Back on 8 February there was some mirth at the concept of Andrew Barr’s ACT schools cyber safety summit.
Readers will be thrilled to see these photos tweeted this afternoon by Mr Barr from the summit.
Behold the “student declaration banner”, marvel at the “students delivering their commitments”.

Minister Barr has also put out a media release celebrating [...]

Is there any policy and or consistency of how the ACT deals with bullying in schools?
I witnessed a girl trying to hide a swollen face and bruised eye on the bus, she was naturally distressed and was not like being on the bus but was her only way to the Dr’s. She was with her [...]

The Greens Amanda Bresnan is calling for leadership following the alarming Challenging Racism report results this morning:
“Rather than promoting understanding, politicians have instead recently tabled an anti-Muslim petition, made insensitive remarks about refugees attending the funeral of people killed near Christmas Island and insulted traditional Islamic Halal food preparation.
“The use of asylum seekers [...]

The Legislative Assembly has announced that it’s running an essay competition for college age students.
The topic, oddly enough, is the privilege of the Assembly:
The topic of the essay is Should the Commonwealth have the power to override laws made by the ACT Legislative Assembly? To be eligible essays must be 1000 words (minimum) and 1300 [...]

Andrew Barr has announced he’s roping up 6 “leaders” from each and every year 9 class in Canberra for the stunningly named “Who R U in the Digital World”, supposedly a summit but I’ll drink a shandy if the students have any real input.
It is the first time such a summit had been held in [...]

Andrew Barr has celebrated the start of the school year with a visit to schools in Tuggeranong and Gungahlin.
More interestingly he’s outlined what he wants to achieve this year in education:
That’s why 2011 will be a year that sees the ACT Labor Government:
• provide principals with more say over who teaches in their school and [...]

The Sydney Morning Herald has a story on a new program being rolled out in NSW schools to “encourage gay role models and open discussion of homosexuality in schools” called “Proud Schools”
The Canberra angle is that the Education Minister Andrew Barr has just tweeted that he’s hoping to bring the program to the ACT’s schools.

Andrew Barr has breathlessly announced that work has begun out at UC for:
The Innovative Sustainable Practical Interactive Research in Education (InSPIRE) Centre, which will be the centre for teacher training and research in the use of ICT in education, has received $2 million from the ACT Labor Government and $5 million from the Federal Labor [...]

My friends and I are looking for a vehicle to take us to formal.
I recently saw a post on here about someone looking for a stretch hummer, but we are going more for something different.
We were actually looking for a VW Kombi van like the one above. I have seen a few around Canberra but [...]

Liberal Leader Zed Seselja has announced he’s introduced legislation “to allow businesses who choose not to serve students during schools hours to do so without fear of unintended legal consequences”.
In particular he’s proposing exemptions to the Discrimination Act, which he rightly points out is riddled with exemptions already.
This all stems from the whoo haa down [...]

The Canberra Times notes that the ACT has the lowest percentage of male teachers in Australia and that number’s dropping.
The Department of Education and Training’s 2009-10 annual report showed government schools had even fewer men than the territory overall, with the ratio of male to female staff at 22per cent to 78per cent, which has [...]

Does anyone know of any primary schools or preschools holding special activities on Friday to support the RAIDERS ahead of their semi-final clash?  
I know Waniassa High is asking students to wear green for a gold donation and the money will be donated to SIDS.
Any other schools??

My husband and I bought property on Smiths Rd, out past Tharwa 5 years ago, loving the fact that Tharwa Public school was our ‘local’. We subsequently spent 4 years living overseas, but are now back.
Our eldest daughter is due to start Primary school next year and we find oursleves in the catchment for [...]

The ABC has the happy news that students in the ACT have outperformed the rest of the country in NAPLAN testing:
The latest results shows ACT students continuing to perform above the national average.
In most areas, ACT students are the best performing in the nation or are just below students from Victoria or NSW.
One suspects [...]

Andrew Barr has today announced that he’s released the Excellence in Disability Education in ACT Public Schools – Strategic Plan 2010-2013.
He made particular, nigh on excruciating, reference to the Catholic Education Office and the Association of Independent Schools who have agreed to “join” the ACT Government in working “more closely together for the benefit [...]

Community Services Minister Joy Burch has been a bit naughty according to the ABC, handing out ALP Show Bags at a local high school.
Don’t worry though, Andrew Barr assures us she was just helping support “things about the democratic process”.
He adds that it was the school’s responsibility to decide what was appropriate for the [...]

