Teachers Federation president Bob Lipscombe and NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group president Cindy Berwick.

"Now only about 150 schools will benefit from $2 million each while about 280 schools will miss out completely. The federal Government's intransigence on this matter is astounding."


http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25566558-601,00.html
 
22/05/2009 Education Week 24th - 31st of May 2009
Education week is a time for school communities to celebrate the work that they do. This is a great time to visit your local schools. May 28th is Public Education Day - a special day set aside to celebrate the achievements and uniqueness that is Public Education.
This year the President will be spending time as the Principal for the Day at Strathfield South Public School during this exciting week.

 Message from Minister of Education Verity Firth edwk


 A message for Education Week from the Director-General
 
14/05/2009 New President for the Board of Studies
  New President for the Board of Studies
 
09/04/2009 Building Education Revolution
Building the Education Revolution has definitely seen community discussion about what will be a considerable size of money poured into Public Schools over the next two. Schools sites will be disrupted with the ongoing works but the outcomes will be great for our kids. More information can be found on the DET site https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/strat_direction/schools/ber/index.htm and on there is a link for you to email any questions or concerns you may have ber@det.nsw.edu.au

 BER - Local Procurement and project management letter 

 Building the Education Revolution - Project Nomination Advice
 
09/04/2009 National Public Education Forum
On 28th March 2009 the National Public Education Forum was held at Old Parliament House, Canberra. An historic event, organised by the Australian Council for State School Organisations (ACSSO), Australian Education Union (AEU), Australian Government Primary Principals Association (AGPPA) and Australian Secondary Principals Association (ASPA), the National Public Education Forum brought together over 200 academics, researchers, public / media commentators, parents, teachers and principals.

Most of these papers are now available for downloading on the AEU website: http://www.aeufederal.org.au/Publications/2009/NPEF/NPEFpapers.html
 
24/09/2008 Website Feedback
Keep an eye out as we are constantly adding new features and content. We happily accept feedback and welcome any suggestions you have once you have experienced our website.