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PLASTIC SURGERY FOR KIDS
Cosmetic surgery games target girls
ABC News, 29 Apr 2017
Kids can play at creating improved faces with computer games
that simulate liposuction, nose jobs and other plastic surgery
techniques...
SCHOOL SECURITY
Hoax calls arrest
Yahoo News, 28 Apr 2017
 Remember the hoax bomb threats made by phone to
Australian schools in
February last
year? Israeli police have just arrested an 18-year-old who
they claim made 591 such calls to Australia...
Israeli teen accused of
making 2,000 bomb hoax calls and blackmail, The Guardian, 25 Apr 2017
SCIENCE
Mastodon bones in earlier Americans claim
newatlas.com, 27 Apr 2017
Palaeontologists claim that markings on and
damage to mastodon bones suggest the first arrival of humans in
America should be pushed back from 13,500-16,500 years ago to as
long ago as a whopping 125,000 years..
First Americans claim sparks controversy, BBC News, 26 Apr
2017
STUDENT SUPPORT
Bully/victim combination concern
The Conversation (opinion by Anne Kavanagh, Naomi Priest
and Tania King), 28 Apr 2017
 Australian research shows that teenagers who have
been both a bully and a victim of bullying are more likely to
have mental health problems including suicidal thoughts...
STUDENT SUPPORT
'13 Reasons Why' series sparks concern
Huffington Post, 27 Apr 2017
 Parents whose kids have access
to Netflix at home need to take action such as engaging in a
discussion or becoming aware of resources as the series '13
Reasons Why' deals with the suicide of a teenage girl in a very
gripping and intense manner, a reviewer writes...
'13 Reasons Why' labelled as dangerous content by Headspace,
Mashable, 27 Apr 2017
Show sparks increased calls to helpline, ABC News, 18 Apr
2017
Schools warn parents about '13 Reasons Why', ABC News (US),
25 Apr 2017
'13 Reasons Why' should not be ignored, The Conversation, 28
Apr 2017
TASMANIAN NEWS
Bushwalkers found alive
ABC News, 27 Apr 2017
DIGITAL LITERACY
Tassie schools receive digital literacy grants
Aust Govt, 26 Apr 2017
 Three Tasmanian schools have
been awarded grants to promote digital literacy projects under
the National Innovation and Science Agenda:
- Taroona Primary
School, $50,000
- Ogilvie High School, $50,000
- Our Lady
of Mercy Catholic School, Deloraine, $48,000
...
List of successful schools [pdf], innnovation.gov.au
SCHOOL STARTING AGE
Pre-school for all 3-year-olds
NPR, 25 Apr 2017
 New York City is implementing a plan to provide free
pre-school for all three-year-olds...
Pre-school for
3-year-olds: the research argument, NPR, 25 Apr 2017
 STUDENT-TEACHER RELATIONS
Macron's teacher could become France's first lady
CNN, 24 Apr 2017
As the wife of
French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron is his former
school drama and literature teacher, his rise to prominence has
sparked a discussion about social norms...
Birchalls Hobart to
close
ABC Radio, 24 Apr 2017
Birchalls has announced it will
close its Hobart store next month.
Hobart Birchalls to shut
up shop, The Examiner, 24 Apr 2017
INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
Macron, Le Pen to face second French poll
ABC News, 24 Apr 2017
 A runoff for the
French presidency will be held on 7 May between the top two
candidates in Sunday's election: the centrist Emmanuel Macron
who supports the EU, with 24 per cent of the vote, and the
far-right Marine Le Pen, with 22 per cent, who favours leaving
the EU...
PARENT-SCHOOL RELATIONS
What not to write in school newsletters
The Telegraph (UK), 22 Apr 2017
 Some British schools have adopted an authoritarian
and disrespectful tone in their school newsletters, criticising
parents, en masse, for:
- accompanying their children too far
into the school grounds
- sending children to school with
packed lunches that lacked balance, stating in the newsletter,
"THESE ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE".
- loitering around for too long
at the school gates
- driving too fast, asking in the
newsletter, "What's the matter with some of you?"...
 TASMANIAN SCHOOLS
Austins Ferry and Windermere
works
Tas Govt media release, 22 Apr 2017
Construction tenders for
additional facilities at Austins Ferry Primary School and
Windermere Primary School have been announced by Elise Archer,
Speaker of the House of Assembly...
NAPLAN
NAPLAN Online delayed till 2018
ACARA [pdf],19 Apr 2017
 The plan for online NAPLAN assessments
to commence this year in Queensland, Victoria, South Australia,
Western Australia and the ACT has been delayed until 2018...
BREXIT
Snap UK election over Brexit
ABC News,18 Apr 2017
British Prime Minister Theresa May has unexpectedly
called a general election for Thursday 8 June, three years ahead
of the scheduled date...
