Yesterday saw the start of National Reconciliation Week. The theme ‘More than a word Reconciliation takes action’ encourages brave and impactful action. Reconciliation is a journey for all of us – as individuals, families, communities, organisations and importantly as a nation. At the heart of this journey are relationships between the broader Australian community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Fabulous to see so many school communities ‘taking action’.

Last night I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Transforming Education Panel and Book Launch – Transforming Education – Reimagining Learning, Pedagogy and Curriculum hosted by authors Miranda Jefferson and Michael Anderson. Pasi Sahlberg launched the book by capturing the essence of the richness of Public Education in Australia. It was wonderful to connect with colleagues at Sydney University and via ZOOM internationally.

The enthusiasm and optimism in the room shared about practices and possibilities created in schools for students, teachers and communities was incredibly encouraging and authentic. Conversations amongst colleagues in these type of forums builds capacity and fosters communities of practice.

The work we do in our schools is increasingly important – I would like to acknowledge the brilliant work ALL Principals do in their schools daily – reflect on this … WHY do you do what you do? and then ask REALLY WHY?

Take every opportunity you have, to connect with your colleagues at PPC Meetings, Conferences, check in on each other, catch up before or after school or simply pick up the phone and chat. Connecting with others makes us a stronger and united workforce. We sit in a very privileged position to lead schools – you have MUCH to be proud of! Know you make a difference to every student and every staff and community member who walks through your gate each day.

Heading out to a meeting this morning this is what I saw … talk about a bright spot!

We congratulate Georgina on her appointment to Secretary. The NSWPPA State Executive met with her on the day of her appointment. I articulated the importance of growing collaborative practices with the Association to ensure a strong school voice is heard ‘at the table’ in the initial stages of planning new policies and procedures. She indicated that was her intention and opened the door on a number of key areas of concern that the membership is strongly expressing.

Currently, the key areas we are focusing on are: Student Behaviour Strategy, Principal Classification and workload.

Our work includes working alongside the NSWTF as Classification is an Award Agreement. As we move forward in this space, I will keep you informed.

During the meeting the NSWPPA Executive has with Secretary Georgina Harrisson we had the opportunity to clarify the timeline and ongoing consultation and engagement around the Student Behaviour Policy. A/Group Deputy Secretary Ruth Owen highlighted these key points:

• Minister's announcement at the start of term 3 will be to share revised policies, procedures and proposed support package for schools in respect of behaviour and also our wider inclusive education policy.
• Consultation will continue during Term 3 and 4 - familiarisation with the revised policy and ongoing co-design of the right support package(s) for schools
• Support for implementation will be put in place – we want to co-design this with the Associations and will include PL, behaviour management resources and access to specialist help from within the Department and across other agencies
• Suspension (duration K-2 and 3-12) will be within the policies and procedures to be consulted on
• New Student Behaviour policy will commence Term 1 2021

The NSWPPA and NSWSPC codesigned and collaborated on a joint statement regarding the dangers an issues arising in our schools regarding vaping. We responded to significant concerns expressed to us about the consumption and increasing use of young children and youths using nicotine based vaping. We called for the Education Minister Education and Minister of Health to address the illegal importing, selling, and marketing of these products. We are yet to hear a response.

Taken from this week’s email

The 2021-2023 Staffing Agreement between the department and the NSW Teachers Federation (NSWTF) has now been finalised and will commence operation from Day 1, Term 3, 2021.

The new Staffing Agreement represents a jointly negotiated, shared commitment of the department and the NSWTF to a state-wide staffing approach that will deliver on school improvement objectives, supporting students in all NSW public schools to succeed.

The new Agreement, while preserving important features such as incentive transfers, has a number of new inclusions that will enhance our system capacity to fill permanent teacher vacancies more efficiently while still including opportunities for principals to have access to a suite of local choice options to support you in the staffing of your school.

Key features of the new Agreement include:

• Changes to central appointments, including a 24-month currency period for transfers and enhanced principal certification aligned to Teaching Standards and PDP participation; new provisions to allow high performing pre-service teachers to be recruited 12 months earlier; and approval to teach candidates included as a new appointment type in centrally filled roles to secure more temporary and casual teachers in permanent roles.
• Nominated transfers to be given priority in placements in central and local recruitment types to expedite placement.
• Prioritised service transfers for teachers in 4 point non-incentive and 2 point ‘outer regional’ schools as part of the central appointment process. See the list of schools captured in this new provision.
• Opportunity to access a local eligibility list when filling a vacancy at local choice.
• Under Clause 4 of the Agreement, a new, time limited opportunity for 1 point schools to appoint an eligible temporary teacher to a full time vacancy when at local choice.

