Council's grant for our Canteen Improvement Project is coming to an end. This means that primary schools that have not yet applied for the Flexischools online ordering system and wish to install the system free of charge only have until December to do so. High schools and colleges also only have until December to apply for Flexischools and the point of sale systems. To find out more, visit the Canteen Support page of our website.

There is now more information on grants in the Help for P&Cs section of our website, including hints and tips, examples of successful grant applications, and places to look for grants available for P&Cs.

Australia usually celebrates World Teacher's Day on the last Friday of October - October 31 this year. Let us know what you have planned on our Facebook page to help inspire others with your ideas.

At Council's August meeting, there was an informative presentation on the importance of qualified teacher librarians at schools. The handouts from this presentation, including questions to ask your child and their school, are now available on our website.

Companion House and Council have teamed up to host a forum for migrant and refugee families to share knowledge and support education. All are welcome to participate in this annual information exchange between schools, parent groups, teachers and newly formed communities in the ACT.

The free forum will run from 6 - 8:30pm on Wednesday November 12 at the Cook community hub (41 Templeton Street). Call 6251 4550 for more information.

After our policy conference in August, our policy document is now updated and available on our website. 

SEE-Change invites all ACT schools to take part in the Parliament of Youth on Sustainability: Action for our Future project, set to run in semester 1, 2015. Culminating in a one day, all-age student parliament in June 2015, the project gives ACT school students the chance to have their say on how we should respond to the challenges presented by climate change. 

To find out more, come along to a teacher and senior student information session on October 28, 29 or 30 from 4.30-6.00pm at the Centre for Teaching and Learning in Stirling. Registrations and enquiries: please email or phone Anne Quinn (6231 2452).

ACSSO, the Australian Council of State School Organisations (our national counterpart) are holding their annual conference on November 7 and 8. The theme is Future Unlimited: Public Education for Australia and all parents interested in public education are invited to attend. Details are here, and you can register online.

Next week is Children’s Week and the theme this year is 'the right of every child to have a voice and be heard'.  'Save our Children's World' on Sunday October 26, is a community event to help children voice their concerns about the environment. The idea is for parents to help children create cut-out trees on which to stick messages naming their concerns and then ask extended family and friends to come to listen to the children explaining their messages. The messages can then be submitted to be collated and presented to the Federal Government in November.