STUDENT SUPPORT
Collateral damage from shortfall
ABC News,17 Apr 2017
 Insufficient funding to recognise the overall needs
of individual students with a disability is forcing Tasmanian
schools to make cuts to sports, art and music classes,
principals and parents say...
RECYCLING EDUCATIONAL IDEAS
Military-style discipline used by
school
ABC News,17 Apr 2017
A Queensland school dresses its students in army
fatigues and engages in military-style drills to build character
and discipline and to encourage students to think about other
people and work as a team...
BULLYING AND GENDER DIVERSITY
NSW ditches Safe Schools
ABC News,16 Apr 2017
The NSW government has dropped the Safe
Schools program which focuses on bullying and gender diversity,
announcing that a broader anti-bullying program will replace it
in July...
Tas cave-in to extreme
right,
Cassy O'Connor, Tas Greens leader, 19 Apr 2017
 ASYLUM
SEEKERS
Manus Island centre shot at
ABC News, updated 15 Apr 2017
Members of the PNG Defence Force fired shots at the
Manus Island detention centre after a dispute with individual
asylum seekers...
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
Biggest non-nuclear bomb used
ABC News, 14 Apr 2017
The US has
attacked IS by targeting a network of caves and tunnels in
Afghanistan with the largest non-nuclear bomb ever used in
combat, the 9,800 kilogram GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast
(MOAB, commonly referred to as the Mother Of All Bombs)...
EDUCATION FUNDING
Australia held back by unfair
education funding
ABC News (opinion by Ken Boston), 13 Apr 2017
 Government schools are required
to do the heavy lifting while non-government schools receive
unnecessary education funding, a former NSW Director-General
writes...
ARACHNIDS
New funnel web spider found in
Tas
ABC News, 13 Apr 2017
A new species of funnel web spider
with fangs bigger than a tiger snake's has been found in
northeastern Tasmania...
New spider in wet forest, The Examiner, 13 Apr 2017
T ERRORISM
When is terror not caused by
terrorists?
The Conversation (opinion by Keiran Hardy), 13 Apr 2017
A "terrorist act"
has a specific definition in Australia and there can be
implications when the "terrorist" label is used by by the police
and the media...
 SPORT
Case strengthens for Aboriginal
AFL origin
ABC News, 13 Apr 2017
New evidence supports claims by
historians that Australian Rules football had Indigenous origins
in the Western district of Victoria...
 ECONOMICS
Economics could have avoided
passenger removal fiasco
The Conversation (opinion by Volodymyr Bilotkach), 12 Apr 2017
Proactively catering for the
over-booking of flights through the routine use of procedures
based on sound economic principles could have avoided the recent
need to forcibly remove an innocent passenger from a United
Airlines flight...
SCHOOL
STARTING AGE
Childcare costs would rise
TasLabor website, 12 Apr 2017
 The costs
of childcare would rise, almost doubling in Ravenswood and
Bridgewater, under the state government's plan to allow children
to start school at a younger age, Opposition education
spokesperson Michelle O'Byrne says...
Lower starting age gives
children more education, Jeremy Rockliff, Minister for
Education and Training, 12 Apr 2017
Age changes could drive up childcare costs, The Examiner, 12
Apr 2017
PRIVACY
Personal details placed online
ABC News, 12 Apr 2017
 The Victorian Education
Department has accidentally published online a number of
bullying and self-harm related submissions which included
parents' names, addresses and phone numbers...
 TCE
Jump in TCE numbers
Tas Govt media release, 12 Apr 2017
Education minister Jeremy
Rockliff says the extension of high schools to Years 11 and 12
is already having a major impact, with the number of students
achieving the Tasmanian Certificate of Education rising by 382
in 2016...
Continuous improvement
still needed, says Minister, ABC News, 12 Apr 2017
LITERACY
UK minister pushes phonics
awareness
ABC News, 11 Apr 2017
 The British schools minister,
Nick Gibb, is in Australia to expound the phonics program he
says raised children's reading levels in his country...
STUDENT SUPPORT
More disability support needed
Tas Greens website, 10 Apr 2017
More support is needed for students living with a disability
in the form of in-school support and teacher training,
Greens education spokesperson Andrea Dawkins says...
 THE
ARTS
John Clarke dies
ABC News, 10 Apr 2017
Satirist and comedian John
Clarke, 68, best known for his role in the ABC's Clarke and Dawe
segment, died while bushwalking in Victoria at the weekend...
 INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Egypt bombings kill 44
ABC News, 10 Apr 2017
Egypt has declared a three-month state of emergency
after suicide bombers killed 44 people at two Coptic Christian
churches...
RECYCLING EDUCATIONAL IDEAS
Open plan struggle
stuff.co.nz, 8 Apr 2017
The return of open plan classrooms, rebadged as modern
learning environments or flexible learning spaces, are causing
headaches for some New Zealand teachers...
