Minnis Journals

ET News Digest

Your Weekly Education Newsletter

$1.2 million to assist Victorian principals’ mental health
A comprehensive school culture program with a focus on principal mental health is coming to Victoria, looking to affect long term change for approximately 1500 principals and educators and 35,000 students.
Smiling Mind will co-design a cultural and environmental change framework underpinned by mindfulness principles and practices with schools. The training and educational model will inform the direction for creating a tailored mindfulness program for each school and integrated to establish school wide mental health. Read more

STEM gender equity requires programs and support
Increasing gender equity and diversity in STEM by 2028 will require sustained government and industry investment and programs to support diversity in STEAM work well to level the field.
Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute's (AMSI) APR.Intern program for PhD students in STEM, part of the government’s National Research Internship Program hosted its first Women in the STEM Workforce event in 2018, with a second event planned for this year.
The program has increased the percentage of female PhDs taking up industry placements to 44% since 2017. Read more

The Bryan Foundation partners with Evidence for Learning to support better early childhood learning
Evidence for Learning (E4L), is expanding its work into early childhood education with a partnership with The Bryan Foundation.
Evidence for Learning, a not-for-profit backed by Social Ventures Australia (SVA), has received $1 million in cornerstone funding from The Bryan Foundation to deliver an Early Childhood Education initiative focused on the learning lives of children before they start school. Read more

Patti Fawcett winner of 2019 Class Clowns National Grand Final
15-year-old Patti Fawcett from Bendigo South East College has been announced as the winner of the 24th annual Class Clowns National Grand Final held in The Forum at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Her performance won over the judges, demonstrating confidence, comic timing and offering an original perspective on the world.
She walks away with a prize of $1500, a $1000 workshop package for her school, plus the Class Clowns trophy. 16 teen comedians from around the nation performed in front of a live audience and a panel of industry experts. Read more

New funding for schools to share Stolen Generations history
Schools around the country can now apply for grants of up to $700 to hold events about the Stolen Generations.
The grants were announced by The Healing Foundation at the launch of their Stolen Generations Resource Kit for Teachers and Students, at Trangie Central School near Dubbo in NSW. Read more

LEGO Education SPIKE Prime integrates LEGO with STEAM teaching
LEGO has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to Making and STEAM and with the release of LEGO Spike Prime it should feature in technology teaching well into the future.
SPIKE Prime has been designed with STEAM teaching as a focus. It brings together LEGO bricks, a programmable, multi-port hub, sensors and motors all powered by the SPIKE app based on the Scratch coding language. Read more

Casula Powerhouse has heaps of creative workshops
Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre (CPAC) has announced its latest workshops on offer for Term 2 as part of the Public Programs and Education (PPE) schedule, activities include stunning visual arts, colourful clay-crafting and art history.
The newly launched workshops are also included in Creative Kids – the NSW Government rebate offering $100 vouchers for creative classes for children aged 4.5–18 years. Read more

The Gruffalo has arrived at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary
The Gruffalo Trail augmented reality experience will be open at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary Gold Coast in time for the April school holidays.
The Gruffalo himself arrived to check out his new home, escaping the pages of the classic picture book The Gruffalo which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.
The Gruffalo Trail attraction is an Australian first and works a bit like Pokemon Go, the Gruffalo Spotters Aus app is free. Read more