eLetter
2010
February eLetter
Welcome back for the 2010 school year. I do hope it has started well for you.
English Online - GREAT NEWS! After continuing negotiations with DEECD we are really pleased to announce there will be NO Year 1 and 2 English Online assessment this year.
2009
November eLetter
The Minister for Education, the Hon Julia Gillard MP, invited 150 principals from around Australia to meet with her at Parliament House, Canberra on Tuesday 10 and Wednesday 11 November 2009 to commence a conversation about the opportunities and challenges that principals face and how we take forward a shared agenda to lift the achievement of all our students.
October eLetter
The whole implementation of the English Online Assessment has been less than desirable for schools. VPA recommendations to deal with this issue are addressed. Ian Burrage at DEECD has also provided advice.
August eLetter I was fortunate to attend the ICP conference in Singapore and represent the VPA at the ICP two day Council session. A highlight was meeting with over 40 VPA members in the Conrad Hotel in Singapore. It was very affirming to meet so many Victorians very interested in global learning and networking with each other over a drink.
The conference opened with a very impressive speech by the Prime Minister of Singapore who gave a potted history of education in Singapore and then future directions.
July eLetter Our Victorian Primary school students are missing out on Federal Funding which was intended for each school’s global budget. This commonwealth funding was intended to address the inequity between primary and secondary students and be passed on directly to schools in 2009. Unfortunately the Victorian State budget seems to have absorbed the money into the general education bucket. It has not gone to each primary school as was expected. In good faith principals prepared their 2009 budgets on the basis that this money would flow directly to help individual school programs. State Governments in South Australia, New South Wales and Northern Territory have passed this money directly onto schools. Our primary students in Victoria are missing out again and our primary schools have been caught short. VPA has received response confirming it is all in the May Budget however the primary money seems to have been spreads over a variety of programs e.g Ultranet coaches etc. This is not fair in terms o f our hard fought battle to gain this equity money over the next few years.
June eletter On May 24th we had a rather historic meeting with Secretary Peter Dawkins and Deputy Secretary Darrell Fraser. It is the first time in recent years that VPA and VASSP have met together with the Secretary and it is first time the Minister has attended also.
May eletter Since the first draft of “Effective Schools are Engaging Schools” was distributed, VASSP & VPA have been working hard to insert some rationality and common sense into a proposal that undermined principals in their ability to set and enforce a positive school culture.
April eletter Our VPA Board members discussing Victorian issues with Hon. Julia Gillard MP at the National Public Education Forum in Canberra 27/28 March 2009.
March eletter On a National level, membership to VPA includes membership to Australian Primary Principals Association (APPA) and Australian Government Primary Principals Association (AGPPA). Recently returning from APPA and AGPPA Executive meetings in Canberra, a number of national initiatives are taking place to keep primary principals at the forefront of federal education.
February eletter A press release came through from New South Wales under the Commonwealth/State Partnership Agreement. I thought I'd draw your attention to the statement from Julia Gillard about an extra $100 from the Commonwealth for each primary student. At present I am seeking clarification about how this will be disbursed in our schools.