TASMANIAN SCHOOLS
Tenders for Woodbridge and Southern Support
Tas Govt media release, 8 Apr 2017
Construction tenders have been
advertised for upgrades to Woodbridge School's Marine Discovery
Centre and the Southern Support School...
INTERNATIONAL
NEWS
Truck
drives into crowd
ABC News, updated 8 Apr 2017
 A man has been arrested after a hijacked truck
was
driven into pedestrians and a department store in Stockholm, Sweden,
killing four people...
GUN
EDUCATION
Guns in schools
stuff.co.nz, 7 Apr 2017
New Zealand primary school students are using real guns to learn
about leadership and weaponry...
EDUCATION FUNDING
Kindergarten funding fight
Tas Govt media release, 7 Apr 2017
The federal
government needs to commit to 15 hours of kindergarten funding
certainty, education minister Jeremy Rockliff says...
Federal minister's doorstop interview on future funding and
Naplan Online, 7 Apr 2017
Rockliff must pressure Feds for full Gonski funding,
Michelle O'Byrne, Opposition education spokesperson, 9 Apr 2017
INTERNATIONAL
NEWS
Trump bombs Syria
ABC News, 7 Apr 2017
The US has
launched 59 missiles against a Syrian airfield...
Syria bombing: live updates (ABC)
TASMANIAN POLITICS
Recovery unlikely
ABC News, 6 Apr 2017
 Former
Attorney-General Vanessa Goodwin will withdraw from public life
having been advised that she is unlikely to recover from the
cancer associated with the brain tumours that hospitalised her
recently...
Statement from the family
of Vanessa Goodwin, Tas Govt media release, 6 Apr 2017
EXTENSION TO YEARS 11 AND 12
533 students extended, census shows
Tas Govt media release, 6 Apr 2017
More than 500 students are
enrolled in Years 11 and 12 in Tasmania's 30 extended government
high schools, education minister Jeremy Rockliff says ...
GENDER
RELATIONS
Can four-year-olds be sexist?
The Conversation (opinion by Kimberley Norris), 6 Apr 2017
In short, no. However, four-year-olds' gender
attitudes are being developed even at this young age, a
psychology lecturer writes...
TEACHING PROFESSION
Students too good for new principal
kake.com, 5 Apr 2017
A group of Kansas school students performed internet
searches to discover their new principal possessed degrees
provided by a "diploma mill" - which begs the question: why
didn't the adults on the selection committee do the same?...
 FEDERAL POLITICS
Bob Day's election invalid
ABC News, 5 Apr 2017
The High Court has found that ex-senator Bob Day's
election had been invalid. If the consequent vote recount elects
another Family First senator, the federal government may find it
slightly easier to get legislation through the Senate...
TASMANIAN PARLIAMENT
Broad bests Best by broad margin
[pdf] Tas Electoral Commission, 4 Apr 2017
 Agricultural scientist Shane
Broad has won the Braddon recount, well ahead of Brenton Best,
60 per cent to 40 per cent.
Final votes:
- Brenton Best 3998
- Shane Broad 5987
TASMANIAN GOVERNMENT
Portfolios redistributed
The Examiner, 4 Apr 2017
 The Premier, Will Hodgman, has
temporarily redistributed the following portfolios previously
held by Vanessa Goodwin and then himself:
- Attorney-General
and Justice: Matthew Groom
- Corrections: Guy Barnett
-
Crown Land services and natural resources management: Jeremy
Rockliff
The Premier retains Arts and Heritage.
...
TASMANIAN PARLIAMENT
Broad well ahead of Best in recount
ABC News, 3 Apr 2017
Shane Broad was more than 1,000
votes ahead of Brenton Best at the end of this afternoon's
recount of Braddon votes made necessary following Bryan Green's
resignation. Counting concludes tomorrow...
TASMANIAN EDUCATION
Tas education progress report
Tas Govt media release, 2 Apr 2017
 The state government has issued a
Fourth Quarter Update [pdf] for its "AGENDA
2016" budget and other measures. (See page 4 for education
details.)...
Getting on with education
plan,
Jeremy Rockliff, Minister for Education and Training, 4 Apr 2017
TEACHING PROFESSION
Teachers using own money
ABC News, 2 Apr 2017
 An AEU survey shows that one in
ten teachers spends over $2,000 per year of their own funds on
teaching materials and more than four in ten spend over $500 per
year...
EDUCATION
IN TASMANIA
What Tassie students want
The Examiner, 1 Apr 2017
 The Tasmanian children's commissioner, Mark Morrissey, has
released his report
Listening to Children and Young People in Tasmania 2016 [pdf]
in which young people
made it clear they valued equality and respect and wanted a
relevant curriculum...
Commissioner for Children
and Young People
(website)
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