In Saturday’s Canberra Times there was a job ad for a position at a new preschool in “rural Canberra”, to be conducted by Blue Gum School. There were no further details provided about the school in either the ad or on the school’s web site.
Does anyone have any details about what and where this school [...]

The Liberals’ Steve Doszpot is stamping his tiny feet that the Greens and Labor won’t agree with him about guaranteeing rivers of gold to private schools.
“I presented this motion today to give the Greens and the Labor Party an opportunity to step up an support the non-government education sector, which provides quality educational outcomes for [...]

[First filed: Aug 2, 2010 @ 13:51]

The ACT Department of Education and Training has issued a discussion paper on “Improving ACT Public High Schools and Colleges”.
The discussion component seems to be driven by two pages asking “What if?”:
… high schools and colleges worked together as connected learning communities to offer greater choice to students?
… [...]

I have a toddler and I recently became aware that public schools have priority areas for school children. I would like to consider moving to a suburb with good NAPLAN results and from research; 4 public schools fall in this category: Kaleen, Red Hill, Garran and Telopea. If I am to consider private, Canberra Girls [...]

I am keen to send my kids to a school offering bilingual education if possible. 
Does anyone have any feedback on Telopea park or Yarralumla for kids who come from non bilingual families. 
In particular, I haven’t heard too much about how the bilingual Italian teaching is going at Yarralumla primary.  Are the kids doing [...]

I am having some issues with the choice of a college. 
I am hoping that some fellow RiotACTers will be able to help me out with the choice between Canberra and Narrabundah College. 
I am interested in English and Law and I am your typical A grade student (and I would like to stay that [...]

[First filed: May 25, 2010 @ 14:34]
Andrew Barr has announced that the “Connected Learning Community” (cLc), currently being trialled at eight schools (Hawker College, Lake Tuggeranong College, Stromlo High School, Alfred Deakin High School, Campbell High School, Weetangera Primary School, Ngunnawal Primary School and Wanniassa Hills Primary School) is going live to the rest of [...]

Andrew Barr has announced his response to the Allen Consulting Review of School Based Management in the ACT.
As part of the Government’s response principals will get more say over who teaches in their school. Principals will take greater responsibility for the performance of their staff who will in turn take greater responsibility for the performance [...]

1. Belco gets into school vandalism:
ACT Policing is seeking the support of the Canberra community in keeping our schools and colleges safe and secure over the current term break.
During these holiday periods, school premises are targeted for property offences such as burglary, graffiti and vandalism.
Over the weekend, police took three young people into custody after [...]

Seems there was a bit of excitement out at Gold Creek school today with some reports of golf club wielding current and former students taking out their angst on the Schools windows. The School was apparently put in lockdown mode for some time, which is a proposition that i hadn’t realised that schools had in [...]

Assembly inquiry reports come and go, but the report of the Inquiry into school closures (a pdf download) has managed to upset everyone apart from the communities of Hall and Tharwa, who have a recommendation to get their schools back.
So how could they upset everyone else?

The committee couldn’t even agree with itself, producing three dissenting [...]

Can anyone suggest a good driving school in Canberra? 
A Google search just brings up a series of rather ugly websites that all claim to be the best or at least the most popular. 
Should we just play it safe and go with the NRMA driving school? 
Also, as the person learning is in his [...]

The Canberra Times notes an interesting change of direction for the “Save Our Schools” group.
The Government is talking about turning the Weston campus of the Canberra Institute of Technology over for use as an Islamic school.
Strangely when the government hands over unwanted facilities for Christian schools it passes without note.
But the SOS group, who have [...]

Simon Corbell has proudly announced a new road safety show and tell to try and “ram home the safe driving message”.
(I normally find that messages which require brute force are of dubious merit, but let’s move on)
The attention-grabbing display, entitled Real Decisions, Real Consequences has as its focus a wrecked vehicle from a fatal [...]

[ 5 August, 2009; 6 August, 2009; ] For some of us it might be a little late in the day.

But for younger readers considering their education options, and the parents of younger readers, it’s worth noting that the Canberra Careers Market is on again in early August.

From their blurb:

The Canberra Careers Market is an annual event usually conducted on the first Wednesday [...]

When the ACT Government began rolling out plans for “Super Schools” many were apalled at the idea of cramming overly disparate age groups into the same facility.
The Liberals’ Steve Dozspot is claiming that out at the newish West Belconnen Kingsford Smith School all is not well:
“Systemic bullying and a lack of a ratified school specific [...]