The Australian Principal Health and Wellbeing Survey | Deputy President Bob Willetts

The Australian Principal Health & Wellbeing Survey has formed the basis of much of the NSWPPA advocacy support for Principal Health and Wellbeing.

We encourage everyone to participate in this survey as it provides vital data for our association and more importantly vital data for individual principals. All participants receive an instant, individualised report on their personal health and wellbeing status and can compare this to others. This project will map policy interventions to changes in principals’ motivation and wellbeing and share information about the most productive and cost-effective interventions with key stakeholders across Australia.

The Survey is a confidential survey, independent of all employer groups, professional associations and unions.

Firstly, you will be able to track your job-related personal health and wellbeing over time, with an individualised report returned automatically upon completion each year.

Secondly, global results will build a longitudinal picture of the state of health and wellbeing for school principals nationally.

These trends will be provided to policy makers in a “State of the Nation” report about the real, but often hidden, costs and benefits of initiatives such as the introduction of a national curriculum and changes to national testing and accountability requirements.

Nanga Mai Awards | Vice President Jude Hayman

The 16th Annual Nanga Mai Awards ceremony will be held by the NSW Department of Education on December 1 at the Sydney Opera House. Celebrating the outstanding achievement of Aboriginal students, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal staff, Aboriginal community members and public schools demonstrating excellence across a diversity of areas.

Nominations Close On 30 August 2021

The team from the Aboriginal Outcomes and Partnership Directorate shared some strategies to support Aboriginal students and families during COVID learning from home that the Aboriginal Reference Group wanted to share widely with our PPA members.

Generic supports

• DoE learning from home hub
• Provision of technology including Laptops, Dongles
• Provision of work booklets as well as online work
• Strong social media presence (Briar Rd PS good example)
• Personalised support from staff calling home each week to check on wellbeing
• Provision of hampers for families (some schools have community partners supporting in this area)
• Engaging local Aboriginal community support services e.g., Bungree- Central Coast
• Regular Zoom, phone call and text check ins with parents and students

Pirru Thangkuray examples from the Central Coast and Mt Druitt

• Engage students via Zoom meetings, some within rural areas have been brief face to face check-ins when permitted by Principals. Some of our schools within the Macquarie Network have recently permitted face to face engagement.
• Zoom or face to face to deliver wellbeing sessions, providing students the opportunity to voice issues, concerns and basically a space to chat with their peers and PT coaches and teachers.
• Developing a ‘Wellbeing Boomerang’ - positive wellbeing messages are recorded from students from across sites and shared to encourage students with positive messages from the other schools.
• Developing a zoom lesson and host a cook up
• Aboriginal wellbeing google classroom posts everyday
• Phone calls twice weekly to all Aboriginal students from the Aboriginal Team

Corrimal High School examples

• Phone contact with every family via a roster touching base with families every few days.
• Opened a zoom room for scheduled meetings 3 times a day (beginning of the day, lunch break, after last school) for students and parents to ask questions, flag technology or access issues, wellbeing check ins. We sometimes play games - this morning for example we did tongue twisters to lighten the mood and start the day with a smile.
• A zoom room open all day that students can jump in to if they get stuck with something in a subject or can't access the work etc.
• SLSOs continue with their timetable and log on to lessons with students allowing extra levels of support immediately as required.
• With approval from our DEL to continue providing grocery hampers with our Oz Harvest deliveries. We deliver hampers to 16-20 families every Tuesday morning on the school bus in a COVID safe contactless drop. It is a great opportunity to for the families to see our faces and have a quick catch up from the street.
• Attendance tracking liaised with the executive to request all concerns come through Aboriginal Team so that families are not being overwhelmed with multiple phone calls from different teachers.

NESA K-2 Draft English & Mathematics Syllabuses Consultation - Round 2| Vice President Norma Petrocco

NESA has released the second drafts of the K-2 English and Mathematics syllabuses for consultation. Attached are the drafts and survey.

This is a great opportunity to further develop your understanding of the draft syllabuses and for teachers to engage professionally, individually or as a group, to familiarise themselves with the drafts and complete the survey providing feedback and a strong voice from the public education sector.

Engaging with these drafts and completing the survey can also count towards NESA maintenance hours.

The survey can be completed online at the NESA website individually or as a group via the link below.

The NSWPPA will also be providing a response.

The consultation period closes on Monday 23 August.

The Office of the Children’s Guardian is providing information to assist organisations in understanding their legal obligations under the reportable conduct scheme. The three hour session for the School sector is scheduled for 14 September 2021.

Interested participants are asked to register for the webinar through Eventbrite. Following registration, you will receive a TEAMS link for the webinar. The Eventbrite link for Schools is as follows.

Dance Fever MultiSport- extension of free trial | Executive Officer Mark Pritchard

Due to demand our Corporate Partners Dance fever have extended their Multisport program free trial date. Please see the attached PDF for this generous offer