The Staffing Procedure document is currently being revised to reflect the provisions of the new Agreement and will be published for the commencement of Term 3.

During the new Agreement period, the Merit selection procedure for teachers, executive and Principals will also be revised and refreshed to support a more efficient and effective process for merit based selections.

To support the implementation of the new Agreement, online information sessions will be provided during Term 3 for DELs with local NSWTF organisers and principals and their school Federation representative. In addition, an information package will be prepared and provided to support principals to deliver a short, school-based information session with the school’s Federation representative during a staff meeting in Term 3. Teachers will also be informed of the new Agreement in this week’s Schoolbiz.

A dedicated inbox has been created exclusively for principals to answer any enquiries about the new Agreement. If you have a question, please email staffingagreementenquiry@det.nsw.edu.au 

The NSW Department of Education Executive have approved $37 million SSP Supplementary Funding annually until 2024. This decision is one of the Departments finest!

Funding will be shared across all SSPs and will be calculated annually based on several factors, including enrolment numbers, and linked to the evaluation of student outcomes.

As part of the Staffing Methodology Review, the analysis phase of work on SSP Supplementary Funding is complete. From April 2021, distribution modelling and allocation will transfer to the Inclusion and Wellbeing Directorate with program management to be led by the Disability Strategy Unit.

Similar to the allocation in 2020, the purpose of the 2021 allocation is to provide and evaluate interim additional resourcing to alleviate SSPs staffing pressures and improve student outcomes.

FASTstream applications are closing Sunday, 30 May 2021. The FASTstream program is an opportunity for new and experienced teachers to accelerate their career to school principalship, within 10 years. Commencing in Term 1 2022, FASTstream participants will receive one-on-one coaching, mentoring and support from current school leaders, to develop the professional leadership and management practices leaders require. They will also have access to evidence-informed professional development and training from the School Leadership Institute. FASTstream participants will complete a variety of placements across a range of school contexts both in metropolitan and regional locations. Placements will be determined based on the participant’s circumstances, experience and development needs.

Apply online via the FASTstream program page, to find out more about please read the FAQs, watch the recorded Q&A webinar or email FASTstreamprogram@det.nsw.edu.au. 

Minister Mitchell

Further discussion regarding Principal Wellbeing | Anxiety Project | Carry Forward Policy | Student Behaviour Strategy |Principal Classification.

Angelo Gavrielatos | NSWTF President

Gallop Inquiry – plans forward for highlighting the critical teacher shortage, workload for teachers and Principals and a case for change regarding attracting and retaining staff and renumeration for the roles we play in educating the students across NSW.

NESA | Paul Martin

The National Curriculum landing as the NSW Curriculum Review.

The K-2 English and mathematics curriculum drafts are both available and implementation scheduled for 2023. The English curriculum is on track to be developed in 2022 and other Key Learning Areas in 2023.

Federally, Ministers will determine changes to NAPLAN. Considerations shared were: which year level will sit the National Assessment – suggestions included remaining at Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 OR Years 3, 5, 7 and 10 OR Years 4, 6 ,8 and 10. Further considerations included when it would be administered – earlier or later in the year and consideration for Writing assessment to be a ‘sample test’.

External Validation | Peer Principal and PSL

External Validation is integral to School Excellence and provides every school with the opportunity to discuss their judgement and practice – the evidence that underpins them not only with their staff but also with a panel of peers. Embedding effective self-assessment practices drives the next steps in achieving school targets. That refinement and narrow focus is a celebration in our schools.

I would like to acknowledge the work of the Peer Principal and our PSL’s. EV harnesses such rich dialogue and action in our schools as part of due process. I have recently trained as a Peer Principal and I am really looking forward to the opportunity to work with schools and the PSL’s. The work we do in our schools in preparing for EV has developed into a more refined process. The school EV team are the drivers and they along with the staff identify the levers for improvement. Thank you to our Peer Principals and our PSL’s who work with our schools in preparation and those who lead the panel.

Being a Peer Principal is such a privilege – to share in a colleague’s school practice and immerse yourself in the targets schools set and evidence sets against the SEF is truly insightful – evidence of impact is apparent and worth celebrating.

