Council is running the following training sessions to help P&Cs. There are more details on our website.

Treasurers' workshop
Thursday March 27, 7pm, Headley Beare Centre for Teaching & Learning, 51 Fremantle Drv, Stirling.
This is a great opportunity for new and current P&C Treasurers to ask questions about any aspect of their role and tasks. We will showing you how to sign up to NSWBuy to get your goods at reduced prices.
 
Insurance workshop
Thursday April 3, 7pm, Headley Beare Centre for Teaching & Learning, 51 Fremantle Drv, Stirling.
This workshop provides an overview of insurance packages available for P&Cs and how to complete the paperwork. We recommend all Treasurers and Presidents attend.

Please contact us if you wish to attend any of these sessions.

At last night's Council meeting, we discussed the lack of  an ETD ACT-wide policy on hats and sunscreen in schools. Primary school delegates confirmed that a “no hat no play” policy was enforced in most schools (ie no hat, then no playing in the sun). However, following Cancer Council advice, this policy did not apply in the winter months. The application of sunscreen to children can not be done by teachers, so parents need to apply their own to their children prior to school. Parents should be aware of the choking danger of hat cords and should ensure they have collapsible cords or bucket hats.

The provision of sun shaded /sheltered areas for students in schools was considered important and should be encouraged by P&Cs. The greatest problem exists in high schools and colleges where students were not inclined to follow the same policy that applied in primary school. The use of school uniform in new high school and colleges may help but the best solution for these schools seems to be the provision of shade and sheltered areas. Cancer education of students could also be useful. 

The Australian Council of State School Organisations (ACSSO), Council's national counterpart, believes that more needs to be done to protect the digital privacy of our children. They have called for stricter privacy requirements to prevent technology companies from tracking students’ online activities for advertising or other profiling purposes. You can read more on their concerns about companies mining student data in schools here. 

University reseachers are exploring the incidence of cyber-bullying in Australian youth and how it is managed. They have a short, anonymous online survey and are seeking parents to complete it. Find out more here.

Parents may be interested in a new group (not linked with Council) which has been formed recently, called the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY).  They intend to lobby for and promote "evidence-based programs and strategies to improve the wellbeing of children and youth".