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A Regular update from the
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No 8, 2005. Published 20th July, 2005 |
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I hope everybody has had a smooth start to the Term and that you all had a great holiday. I spent some time at during the vacation at the Federation conference on behalf of the PPA and was also at the Principals’ Induction Conference on the final two days of the holidays assisting with the facilitation and presenting a session. As you can imagine, the numbers of new Principals seems to be growing as the turn-over in the Principalship continues. Along with the Secondary Principals’ Council, the PPA was proud to be able sponsor a section of the program and to encourage the involvement of new Principals in their Association. I have no doubt that Principals within local Areas will make new Principals extremely welcome. Please check that they are on the PPA email list, as this does not happen automatically. There is link on our website, just below the top menu bar, which allows new Principals to subscribe to our email list. Please pass this information on as we want all of our Principals to have access to any information sent out. What follows are some developments at the start of term. We hope that you have a productive term ahead ! New Enrolment Forms - Collection of Year 3 and 5 data There was some confusion yesterday when a faxed memo arrived in many schools asking that new enrolment forms be used as a means of collecting data required to satisfy the reporting requirements which now form part of the regulations which form part of the Federal quadrennium funding arrangements. Following some calls of concern, the PPA has had urgent discussions with senior DET officers and an updated memo has been sought to clarify the situation and redefine the expected timelines. This draft is currently the subject of negotiation with the relevant union. Basically, as the system currently does not have the ability to report in the categories required by the new regulations, it was seen that the best way to collect the required data was via the new enrolment forms which had initially been issued in October 2004, but updated in early 2005. The alternative would have been a dedicated survey of all parents of children in Years 3 and 5. It is understood that not all parents may necessarily complete all forms, or all parts of the form. It is understood that schools are only able to provide that data which will be available to them. It is anticipated that the date at which data may be collected via OASIS would now be the beginning of October. Depending on the outcome of further discussions with the PSA, it is hoped that a further memo will be out very soon. Investing in our Schools Program – Projects costing more than $100,000 To continue the extent to which new Federal funding strings impact on our operation : Please note the information passed on to the NSW PPA by one of our secondary colleagues who is part of the team of Professional Association reps with the task of assisting the facilitation of the program. In relation to the "Investing In our Schools" Project regarding projects costing over $100,000 : As you are aware, projects over this magic number require us to go to tender. This of course poses a real problem for Principals applying to this funding in that they can't go to tender until they know whether or not they have been successful with the funding. Enquiries made in relation to this to Canberra have elicited a response as follows: Yes we have been asked this one a couple times. In these cases, we have spoken with NSW DET who are prepared to provide schools with a cost estimate on their letterhead so that this can be provided as evidence of the cost of projects for our assessment purposes. After an application is successful, the tender can be done and the final costs will be acquitted upon completion of the project. As long as the application includes at least a 10% contingency fee as well there should no problem with all costs being considered. This saves a lot of time for the schools as well so that they're not wasting their time getting quotes that may be invalid. Music Program Opportunity The Music Council of
Australia has secured finding through the Freedman Foundation to pilot a new
‘music in schools’ program in 4 ‘disadvantaged’ primary schools in There will be no cost to the participating schools. Musicians will go in 5 or 6 times across 2 terms (Term 3 and Term 4) if you are school within this area and you are interested to know more about the program, including the criteria for selection, please email Roger for more information. roger@nswppa.org.au National Child Protection Week: 4th – 10th September, 2005 Information forwarded from NAPCAN Working in a child-focused field, you realise and appreciate the growing need to provide a healthy, happy and safe environment for all children. NAPCAN strives to create community awareness about the issues of child abuse and neglect, and in doing so, help those communities to become child friendly. Tied to this ever important goal of NAPCAN is the second part of my request, and that is to engage with these people, organisations, action groups etc, to encourage participation in some of the Child Friendly Challenges that will be put forward in our National Child Protection Week Organiser Kits, released from mid July via our new website, www.napcan.org.au You may also be able to assist us in the collection of "good news" stories that we are seeking around positive initiatives relating to child friendly activities happening within your organisation or communities. We are making this a key focus of NCPW. These stories will be shared on our Website. If you have stories you would like to share or would like further information about National Child Protection week, please use the link to check out the website. Roger Pryor
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