There is great strength in our PSL workforce and EV is one component of their role. I have the opportunity to regularly meet with Emma Kriketos and her team. These meetings are informative, responsive and focused. Associations are presented with the scope of work our PSL teams are across both on the ground and remotely. Most of our PSL workforce remain members of the NSWPPA. Tanya Whyte is the elected PSL Observer Delegate that joins us at State Council each term. Tanya provides a report to the membership that delegates can report back on at your PPC meetings.

Reporting and evaluation

Schools will be expected to monitor and evaluate (at least twice per term) the effectiveness of the COVID ILSP through ongoing data analysis and use throughout each of the small group tuition cycles.

The department will expect schools to report on their expenditure as well as the FTE and number of staff employed to deliver the program as part of annual reporting processes.

Existing department platforms and processes are being used for the reporting and evaluation of the COVID ILSP program. New features and reports have been added to PLAN2, SPaRO and Scout to enable schools to report easily and evaluate more effectively.

Schools are required to provide:

• number of students
• student details
• frequency of tuition
• focus of tuition and any specific programs
• expenditure
• FTE and number of staff employed.

SPaRO

Two new features, ‘Number of students’ and ‘Focus areas’, have been included in the ‘Other funded activities – COVID ILSP 2021’ section of SPaRO. The ‘Number of students’ feature will allow schools to record the total number of students receiving COVID ILS in each tuition cycle. The ‘Focus area’ feature enables schools to identify one or more areas of focus of the tuition.

Schools not using PLAN2 to record COVID ILSP student groups are required to upload a spreadsheet of the participating students and their school year (for example John Citizen, Year 9), into the COVID ILSP folder in the evidence bank in SPaRO at the beginning of each tuition cycle.

• Sample school COVID ILSP 2021 student details spreadsheet.
• Other funded activities – primary sample.

This term we have hosted the Schools for Specific Purpose, Teaching Principals, Aboriginal Education, Finance and Administration and Assessment, Planning and Accountability Reference Group meetings as well as the APPA Conference Committee meeting. The room is a superb venue and we look forward to it being used daily for the work of the Association – both hosting our suite of Professional Learning, Executive and Chairpersons meetings as well as our Reference Group. Standing Committee and Working Party meetings.

Week 7 State Council will be OUR FIRST FACE TO FACE MEETING in over 12 months. The two day meeting will be held at Sofitel Darling Harbour and attended by all PPC Delegates, Observer Delegates, Chairpersons, Professional Support Officers, Professional Learning Officer and the NSWPPA State Executive.

Guests include:

Secretary |Georgina Harrisson
Group Deputy Secretary and Deputy Secretary Panel |Ruth Owen | Murat Dizdar | Leanne Nixon
The Anxiety Project | Michael Horton
School Leadership Institute | Joanne Jarvis
Literacy and Numeracy | Paul Wood and Megan Kelly
CESE | Daniel French
NESA | Katherine Thompson
Executive Presentations | Principal Support and Wellbeing, Carry Forward Policy, Principal Classification, Student Behaviour Strategy

Accommodation update for 2021 Annual Conference at The Star.

If you are intending to book accommodation at The Star, consider doing so in the next 4 weeks.

The rates:

$300 for 17, 18 October
$320 for 19, 20, 21, 22 October.

Please be advised this is still subject to availability, and if this rate is no longer available you will need to book the best available rate on the website. At present The Star has approximately 400 rooms available at this rate.

When completing DoE travel applications and paying by PCard, Directors can only sign off on up to $324-45 per night for accommodation in Sydney.

Cancellation policy:

Bookings can be cancelled or modified up until 30 days prior to arrival date. 100% cancellation charge applies for any changes including shortening your stay within 30 days of arrival date.

Booking Method:

Booking code remains the same - NSW181021
If you have already booked, please check your rate, and cancel then re-book if necessary.

Kylie Donovan
Conference Convener

The NSWPPA is pleased to be able to continue to support Principals and their leadership teams through the delivery of high quality professional learning opportunities.

As we move into Semester 2 we are now able to bring professional learning to you face to face, whilst maintaining the online learning that has proved to be so valuable.

7 Habits of Highly Effective People / Leading at the Speed of Trust

Your School Improvement Plan is finished. A plan of well-designed and high leverage strategies to enable change and improve learning outcomes for students As a leader you want to engage your staff, effectively collaborate and execute your key strategies. Personal and team effectiveness are key components in the implementation of your school plan. Trust is a key driver in implementing change and improvement within your school context. As a leader you want to engage your staff, effectively collaborate and execute your key strategies.

