Principals Australia : Principals Byte May 2006

APAPDC news update - Principals Byte May 2006

Kids Matter
Up, up and away

Kids Matter is now the official name of the primary school mental health promotion initiative developed jointly by APAPDC, the Department of Health and Ageing, beyondblue and the Australian Psychological Society.

Over the next three years, Kids Matter will provide up to 100 schools from all sectors, states and territories with an opportunity to participate in an initiative based on the latest research that shows what really makes a difference to student mental health.
Kids Matter has a holistic approach that looks at the protective factors that can be strengthened through the school context, the family and the child. It will support schools to better coordinate and integrate what they already do in the areas of social and emotional wellbeing, and provide strategies and resources to increase the knowledge and ability of parents, families and school staff to build the kind of environments that impact positively on student health.
Kids Matter will begin during the second half of 2006, and primary schools from all sectors, states and territories will be invited to apply. The selection process will ensure that the 100 schools are broadly representative. Schools will be provided with an initial two day briefing (for up to three members staff including the principal), an additional two days of whole school professional staff development based on the KidsMatter Manual, and ongoing support from the project officers.

Keep an eye out in the very near future for further information.
Inquiries to Mignon Souter mignon@apapdc.edu.au or Chris Champion chris@apapdc.edu.au

The APAPDC L5 Frame
A tool for leadership learning and practice.

Leadership starts from within
Leadership is about influencing others
Leadership develops a rich learning environment
Leadership builds professionalism and management capability
Leadership inspires leadership actions and aspirations in others

One of the ways the five propositions of the L5 can be used is as an audit tool to prompt thinking about our leadership in a particular area, and also to identify areas in which we can work more strategically in the future. The Dare to Lead Indigenous education project has developed such a tool that brings the real work of leadership in Indigenous education sharply into focus.

Although this resource tool has been written for school leaders of Indigenous students in mind, it will be of interest to school leaders who do not have Indigenous enrolments but are committed to promoting Reconciliation and Indigenous perspectives within their school. Click here to download the PDF.

Leading values education
Grants available for school clusters

Grants in the range of $30 000 - $95 000 per school cluster will be awarded to successful applicants in Stage 2 of the Values Education Good Practice Schools Project. Applications close 9 June 2006. For more information see the Values Education website

Stage 2 will identify, select and fund 25 clusters of schools to design, implement and evaluate quality projects in values education. There will be particular emphasis on:
integrating values education in teaching programs in or across key learning areas and into school mission/ethos.
exploring values education in intercultural and global contexts
explicit values education classroom practices that develop student social skills (by developing student responsibility in intercultural, local, national and global contexts and building student resilience)

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Schools are invited to apply for 2007 Career Education Lighthouse Funding

The Career Education Lighthouse Schools Project (a joint APAPDC and DEST project) recognises best practice and encourages innovation in school career education programs by providing funding to schools. Lighthouse schools act as champions and demonstrators of good practice in quality career education and encourage other secondary, primary, government and non-government schools to implement quality career education programs.
Schools will be funded up to $10,000 (GST excl) each, or more for successful school clusters.

Click here to download a PDF information flyer, or go directly to the website to download an application form www.careerlighthouse.dest.gov.au

Conferences 2006

Teachers Shaping Futures, Futures Shaping Teaching - Adelaide - 25-27 MAY
Australian College of Educators (ACE) 2006 national conference

The conference includes keynote presentations from Australian Nobel Laureate Professor Peter Doherty (Buntine Oration), Professor Chris Day (Nottingham University) and Tom
Karmel (NCVER). A detailed program update, special registration deal for
practising teachers and a flyer for the Buntine Oration are available on the
ACE Conference section of the APAPDC website.

Blooming leadership - a capital idea - Canberra - 3-6 October 2006
A combined ASPA and ACEL event.

The key notes speakers include:
Professor John Mc Beath, Chair educational leadership at the University of Cambridge; Dr Jeannie Herbert, Director of the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education; Professor Allan Luke, Queensland University.

Check out the details on www.acel.org.au

Mentoring and Coaching
The fourth week of this second online conference series for all educators world-wide will take place on the internet from Monday 19-26 June 2006. And its free. Click here to find out more. You are also invited to submit a paper for the conference. Closing date is 1 June 2006.