Powerpoint presentations and/or Information from
Conference Session Speakers

Dr Julian Dooley, ECU,Cyberbullying andYour Child

Dr Julian Dooley, Senior Research Fellow of Cyber Bullying / Scientific Director, Child Health Promotion Research Unit, ECU – completed his PhD at the University of Melbourne in 2007. His PhD research examined social cognitive functioning and aggression after paediatric traumatic brain injury. Since completing his PhD he has worked as a Postdoctoral Project Officer at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute before accepting a Postdoctoral Research Fellow position in the School of Psychology and Social Science at Edith Cowan University (ECU). He is currently Senior Research Fellow of Cyberbullying at the Child Health Promotion Research Centre (CHPRC) at ECU. In addition, he is the Scientific Director of the CHPRC and oversees a number of bullying and violence-related research studies. Dr Dooley is also a research affiliate at MCRI maintaining a role in a number of research projects and student supervision.

Meg Roche, You Can Do It ! Education

Meg Roche, lived and worked in the country in a small farming community and raised four children until 2001 when with her husband, she moved to Wanneroo. She gained first-hand experience in both teaching and being a parent of students at small country primary schools, district high schools and finally large city colleges. Her experience with children continues with class lessons, small student groups and helping with 12 grandchildren.

Meg’s teaching career is long and varied having taught all levels from Pre-primary to year 12. In 1997, she won the secondary teacher of the year award for Western Australia followed by the award for National Teacher of Excellence in 1998. This is judged through all levels on teaching and in all States.

Meg now works in the field of Social Emotional Learning and is the Key Trainer for You Can Do It! Education in Western Australia. She has been involved in the teaching and facilitation of YCDI workshops and in-service training for teachers and parents since 1998.

Stephanie Jackiewicz, CEO, Changes in Early Childhood Education

Stephanie Jackiewicz, Catholic Education Office Child Care Consultant – joined Catholic Education last year after a lengthy career in the early year’s field. She has both a Bachelor of Social Science in Children’s Studies and a Masters of Social Science in Human Services. Stephanie has lectured at Edith Cowan University in the Children and Families Studies course for 7 years. She also lectured at the University of Notre Dame, in the College of Education. In the 7 years prior to joining Catholic Education Stephanie has been a Senior Research Officer with the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research. In this role she has been involved in a number of research projects and program evaluations relating to the health and wellbeing of children, young people and their families. Stephanie is looking forward to the new challenge of delivering quality early years services to Catholic families within the school environment.

Brenton Holmes, Family School Partnerships Bureau, ACT

Brenton Holmes, Family School Partnerships Bureau, Canberra, ACT – is a South Australian by birth and a Canberran by choice. He spent his early career in teaching, adult education, educational media production and the TAFE bureaucracy. He moved to Canberra in 1990, and spent a dozen or more years as a parliamentary officer in the Senate, including as Director of the Parliamentary Education Office and Senior Clerk of Committees. He left the Senate to take up a principal consultancy role in the private sector, missed the buzz and challenges of the parliamentary service, and returned to the Commonwealth working in ministerial and parliamentary liaison roles. In mid- 2008 he took on the research and communications role at the Family-School and Community Partnerships Bureau. He is a keen jazz musician and longboard surfer, writes non-fiction book reviews for the Canberra Times, and is looking forward to becoming a fulltime writer when the Bureau’s job is done.
Brenton was VERY affirming for parents and had some fantastic resources and ideas. The simple version of his message was – schools which have a real sense of “Community” are best. And schools which are faith based, as we are, seem to be ahead in this – as we already have a good sense of what community means.

Go to www.familyschool.org.au select Online Helpdesk from menu and click on Talk Tools. You will find a really useful checklist of positive ways to build school community. ALSO, select Latest Newsletter from links on left hand side of screen, scroll to Schools First, and you will find a link for information about money provided by National Australia Bank (NAB) for schools to start and to expand projects which build community in schools. Apparently up to $20,000!

Jim Smith, Catholic Earthcare, Sustainability & Green Schools

Jim Smith, Catholic Earthcare – has been a teacher and Principal in Catholic schools in WA for the past 40 years with a special interest in environmental awareness. He is now representing Catholic Earthcare Australia in their WA endeavour to develop an ecological vision for Catholic Education in WA schools and parishes.

Conference Workshops

Anne Harrison, Additive Alert www.additivealert.com.au

Additive Alert Pty Ltd was founded by Julie Eady in 2004 to promote better consumer awareness of food additives and their effects on health, and to advocate for better labeling of Australian foods. Since then Additive Alert has delivered over 200 information sessions to educational, community and corporate groups locally and interstate. As demand for the workshops has grown steadily, we now have a team of trained, passionate presenters, one of whom is Anne Harrison, available to deliver the workshops and information sessions within the community.

The information session presented by Anne revealed some startling facts about how our foods have changed in recent times and what is really in the foods we now feed our kids. Many of the food additives widely used in Australian foods these days are no longer considered safe in many other countries, yet Australian regulation lags behind the US and UK and still permits the use of many concerning additives.
Anne revealed which additives are linked to common disorders such as hyperactivity, asthma, skin and gut disorders as well as additives which are banned overseas due to cancer concerns but are still permitted here in food such as yoghurts, muesli bars and fruit juices. Simple solutions and tips on how to avoid these additives in foods and how to select better products were also provided, along with a handy Additives to Avoid shopping card to make safe shopping easy.

