Minnis Journals

For Education Leaders

How a Tasmanian school grew students enrolled by 312 per cent
It’s been a bit over 12 months since Ron West arrived as the new principal at Australian Christian College, Burnie, in Tasmania and in that time enrolments have jumped, more than tripled in fact.That’s a pretty good result but if there is a secret to it, it’s not a very big one. Read more

Handwriting vital to literacy
Despite a tech heavy education sector good old fashioned hand writing is looking to be an essential part of learning and a shift to paperless schools does not have strong empirical research to back it.
A recent study has investigated the links between handwriting and other literacy skills in young children, finding that handwriting automaticity, or fluency, predicted writing quality and reading skills a year later.
The study involved 154 students and 24 teachers across seven Perth schools. and sough to understand the effect handwriting automaticity has on children’s later literacy skills. Read more

Routines and time off devices for a good sleep
The anecdotal evidence is there, sleepy, grumpy kids are disinterested in anything other than more sleep. Students are rarely getting the recommended 8-10 hours per night, averaging 7.5 hours of sleep during the school term and 8.2 hours during the school holidays. Read more

Read good material for the most benefit
Reading is good but reading quality stuff is better, magazines and websites present everyday concepts with regular vocabulary which makes for valuable reading practice but interesting, innovative material makes the reader push themselves and develop their cognition.
Students who engaged in reading high-quality books daily scored much higher in tests than those who chose to read items such as magazines a study of 43,000 students in the United Kingdom showed.
Story books and information books usually present academic concepts with a more technical vocabulary in an abstract way. This is what grows cognitive capacity. Read more

Building a curriculum that includes students with vision impairment
The first national curriculum for students with a vision impairment could be rolled out in schools across Australia soon with trials taking place later this year. Read more

Stolen Generations grants further Indigenous knowledge in schools
There has been a national shift in perception around Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues and this is being driven, in part, by more Indigenous knowledge at the school level. Towards that schools can now apply for grants of up to $500 to access stolen generations teaching material. Read more

Code Jumper teaches blind kids to code
Code Jumper assists 7-11 year olds, regardless of their level of vision, to learn the basics of computer coding and programming skills. Read more