From Parents Victoria - response times and meetings
Parents Victoria has the capacity to work remotely and will not be attending face to face meetings in the foreseeable future. We are managing a high volume of emails and contacts currently, so your patience with longer than usual response times would be appreciated.
Coronavirus and schools - PV comment
The Age contacted Parents Victoria for comment on the impact of coronavirus in schools.
PV Executive Officer Gail McHardy's comments were published in the Age article on 13 March.
Gail said it was sensible to keep schools open for now. She said:
“If it’s inevitable that school is going to be disrupted at some stage, they will call it when the public health officers call it,”
Read the full article on the Age website
School closures - from the Minister
Minister for Education James Merlino said today (13 March):
“If a school is closed, I want to assure all parents, teachers will be working remotely and available and in contact with their students to minimise the disruption to learning as much as possible,” Mr Merlino said. "Online and offline delivery options will be available and can be tailored to individual schools, and to different age groups of students.”
Are you feeling 'fundraising fatigue'?
A recent ABC News article focuses on school fundraising. Parent Club members will be very familiar with the expectation that they raise funds for the school. But as the article points out, "...when volunteers often feel compelled to continue because they are fundraising for basics, not luxuries, it presents a new problem: school fundraising fatigue."
Parents Victoria believes schools need to be fully funded by governments to meet the educational needs of every student, without the need for parents (or teachers) to fundraise. Parent Clubs should be free to engage in governance & engagement activities and creating genuine partnerships, not propping up the school budget. School social events are great, and they might raise money, but any proceeds should be for extras, not basics.
New fundraising ideas from the Fundraising Whisperer
As usual, Mandy the Fundraising Whisperer has some great ideas in her monthly newsletter.
In the March 2020 issue, you'll find
- Mega Sausage Sizzle Guide (free download)
- Signup Zone - free rostering tool
- Fundraising suppliers - ask them for their info pack!
- Top 5 articles and resources for the month
- Monthly giveaway
You can see the newsletter on Mandy's website.
Help for bushfire-affected schools and families
The Education Department has comprehensive information on its website for families affected by the recent bushfires.
For parents and carers
The parents and carers page has information on:
- Parent hotline
- School and kinder closures
- School buses
- Help with school costs
- Supporting your child
- Donations to affected schools
- And more...
Go to the parents and carers page
For schools
The schools page has extensive information for bushfire-affected schools.
Of particular interest to parents will be the section about "Funding to Help Schools and Families".
It includes information on support that's available to help get kids back to school after the bushfires. The section lists the 15 Local Government Areas where support is available through State Schools' Relief.
Commbank bushfire recovery grants available to schools and Parent Clubs
Commbank has launched a program of Bushfire Recovery Grants to help support local communities and replace facilities lost in the fires.
Any school or Parent Club in a bushfire-affected area is eligible to apply.
Commbank is especially keen for schools to apply, as they know that a lot of the damage caused by fires has been to items which the community has spent significant time fundraising and building.
Read more: Commbank bushfire recovery grants available to schools and Parent Clubs
Cost of digital devices - PV comment
PV Executive Officer Gail McHardy is quoted in this article from yesterday's Age. The article, titled "Parents count the cost as classrooms dump textbooks for MacBooks", covers the issue of costs to parents as schools increasingly require them purchase digital devices for their children's education. From the article:
Gail McHardy, Parents Victoria's executive officer, said the cost varied significantly between schools and that school councils had to remain mindful of what families could afford.Many families, particularly in regional and rural Victoria, struggled to cover the cost of a device or multiple devices for their children.
“Most secondary schools now expect all students to purchase a laptop,” Ms McHardy said.
“These laptops generally only last a couple of years before they start to slow or not even work and therefore there’s a requirement to purchase another in a couple of years.”
Ms McHardy criticised schools that lock parents into buying from one supplier, potentially denying them an opportunity to get a cheaper device elsewhere.
School shoes - PV comment
PV Exec Officer Gail McHardy is quoted in this article from yesteray's Age.
According to the article, "... school shoes are far and away the most Googled topic for families with children going back to school."
Gail's comment: "School shoes can range in price from $15 to $140. For families with more than one child to kit out for the school year this can be expensive."
The article has lots of useful information for parents about choosing school shoes.
What the article doesn't mention is that you can buy school shoes from State Schools Relief. You can purchase online or at 17 retail outlets across Victoria.
School starting time: PV comment
The issue of sleep deprivation among young people is in the news again. One solution that has been advanced is for secondary schools to start later, to better match the 'body clocks' of teenagers. This issue is covered in today's article in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. PV's Executive Office Gail McHardy is quoted in the article. Gail said any change to school starting times would be a big ask. "Any change in school hours would have a huge domino effect on teachers' hours, traffic and employment, and would need to worked out among schools, families and government," she said.
The article also quotes adolescent-health researchers and Australian Principals Federation president Julie Podbury.
