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.
Office closure over Xmas/January
The Parents Victoria office will be closed over the Christmas/January school holiday period.
Last day for 2019: Friday 20 December
First day for 2020: Tuesday 28 January
The PV Team wishes families, friends and colleagues all the best for the holiday break and for the New Year.
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.
Mobile phone ban: Parents Victoria comment
The Herald-Sun reports today that schools are gearing up for the statewide ban on mobile phones, due to be implemented next year. PV has voiced concerns about the ban, and our Executive Officer Gail McHardy is quoted in this article.
The government has allocated a $12.4 million budget for the implementation of the ban, and many schools have accessed a share of that funding to upgrade or buy lockers to store students’ phones. Some schools have already implemented the ban and others are developing their own policies for 2020.
'Helicopter parents' - Parents Victoria comment
The Herald-Sun published an article today headed "Helicopter parents told to stop interfering in class allocations for 2020".
The article by Claire Heaney begins,"Helicopter parents throwing tantrums over their kids not being put in the same class as their friends or demanding they be taught by a certain teacher are being told to buzz off by fed-up schools."
Conference report
Our Annual Conference on 18-19 NOvember was a busy, informative, invigorating and intriguing two days.
We heard from clinical psychologist Andrew Fuller, experienced educator John Hendry, Education Minister James Merlino, multicultural consultant Monique Toohey and many other speakers.
We elected a new PV Executive at our AGM.
And we heard lots of questions, comments and ideas from the people who attended.
Scroll down for speaker presentations and more details.
Videos
Conference overview and responses from delegates
Panel discussion
The Way Forward: How to kindly and constructively deal with difference and conflict in schools. A panel of educators and students discusses scenarios of difference and conflict. This video covers Scenario 1.
The Way Forward: Scenario 2
Photos
See more photos on our Facebook page 
.
Speaker presentations
Andrew Fuller
Clinical Psychologist & Consultant
Identifying and building learning strengths
We can't bring you Andrew's presentation slides but you can download a short summary of Andrew's "Implementing Learning Strengths" approach, including a link to Andrew's online Learning Strengths Analysis and information on other services Andrew offers.
Download Implementing Learning Strengths in Schools
Sue Karzis
CEO, State Schools' Relief
Removing Barriers to Improve Wellbeing
John Hendry
Educator and consultant
Relationship-based Education
John didn't use a presentation but you can read a series of his articles in our Relationship-based Education section.
Jac Van Velsen
CEO, WISA (Wellbeing in Schools Australia)
How to Effectively Address Bullying and Sleep Deprivation due to After-hours Device Use
Monique Toohey
Managing Director, Nasihah Consulting Group
Doing Diversity in Schools
(Click the 
icon at top left of each slide to see speaker notes)
Conference notes
Our hard-working staff took notes all the way through the conference. These are brief notes from the audience, not a complete reproduction of each speaker's presentation.
Download the Conference notes.
Joan Kirner Award
Congratulations to the winners of the 2019 Joan Kirner Parent Participation Award, which was given at our Conference. The award was won by Sue and Paul Brophy from Croydon Hills Primary School. Sue and Paul have devoted countless hours to the many tasks and activities that support a busy primary school, from helping in the classroom to supporting camps, excursion and sporting events, to serving as members and office-bearers on both School Council and Parent groups.
The runner-up was Matt Wallace P&F President at Kyneton Primary School. Under Matt’s dedicated leadership the P&F have not only raised much needed funds for the school but have also raised the profile of the P&F within the school and continues to see increased engagement and participation from the school community. Photo: Sue Brophy (right) and Matt Wallace (left).
Feedback
"Thanks so much for a terrific conference. I was pretty blown away by the quality of the presenters and discussion and the commitment of the group. Great food and venue as well!"
Chrissie McMahon,Virtual Schools Victoria
Education Excellence Awards finalists
The Department of Education and Training is excited to announce that the 2019 finalists for the Victorian Education Excellence Awards (VEEA) have been released by the Acting Minister for Education Gayle Tierney.
The finalists include a primary school teacher passionate about raising literacy standards, a school supporting and promoting Koorie culture and a principal who has advocated for strong student voice and leadership
- See the Minister's media release
- Read more on the Victorian Education Excellence Awards website
Gender neutral toilets: PV comment
The Herald-Sun recently reported on the installation of gender-neutral toilets at Brunswick East Primary School. (The article is behind a paywall, you can read it if you're a Herald-Sun subscriber.)
The article reports,
"Brunswick East Primary School says smelly urinals and safety and privacy fears have pushed it to choose gender neutral toilets. They are just one of the Melbourne schools embracing all gender restrooms. In a just completed maintenance upgrade, Brunswick East Primary School decided to embrace unisex toilets for a range of reasons including safety, privacy and hygiene. The Brunswick East school is among a number of schools choosing gender neutral toilets, often as part of an upgrade of existing facilities. Princes Hill Secondary College has committed to install the toilets. Carey Grammar has gender neutral toilets and uniforms... the lobby group Parents Victoria welcomed the toilets. “Some schools are realistic and sensible. We all have gender neutral bathrooms in our homes why not schools?” president Gail McHardy said."
(Note: Gail is actually PV's Executive Officer; our President is Sharron Healy).
PV Conference - save the date
18 & 19 November, 2019
Pullman Melbourne on the Park
Keynote speaker: Andrew Fuller
Brochure and program available soon - keep an eye on the website
Expert: we must fix inequity in education
Interesting article on the ABC website from Pasi Sahlberg, a Finnish education expert who now lives in Australia. He explains why equity is so important in an education system, why competition between schools delivers bad outcomes, and why his kids go to their local public school.
Australia must fix school inequity to create a top education system
About a year ago my life turned upside down, literally.
My wife and I, with our two school-aged children, moved to Sydney from Helsinki.
We soon realised that Australians do not walk upside down. But there were some things that we were not prepared for.
Ever since we arrived in our new hometown, people were curious to know how we chose a school for our sons.
For us it was no-brainer — the neighbourhood public school.
