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Education & training

New Children’s University for the district

The Naracoorte Library will be used as a new children’s university hub. This move is to support home-schooled children in the Limestone Coast region by extending learning outside of schools. Confirming this, Naracoorte-Lucindale Council CEO Trevor Smart said the children’s university hub will enable children and their parents to come together and engage with others in a bid to learn.

Teacher shortage

South Australia is facing a teacher shortage crisis that is “deeply affecting” schools in country towns like Naracoorte. Highlighting this, Australian Education Union (SA Branch) president Andrew Gohl says the government needs to provide improved conditions and incentives to hire and retain educators in rural areas ... He said teachers were burning out at rates never seen before, with half of them planning to leave in the next five years.

Students set sights on national pedal power prize

Serena Kirby. Denmark Senior High School will be the first school in the Great Southern to enter a team in this year’s Australian Human Powered Vehicle Super Series. This nationwide series of races, also known as the Pedal Prix, comprises six rounds of races with five held in South Australia and one in Busselton.

New program supports recovery vision

The Upper Murray Community Recovery Committee (CRC) is partnering with Alpine Valleys Community Leadership (AVCL) to deliver a program for emerging and future community leaders of the Upper Murray region and other fire-affected areas of the Towong Shire ... "This program is an opportunity to develop leadership skills which will enable participants to effectively contribute to the community capacity building and economic development of the Upper Murray": Jo Mackinnon, Chair, UMI.

Regional doctors to provide voluntary assisted dying

Michelle Daw. Doctors in the region covered by the Yorke and Northern Local Health Network are among those who have completed mandatory training for Voluntary Assisted Dying ... VAD Board presiding member Associate Professor Melanie Turner encouraged more clinicians to consider registering for VAD training so they could support South Australians with the care they may need, no matter where they lived in the state.

Building farm spirit

Relationships, social support, physical fitness and a sense of belonging are key elements for positive mental health, and being part of a sporting community like the Birchip-Watchem Football, Netball and Hockey Club ticks all these boxes ... Following the headspace round, the National Centre for Farmer Mental Health also jumped on board and provided funding from its flood recovery program "Building Farm Spirit" ...

Partnerships deliver mental health message

In recent weeks headspace Swan Hill has actively partnered with twenty-four local sporting clubs to deliver important mental health messages and strategies in three leagues across the North Central and Mallee communities.

Palaszczuk Government makes Kindy free for families: Palaszczuk, Dick, Grace

The Palaszczuk Government is making kindergarten free for all Queensland families from 1 January 2024. The Premier announced the $645 million investment which will help every Queensland child get a great start in life and support parents in their return to work.

Showing their steers teaches farm kids about money

Not every child gets a Christmas present of money to buy a steer. The Gould kids did. Harper, 12, Allora, 11, Slater, 9, and Ledger, 7, bought steers and named them Big Boy Steve, Fuzz, Parker and Max ... Adam said being on the farm is good for the kids because they have to take responsibility. They get out here at 3am to milk the cows and by 6am they’re ready to go, he said.

Why?

Every morning, busloads of students leave Naracoorte for their secondary education in schools in Mount Gambier and Lucindale ... Many other parents choose boarding schools in Victoria and Adelaide, where students live during each school term ... While this could be a matter of choice for many, why do you think this is happening, and what’s driving the parents to make this decision when we have a public school in Naracoorte?

Bold changes

An education union has called for bold changes in the way the South Australian Education Department manages education across the state, particularly in country schools. Australian Education Union (SA Branch) president Andrew Gohl says for over a decade, governments have banked on the goodwill of educators to keep their system running ... the Department’s own Country Education Strategy highlighted several areas that needed improvement, including the attraction and retention of staff, incentives, access to student support services, country housing, and conditions.

New soil practitioner accreditation hits the ground running: DAFF

Farmers and land managers can have more confidence in soil practitioner knowledge thanks to a new $1 million accreditation funded by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. The Registered Soil Practitioner (RSP) accreditation, which was developed by Soil Science Australia in collaboration with soil scientists, industry, government and land and natural resource managers, opened for applications on 22 May.

Combined schools cross country

The claypan flat at Yeovil was the place to be on a typical Wilcannia autumn day, giving the students and staff from Wilcannia Central School and St Therese’s School a perfect setting for the first combined schools cross country event ... Primary kids only had to run 1k, secondary had a 4k slog, well most of them did.

Crying out for accessible care

Australia needs a high-quality, universally accessible and affordable early learning childcare system, according to Thrive by Five. The organisation is calling on federal and state governments to reform early learning and child care to benefit more families and early education staff.

Costs of transitioning to net zero emissions under future climates

Assoc. Professor Matthew Harrison presents the results of a comprehensive study on the costs of transitioning farming systems across Australia to net zero emissions using a range of practical models. The study found that there are multiple pathways to net zero.

Anderson ramps up push to bring local control back to TAFE

Member for Tamworth Kevin Anderson is continuing his push for greater local control and decision making in TAFE campuses across the New England Northwest. Mr Anderson said the community and local teachers had raised concerns with the lack of local control and the local decision-making process in our region, with local businesses expressing frustration with the disconnect between class offerings and the needs of the business community.

Students join UNESCO in global eDNA research

On 14th of February 2023, 20 students aged 8 to 11 years old from Lord Howe Island became marine scientists for the day. In doing so, they joined UNESCO’s global environmental DNA research initiative that is being rolled out across 25 marine World Heritage sites to better understand ocean biodiversity and the impacts of climate change.

Rex Minerals identifies new resource

Patrick Goldsmith. Rex Minerals and the state government will work to deliver a long-term plan assisting students from across Yorke Peninsula to enter the resource sector. The resources pathway program will be hosted by Ardrossan Area School from next year, with students invited to attend a career awareness day in June to learn more.

Beanies may be a life changer

This is the ninth consecutive year of the FightMND movement, and for this year, for teacher Kim Griffiths and the Year 12 Donald High School girls, it’s personal. Tony Goode was a vital part of the heart of the school. For this year, as it was last year, the funds raised from the FightMND beanies and socks will be in honour of him.  

Raising cyber safety awareness across regional NSW: Dib

From the historic streets of Bathurst to the outback city of Broken Hill, people across regional NSW will be empowered with knowledge about how to keep their identity secure as ID Support NSW visits eight regional communities from 30 May until 28 June. Following a successful roadshow along the Northern NSW coast last year which saw more than 400 people attend, ID Support NSW is engaging more communities to help improve their identity, privacy, and cyber security awareness.

New app ‘RiversNearMe’ provides timely river level data: Charles Sturt University

A Charles Sturt University researcher has developed a mobile phone app that provides information about NSW river levels in a 50-kilometre radius from the user. The ‘RiversNearMe’ app was developed by Dr Darren Yates, a postdoctoral research scientist in the Charles Sturt School of Computing, Mathematics and Engineering and in the Charles Sturt Gulbali Institute of Agriculture, Water and Environment.

Deadly Hair Dude opens salon in Tennant

There is no more excuse for split ends in Tennant Creek any more, with the new opening of the Deadly Hair Dude's new salon in town. Hairdresser Gary Strachan has been working hard with RN Employment to open the salon for two weeks each month both as a training opportunity for locals and a service to the community with the aim it will eventually become a sustainable local business.

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