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Welcome back to school. 2021 is well upon us and has been greeted with much optimism and a snap lockdown in WA. We wish everyone in the middle of it this time all the best.
We may not be out of the COVID woods yet, but we are now much better prepared to cope with restrictions, home-based learning and online communication.
There are some good things to come out of it. More direct communication with teachers and virtual participation are big pluses for many parents. Personally I love online parent teacher conferences and being able to watch my sons' weekly assembly from my desk. The school has taken to live-streaming assemblies so that parents who can't be there, for whatever reason, can still be part of events, presentations and awards.
COVID has forced us to adapt many school traditions. In this newsletter we showcase how Canberra's Radford College P&F rose to the challenge of staging school community events while maintaining social distancing. They employed some inventive tactics to keep their community connected, and there are some great ideas that lots of P&Fs might use as inspiration.
Here at the Australian Parents Council we also have some big plans for 2021.
We will be closely monitoring the impact of new safe schools policies being rolled out across the country. Parents should be able to be an active part of all school communities and any new measures need to ensure they can always be so. Restrictions on parents need to be carefully thought through as it is often parents who raise concerns when 'unsafe' things happen at school.
We're also planning regular free virtual events on wide-ranging issues of interest to parents and school P&Fs throughout 2021. Follow us on Facebook to make sure you keep up to date with all our events.
We're in the process of planning a live webinar for parents on NAPLAN, so if you have any questions please send them to media@austparents.edu.au, and we promise to try and get answers for you.
We'd also like to welcome a new Minister to Education. The Hon. Alan Tudge MP took the helm at one of the most important portfolios in government at the end of 2020 and we look forward to forging a strong working relationship with him.
We're also looking forward to working together with all our parents, friends, schools, teachers and the wider education community this year and wish everyone a happy, healthy and successful 2021.
All the best,
Jenni Rickard, APC President
The eSafety Commissioner's site also has a great section specifically for parents or children of all ages about everything from teaching good online habits, to understanding privacy settings, to dealin with online bullying and image-based abuse - https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents.
COVID restrictions have thrown everything up in the air over the past 12 months, and that includes P&F events. A pivotal part of building a school community, what do you do when you can't hold in person events? Well Canberra's Radford College got creative and put on some great events that connected families and built their community.
Here's how they did it, and we'd like to thank everyone at Radford College for sharing their story....
'It was early on in 2020, at the height of COVID-19 in Canberra, that the Radford College Parents & Friends Association (P&F) made the tough decision to cancel some of our key events on our social calendar that serve to bring our community together – these were the annual Radford Gala Ball, P&F Trivia Night and the Twilight Fete.
However, we are fortunate that the parents who volunteer their time to be on the P&F are committed and determined, and adapted to the challenges we were all experiencing.
The P&F made the decision in April to forge ahead with our annual ‘Art Show @ Radford’ – an event that has been part of the Radford community since 1985. We have artists year-upon-year who participate in the Art Show and show their support for this longstanding community event.
Our mission was simple: give these artists a platform where they could promote their works at a time when onsite exhibitions weren’t possible. We moved the Art Show online and used the power of social media to promote artists’ works each day throughout the month of May. This allowed our followers and even members of the public to like or comment on the artists’ work.In lieu of the cancelled Twilight Fete, the P&F brainstormed new ideas on how we could give back and celebrate a little (while staying within the restrictions). From this, RadVision was conceived as an event that could be delivered within the bounds of COVID-19 restrictions and we were so happy to see this idea come to fruition on Saturday 7 November.
RadVision was a Eurovision-style singing contest that provided an opportunity for students in the Junior and Secondary Schools, as well as the wider Radford Community, to showcase their singing and theatrical talents.
Entries in each of these categories were submitted via a secure online portal, with community members invited to view and vote on their favourite performances. The entries with the most votes went straight into the Grand Final.
The event was live-streamed to the Radford Community, and enjoyed in person by the performers’ families and close friends in the College hall. We were very 
fortunate to have talented staff and student technical and IT crews to assist us every step of the way in bringing this event together so professionally.
Supersmile Orthodontics, who is usually our major sponsor for the Twilight Fete, continued their support to provide us with a very generous donation of $5000 towards this event.
Whilst COVID-19 has had devastating effects globally and within our community, we were pleased to have had the opportunity to give back to individuals and families both within and outside the Radford community and hopefully along the journey, inspired others to do the same.'
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