As the Term comes to an end, it is approrpaite to look back at the happenings of the Term and reflect on the activities that have occurred around us.

Much of the early Term continued with the Fair Funding Campaign and work highlighting the policies and funding plans of the various political parties. Many of the pundits got the results wrong and I wouldn't be far from accurate that many were surprised by the actual results. Disappointingly we now live with the results of unfair funding that favours the non-government sectors.

The stabbing of teacher Zane Vockler at Byron Bay PS brought the issue of violence in our schools to a head. Earlier this year Associate Professor Phil Riley’s Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey highlighted that across Australia threats and physical violence are increasing in our schools.

The damning statistics tell a sad story:

• 45% of the 2,300 survey participants say they have been threatened with violence in 2018 and
• 42% of government primary principals who responded have been involved in actual physical violence…
• Female school leaders are most at risk of physical violence with 40% experiencing violence compared to 32% of male school leaders.

More on our work with the Department in a later article.

 We also had the great NAPLAN fiasco to contend with this Term. The Writing assessment for Year 5 students certainly caused issues as did the re-sit for many of our schools. More later.

Interesting to note the intervention of the Premier and Treasurer into the education environment with bold announcements with little, if any, consultation with the profession. We had been involved in long consultation with the High Potential and Gifted program, but knew nothing about a Bump It Up version 2 or the Phonics Test for year 1. We have spoken to both the Minister & Department and we will be involved extensively in work on these two actions.

There were some much happier events during the Term. Probably the biggest was the Public Education Foundation Awards night at Town Hall where there was some great recognition of performance and scholarships shared to deserving staff and students. We were also supportive of the $18.5 billion funding announced in the State Budget for education (with $1.3billion focused on reducing the maintenance backlog). And who could forget the launch of the Premier’s Sports Challenge ! Organised by the wonderful Evonne Webb (Social Media Officer in School Operations). Over 20 teams covering the state working on their own Well-Being and counting “steps”.