Parents of Australia are being reminded to save their school resources and uniform receipts as up to 50% of such resources are now tax deductible.

The Government website, Education Tax Refund advises parents and caregivers of the items they can now claim.

This is a welcome package for all Australians suffering from increasing prices for all things educational, shoes, sporting equipment, tuition fees, voluntary contribution fees, book fees and everything else you can imagine.

Bullying. No way! (BNW) is an educational website for Australian school communities and the general public that commenced in June 2002. As well as providing information for individuals, the website is visited for its extensive and increasing range of online curriculum and other resources to support the medium term and long term prevention work of schools.

The website is developed and managed through the Safe and Supportive School Communities: Finding workable solutions for countering bullying, harassment and violence in schools (SSSC) project – a collaborative intiative involving all participating Australian education authorities: State and Territory government education systems, the National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC), the Independent Schools’ Council of

Australia (ISCA) and the Commonwealth Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR).

The project is overseen by the Australian Education Systems Officials Committee (AESOC) and jointly funded by State and Territory government education systems and the Commonwealth Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.

The work of the project is supported by teachers, parents, students, staff and curriculum officers throughout Australia.

The Queensland Department of Education, Training and the Arts (DETA) currently manages the web site and publishes the project materials on behalf of all participating Australian Education Authorities.

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As we approach the Qld State Election, QLD parents are being invited to give their feedback through a series of public meetings being held during February

During these evenings the Government wants your feedback about the two options,

• Individual Trust Accounts for Education – an individual endowment that would mean every newborn child would have a nest egg valued between $7800 and $9500 when they turn 18 or;
• Dedicated Education Fund: an investment fund where the proceeds are reinvested by Government in education and training initiatives beyond the basics throughout the schooling years and potentially beyond.

Details for the six community forums are:

• Wednesday, 1 February – Cairns – Cairns State High School
• Tuesday, 7 February – Townsville – Townsville State High School
• Wednesday, 8 February – Brisbane South – Mount Gravatt State High School
• Wednesday, 8 February – Gold Coast – Varsity College
• Thursday, 9 February – Brisbane North – Rainworth State School
• Thursday, 9 February – Rockhampton – Rockhampton State High School.

All forums run from 6:30pm to 8:00pm.

A full copy of the Governments Press Release and associated documents can be found in our forum section

Read it here

Australia’s national curriculum hits the classrooms in what some say is a revolution for our classrooms. Queensland, South Australia, The ACT and Tasmania are all implementing parts of if not all the curriculum from today.

Queensland leads the pack with the curriculum being taught from prep today as over 735,000 students return to Qld State Schools.

A significant benefit to parents, students and the community at large is the availability of the curriculum online for all to follow. The following website http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/ under the menu link displays all the elements of the Curriculum English, Maths, Science and History.

The drop down then links to the year levels and from here you can select Years 1 through to Year 10.

Each part of the curriculum is then clickable and a full listing of what our children will learn is then described.

Education Queensland Deputy Director-General Lyn Mackenzie spoke with Steve Austin from Brisbane’s 612 ABC. Listen hear to the interview