NSWPPA Executive are proud of this project that has been in process for a number of years and NOW it is being released. The content of the program is simply brilliant in terms of meeting the needs of students in our schools. I want to share with you how it came about and the processes we have undertaken in order to get to this point releasing the Expressions of Interest.

Deputy President Rob Walker and Vice President Trish Peters have been instrumental in leading this initiative and it has been presented and discussed at many NSWPPA State Council meetings.

Where it started …

• An Australian Primary Principals’ Association (APPA) survey exposed the scale of damage principals felt anxiety was impacting on student learning outcomes.
• NSWPPA, through then President Phil Seymour, became aware of a child psychologist who had developed a professional learning program for those that worked in the area of student wellbeing (in and out of schools). The psychologist, Michael Hawton and the learning program was named ‘No Scaredy Cats’. Michael is the Director of Parentshop.
• Rob Walker to attend a single day training program with Michael Hawton to assess ‘where to from here’ addressing anxiety. Rob Walker presented options to the State Executive at the time and it was resolved the PPA would pursue the development of a professional learning program which addressed two things:
• Build the capacity of key people in a child’s life to
  • identify anxious behaviours as they present in varying forms
  • best respond to these behaviours so that, over time, the condition diminished and did not manifest for the child

The professional learning is provided for the Principal, an in-school implementation coach (a member of the school staff), teaching staff, SLSOs and parents.

The development of the project to the point it is today (released to the membership) has taken two and a half years. The PPA contribution has been driven largely by Rob Walker and Trish Peters and I. The State Executive have been kept informed through its development. Michael Hawton, Hayley Cravigan and Rob Steventon have been the major contributors from ParentShop. We have had contributions from CESE and from staff of the University of South Australia.

The Minister for Education has been kept informed of the development of the project as it has progressed as the NSWPPA continues to seek government funding for the broader implementation of the project. The Minister has also liaised with the Minister for Mental Health on the funding of the project. Unfortunately, at this stage this project has not been adopted so we decided we would initiate a pilot program – a user pay model.

The expressions of interest will be assessed against pre-determined criteria by members of The Anxiety Project Steering Committee which includes Rob Walker, Trish Peters and myself. The criteria relates to the school’s conviction to the eight commitments listed in the EOI. We will also be seeking to have a mix of profiles of schools (refer to the profile information collected in the EOI) so that the data collected exposes the effectiveness of the intervention in various setting in our schools.

EOIs close on May 23. Contact Rob, Trish or myself if you would like to discuss this opportunity further.