Our online Conference on 27 November opened with a welcome from Education Minister Ben Carroll. While the Minister could not be there in person, we thank him for making the time to produce a video message. In his message, the Minister acknowledged parents as “the first and perhaps most important” educators in their children’s lives. He also thanked parents for the vital role they play as partners in their children’s schooling, as volunteers and members of School Councils and Parent Clubs, stating that, “we wouldn’t be the Education State without you”.
Dr Jodi Richardson
Then we moved on to a presentation from Dr Jodi Richardson titled Finding Calm in the Chaos:
Understanding and Managing Stress for You and Your Child.
Jodi talked about the stresses of parenting, and how anxiety can be ‘contagious’, (that is, children will pick up the signs that their parents are anxious, and this may make them anxious too). She mentioned the importance of boundaries around children’s use of smartphones and social media, and took us through some practical strategies to ‘close the loop’ on stress and anxiety. Jodi has kindly provided a follow-up article with resources you can download.
Joan Kirner Award
The Joan Kirner Parent Participation Award winner was announced at the Conference – this year’s winner is Kimberley Hall from Merri Creek Primary School. We will bring you more details in a future issue of Parents Voice. Congratulations Kimberley, we hope to meet you soon and formally present your award!
AGM/Annual Report
The Conference was followed by our Annual General Meeting, which included presentation of our 2024 Annual Report. The report was accepted by the members present. You can download the Annual Report from our website.