Leading at the Speed of Trust and 7 Habits of Highly Effective People build personal and team effectiveness and will assist you and your executive team in the implementation of your school’s Strategic Improvement Plan.

Attached are the flyers for Semester 2 with both face to face workshops and online programs.

Two new programs coming for Semester 2

We are excited to offer two new programs that have been developed specifically for the NSWPPA, by Principals for school leaders. These programs have grown from the success of Art of Leadership and will also develop the effectiveness of our leadership capacity.

The Tao of Teams

Creating, sustaining and energising an effective team.

Effective teams are built around a clear and compelling purpose where trust and connected relationships enable an effective team culture. This program will work through the purpose and process of forming a team, creating a team culture and effective team practices. This is a practical and interactive program that will replicate team-creation and team-building practices as well as trust and connected relationships that are enablers of effective team cultures. Participants practise the skills learned and begin to apply these in their own workplace context.

Taking the Challenge out of Challenging Conversations

Powerful performance conversations.

This program will focus on the common features of challenging conversations that are critical for school leader effectiveness. This focus will include four conversation types; Performance, Boundaries, Alignment and Coaching conversations. Although some conversations require a certain level of assertiveness, the design of these conversations embodies the intent that each party in the conversation will leave it with greater clarity, a positive forward direction and with the relationship enhanced. The program is experiential, and participants will practise the skills learned and begin to apply these in their own workplace context.

See attached flyers for program locations and information.

Invitation to participate in the research study titled

Local Schools, Local Decisions Reform Agenda: Exploring the impact of the reform on NSW
Public School Educational Leader.

I am currently conducting a research study that explores the impact that the Local Schools
Local Decisions Reform Agenda has/is having on a school principals’ capacity to be an Instructional Leader and to explore the relationship between the reform agenda and accountability and autonomy. The research is seeking school principals’ who have fulfilled the role of principal-ship prior to the 2012 release of the Local Schools, Local Decisions Reform Agenda and post the implementation.

As part of the research, a questionnaire will be administered with questions relating to the three elements of a principal role mentioned above. In addition, a sample of the questionnaire respondents will be asked to participate in an interview as part of the research study to enhance the level of understanding that the Local Schools, Local Decisions has had on the role of a school principal.

As a school principal who has fulfilled the principal role prior to the release of Local Schools, Local Decisions in 2012 and post the implementation of the reform agenda, you are in an ideal position to give valuable first-hand information from your own perspective.

The questionnaire will approximately take 20 minutes to complete and if chosen via random sample for the interview stage, this will take around 30 minutes and will be informal.

The purpose of the research is to try to capture your thoughts and perspectives on the Local Schools, Local Decisions Reform Agenda and to explore what support systems would assist principals to better utilise the agenda.

Your responses to the questionnaire and interview questions will be kept confidential. Each interview will be assigned a number code to help ensure that personal identifiers are not revealed during the analysis and write up of findings.

There is no compensation for participating in this study. However, your participation will be a valuable addition to the field of research and findings could lead to greater understanding of the impact of the Local Schools, Local Decisions Reform Agenda at a system level.

If you are willing to participate and meet the criteria, please complete the questionnaire via the link below prior to the 30th June 2021.

Exploring Local Schools, Local Decisions Reform Agenda Questionnaire

Please note if you have indicated in the questionnaire to be happy to engage in the interview process you may be contacted shortly after the closer date listed above.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me on the email address lauren.sten@det.nsw.edu.au.

Thank you in advance for your support,
Lauren Sten

ACEL NSW: Context, Culture and Collaboration – Creating a Community

ACEL NSW is proud to invite and encourage you to attend this inspiring and invigorating online professional learning session on June 2nd from 4.30-6pm. Designed to be relevant, thought provoking, fun and with a usable resource to continue the professional conversations, Professor Jioji Ravulo is one presenter you will really remember. Please see the attached Flyer for all of the Information

Following rigorous research and testing, Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) have launched their updated fire safety education programs for Early Childhood Education and Care Services and Primary Schools.

Designed to reduce the risk of fire to children aged between 3 and 10 years, the updated programs are mapped to the Australian curriculum and have been reviewed and supported by the NSW Department of Education.

Assistant Commissioner Trent Curtain said children are one of our most at-risk groups when it came to risk of fire. In the last five years (2015-2020), FRNSW responded to 8,102 fires caused by children and 12 child fire fatalities.

“Children often have a limited capacity to understand the risks and consequences of fire”, he said.