Dr Gavin Marsh, Pathways WA, www.pathwaysfoundation.com.au
Raising Teenage Boys

Dr Gavin Marsh, MBBS, FRACGP, Pathways WA – is a General Practitioner south of the river with an interest in general practice psychiatry. Gavin is an adjunct clinical lecturer at Notre Dame University. He is a Pathways Leader and was the 2008 Ambassador for Youth Focus. He has been a junior sports coach for 8 years and is the father of three teenagers aged 17, 15 and 12

For parents who are interested in finding out more about Pathways Foundation, contact Richard Jackson, co-ordinator for WA at [rjackson@ix.net.au] or phone on 0419 902 481. Some useful camps/dates/information listed below.

Pathways to Manhood

A contemporary, community based Rite of Passage for boys to Manhood. A 5 or 6 day bush camp for boys aged 13-15 years and their fathers or a male mentor.

Find out more

Pathways into Womanhood

A contemporary, community based Rite of Passage for girls into Womanhood. A 5 day program for girls aged 12-15 years and their mothers or a woman mentor.

Find out more

YoungStars

A fun, adventure filled, bush camping weekend that celebrates the boys’ relationships with their fathers. For boys aged 6-10 and their fathers or a mentor.

Find out more

AGM REPORTS

President’s Report 2009
Executive Director’s Report 2009

Members of the Parents and Friends’ Federation Council represent all Parents of Catholic school students in WA on the following organisations

Catholic Education Commission of Western Australia (CECWA)

CECWA Annual Report for May 2009 AGM

CECWA Standing Committees & Working Parties:

Religious Education & Curriculum Committee Annual Report to AGM May 2009

School Resources Committee Annual Report for May 2009 AGM

Reports from other Organisations:

Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative (AuSSI-WA) Annual Report to AGM 2009

Curriculum Council & SSEC Reports to AGM 2009

Rural & Remote Education Advisory Council Annual Report to AGM 2009

WA College Of Teaching Annual Report to AGM 2009

After Dinner Address

Conference Photos

2009 Conference Opening Photos

2009 Conference Sessions & Workshops Photos

2009 Conference Dinner Photos

Margaret says,

MARKETING TO CHILDREN THROUGH SCHOOLS

I want to bring to your attention the issue of teachers selling to their students, in particular the Scholastic Book Club. There is growing concern amongst parents and teachers about the quality and appropriateness of products included in this scheme.

Although the club contains many excellent books, a very large proportion of the products are toys and trinkets or purely movie/tv tie in books (with story lines and narratives taken directly from the movie and illustrations from the movie set, rather than quality children’s literature originating from genuine children’s authors and illustrators.

At the end of last year, some parents in my children’s school raised concerns about the ‘book’ club. Consequently, the school has withdrawn from the club. This is great news for the families at our school. However, a parent at another local school has complained about the scheme and been unable to get the book club removed from their school.

I feel a responsibility to pursue this issue on behalf of other parents and children. I know the Federation works tirelessly to protect the welfare of children and I would appreciate it if you could provide me with any feedback you may have received from other parents in our schools.

Carol says,

I am the Scholastic Co-ordinator for my children’s primary school. When I was teaching, I found the books that Scholastic supplied were good and they supplied many useful teaching resources and free posters about a wide range of subjects. The children loved purchasing the books which were well priced and they were being exposed to literature. Since becoming a parent I still find they have a great range of books which are very well priced and which I know are levelled at the right age for my children. My children are steered away from trinkets and toys, and are always told “we buy for the book not for the toys”. We have purchased books centred around movies, but I don’t see this as an offence, sometimes these are great for weak or uninterested readers.

Jenny says,

I am a parent and on P&F committee at our school. Last year I instigated the withdrawal from the Scholastic Bookclub for our school based on the following reasons:

a) I did not appreciate the fact that my child was being advertised to
without my approval via the brochures which were handed out in the classrooms to all children.

b) I objected to the way in which my children would then discuss the
brochures with their friends prior to being collected from school and would have already decided what books they wanted (mostly the junk within
the brochure).

c) The fact that my children would then try to pester me into purchasing these books for them because “My friends get them” or “everyone else does” and then when I refused each time was having to explain my reasons behind
the decision and put up with grumpy kids all afternoon.

d) The content of the brochures is a disgrace.  They are not selling literature they are selling rubbish which will not help with the education of my children – Bart Simpson and Bratz (Rated PG and M) are not appropriate.

e) My children are 6 & 7 and should not be advertised to within a school
environment in this way.  They are not old enough to understand the cunningness behind the advertisers and the fact that they don’t care about
the people just the sales.  They are not old enough to make wise decisions when it comes to making choices of what to buy and they do need my help as their parent to make these decisions.  Scholastic should be ashamed of what they have turned in to and just stick to the Lexile programme (which also could be improved in terms of appropriateness of material).

The head of primary also added that the benefits of being members for the bookclub were not great and was more than happy to can the whole thing.  YAY! a sensible person who cares about our children.  There are other ways to raise funds for schools than this.

If parents want to buy their children books to read, take them to a bookshop where everyone can enjoy the experience of browsing through the books and making sensible decisions together.  If they can’t get to a bookshop do the same thing online with the child and a good result can be had by all.

Do you have a topic you would like discussed on our blog? Email to us today at info@pff.wa.edu.au