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A part of our job is to “gather broad parent perspectives” (words taken directly from our contract!) to share with the federal department of education. This year we have been hearing from lots of parents that they are not happy that they have spent so much time outside school gates this school year. They are feeling the impacts of Covid-19 restrictions deeply. So, we want to gather your thoughts and opinions on the rollercoaster that has been schooling for the last few years.
We know there are parents in the early years of schooling that have missed out on forming strong relationships within the school community. Including their child’s teacher, school leaders but also other school families that in normal times would form their school support network. We have heard rites of passage that form a celebration of 13 years of schooling passing without school halls of families dabbing at the corner of their eyes with pride.
We know that school parent bodies have not survived the loss of fundraising opportunities, the ability to recruit new members or the loss of years of experience graduating with their children and no opportunity to pass on this knowledge.
Our survey this year is collecting your experiences on how Covid-19 has impacted your ability to get involved and engaged in your school community. We want to hear about what has changed and how this has impacted you and your family. We encourage you to do the survey and share it with your friends and school community so we can really let the federal government know how the global pandemic is affecting our school communities.
So please jump on the survey and let us know what you think and from there we can all work together to solve some of the issues.
Before I go I just want to give a shout-out to all of the Fete Coordinators and volunteers who are preparing for the Spring Fete Season! After two years of minimal events or even worse preparing for events and having to cancel at the last minute, I wish you well and am wishing you all raging successes! If you are looking for support and like-minded people jump into our APC Fundraisers Facebook group.
Take care,
Jenni Rickard
President
The Australian Parents Council is very pleased to announce its new initiative to help empower parents to understand the influence they have over their child's future career pathways and leverage that for the greatest good! This initiative is all about helping to create harmonious conversations about the future.
Keep an eye out for the website launch announcement coming soon and get ready to participate in some amazing activities with your children around careers, no matter what year level they are in at school.
If your school is trying to kick start community-building activities and you are finding drumming up volunteers is difficult this download is for you!
Feel free to share far and wide with your school community
The Student Wellbeing Hub has some great resources about well-being across a broad range of topics. It has its own dedicated page for parents and the resources are split into Primary and High School ages. It has everything from e-safety resources to bullying and mental health check-ins and everything else in between.
It also has resources for your kids too. So you can, you know leave a browser window open, just waiting to be discovered, if you need to.
Check it out here...
Our friends ACSSO are celebrating their 75th year by running the inaugural Susan Ryan Family Engagement Awards.
Applications are open to nominations from all government schools. All the details and further information on how to apply can be found on their website.
PARENT SURVEY – Parents of 12-25s
The Department of Industry, Science and Resources has commissioned research agency, YouthInsight, to survey parents of 12-25 year olds as part of the Youth in STEM national tracking study examining perceptions of STEM skills and careers among young Australians aged 12-25. Feedback from the study will contribute to the federal government’s wider strategy to support greater participation of girls in STEM education and careers and will also feed into the Advancing Women in STEM strategy and the STEM Equity Monitor national data report. YouthInsight would really appreciate your contribution to the study.
Please note that all responses are confidential and anonymous.
Please click here to complete the 15-minute survey to give your views. The survey closes on 14 September 2022:
The Australian Parents Council is a representative body that bridges the gap between parents and government policymakers. We are on a mission to help all children thrive in non-government schools but we can't do it alone. We need both sound government policy and empowered parents to ensure academic, social and emotional success in all students.
To help us bridge the gap between parents and the government sign up to become a member. It's free and you will be contributing to making our education system the best it can be for all children.