“Fire safety education is the first line of defence against misuse of fire and fire-related injuries and fatalities in children.”

“Fire safety education not only prevents fire, it improves response to fire and empowers children by providing them with the capacity to make informed decisions, enhancing resilience.”

The updated programs consist of four educator delivered lessons, one school fire evacuation drill, and one firefighter delivered session. They have also been developed to cater for children with diverse learning needs, with resources that facilitate delivery to students with autism, intellectual disability, deafness or hearing loss, and blindness or vision loss.

While the educator delivered lessons teach children about fire safety, the firefighter delivered session consolidates learning while encouraging the formation of positive relationships between children and firefighters.

Assistant Commissioner Trent Curtain said, “These programs have been designed on the back of extensive evidence-based research. They will enhance our capacity to reduce misuse of fire and fire related injuries and fatalities in children.”

To access the programs and all associated resources, go to:

On June 30th MyGivingCircle is giving $130,000 to the top 80 Charities with the most votes. I'd love Stewart House to get a grant, so I need your help!

Currently, Stewart House is in position #88 and I’d really like to get as many votes as we can get.

It's free to vote and only takes a moment. Please help by voting at the link below and including Stewart House as one of your choices.

It would be great if you shared this with family and friends, please.
Thanks so much!

Carry Forward Policy | Vice President Michael Burgess

Budget planning support is available for schools to meet their obligations under the new Carry Forward Policy. The next series of webinars focuses on investing accumulated funds.

You can register for these webinars by clicking this link:

Updating Devices to the Latest Version of Windows 10 | Vice President Michael Burgess

Principals would be aware that schools have been asked to update any devices using old versions of Windows 10. The Technology Reference Group has raised issues around the workload associated with this request.

Drew Janetski and the TRG have been able to organise for the updates to be automatically sent out to devices running version 1809. This will be done in a staged way over the next few weeks. This saves schools manually updating 130,000 devices.

Schools will still need to continue to manually update any devices running older versions of Windows 10. Any devices running Windows 7 will be removed from the network by the end of the term.

Keeping devices up to date with the latest version of Windows is important for security reasons. Schools should have plan to update devices regularly. The risk in not updating devices regularly is a cyber attack that renders your devices unusable or compromises personal data. The workload in remediating a cyber attack is greater than the workload to keep devices up to date.

NSWPPA Awards | Vice President Jude Hayman (repeat)

Every year we have the honour to recognise the work of our colleagues through the nomination and selection of recipients of the following awards which are presented to the successful recipients at the NSWPPA State Conference;

Awards are

LIFE MEMBERSHIP or FELLOWSHIP
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD
PROFESSIONAL AWARD
ABORIGINAL EDUCATION AWARD
SOCIAL JUSTICE / EQUITY AWARD

Please see the attached document for nomination criteria and submission information

Curriculum Networks Website| Vice President Norma Petrocco

Just letting you know that the new Curriculum Networks Website that Deb Santucci and I work on as principals in residence has gone live and was advertised in SchoolBiz last Friday. Good to know that our work was useful.

Principal Input for Rugby League, Jane Simmons | Vice President Michael Trist

The NRL are aiming to make Rugby League a more attractive sport for boys and girls to participate in and support. They've asked for principal input to this process via a very brief survey at the link below:

Staff Noticeboard | Vice President Stuart Wylie

The Department of Education is streamlining our internal communications through the release of Staff Noticeboard in Term 3. This format will replace SchoolBiz and will be our one stop shop for all news and Expressions of Interest. SchoolBiz will be retired with the final SchoolBiz to be published on the 18th June. Staff Noticeboard is currently live for corporate staff and you can take a look at

Enjoy time with family and friends over the weekend and step into Week 7 rested and energised…

On behalf of the NSWPPA Executive – Rob Walker, Bob Willetts, Michael Burgess, Jude Hayman, Trish Peters, Norma Petrocco, Michael Trist, Stuart Wylie, Greg McLaren, Gregory Grinham, Mark Pritchard, Lisa Beare and Margaret Charlton I wish you all a fabulous week ahead.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me at any time – 0429 547 619. Thankyou to the colleagues too who have been sharing some good news stories with the Executive in forums and meetings. We recognise the ENORMOUS amount of work you are across – we are SUPPORTING, EMPOWERING, ADVOCATING and LEADING every opportunity we can to put forward the collective voice of the membership of the Association.

Robyn Evans
NSWPPA President
0429 547 619