DIRECTORS' MESSAGE

Welcome to the November edition of TA Talk.

As you may know, November is our birthday month, and in this edition of TA Talk we would like to take the opportunity to thank all of our renewing schools and training organisations, and give a special shout out to the many professional learning champions that have been part of the ATA education community for the past 5 and 6 years.

Our mission is to enable educators to help students succeed, and we are truly grateful to be working with schools to help build the capability of teaching teams, through professional learning.

For a long time the team at ATA have wanted to give more, and through a global initiative, we have found a way to make an even greater impact through our membership, such as helping provide access to education for children all over the world.

We will tell you more about the impact of your membership in our December edition of TA Talk.

Thank you, also, to our webinar presenters who generously gave their time and shared their expertise this year. Our live events were highly popular and 1,190 educators participated in 2021.

If you loved our live events this year, you can read about some of the webinars we have scheduled for 2022, below.

As the school year draws to a close, we will be issuing our December newsletter early next month. We'll save the Christmasy bits for then. Meanwhile, stay safe and well.

Warm regards
Mandy and Stella

ATA PROFESSIONAL LEARNING CHAMPION SCHOOLS

6 year professional learning champion schools
Congratulations to the following schools celebrating their 6th continuous year of professional learning with ATA.

Beerburrum State School QLD
Kinross Wolaroi School NSW
Longreach State School QLD
Oak Flats High School NSW
Toukley Public School NSW

St Laurence's Parish School NSW

5 year professional learning champion schools and RTOs
Congratulations to the following schools and training organisations celebrating their 5th continuous year of professional learning with ATA.

Babinda State School QLD
Dakabin State High School QLD
Emmanuel College QLD
Fisher Road NSW
Gin Gin State School QLD
Good Shepherd Catholic College QLD
Gordonvale State High School QLD
Jamboree Heights State School QLD
Kioma State School QLD
Kolbe Catholic College VIC
Peachester State School QLD
Prince of Peace Lutheran College QLD
Rosella Park School QLD
St Michael’s School Traralgon VIC
The Southport School QLD

VICSEG New Futures VIC
Victoria Park State School QLD
Wamuran State School QLD
Waverley Christian College VIC

Wilcannia Forbes Catholic Diocese NSW
Holy Family School Parkes
Sacred Heart Parish School Broken Hill
St Augustine’s School Narromine
St Ignatius’s School Bourke
St John’s School Cobar
St John’s School Trangie
St Joseph’s School Balranald
St Joseph’s School Condobolin
St Joseph’s School Hillston
St Joseph’s School Nyngan
St Joseph’s School Peak Hill
St Laurence's Parish School
St Mary’s School Hay
St Mary’s School Warren
St Michael’s School Deniliquin
St Patrick’s School Brewarrina
St Patrick’s School Trundle

A SNEAK PEEK AT OUR SEMESTER 1 2022 LIVE WEB EVENTS

Whether you are working in a primary or secondary school, or in a special education setting we know that next year’s live events will have something for all educators! Here’s a sneak peek at the topics coming up.

February: Performance and Development

Ben Pollard, Beaudesert State High School, QLD
How TAs can use peer observation to co-create their performance plans

March: Disability

Jane Wenlock, Kolbe Catholic College, VIC
Strategies to support students with intellectual disability

April: Learning and Wellbeing

Dale & Michelle Murray, and Clea North, Life Without Barriers
How to support students in out of home care

May: Learning and Wellbeing

Dale & Michelle Murray, and Clea North, Life Without Barriers
Understanding trauma informed practice and developmental stages

June: Disability

Jo Opie, PosAbilities – Strong Minds, Strong Futures
A strengths based approach to helping students improve

Registrations will open in December, and as numbers are limited, we encourage you to plan your PD calendar in advance!

NEW RESOURCES

Supporting Gifted and Talented Learners Part 3 – A Whole School Approach

Julia Bailey, principal at Rocklea State School, maintains that curriculum provision for gifted learners is everybody’s business.

In this interactive session, Julia outlines the key features of an authentic whole school approach towards provisioning for gifted learners.

Using polls, and Julia's audit tool, you will be encouraged to consider ‘What are the great things we are doing….and what can we improve upon?’

Watch the Preview Now

THANK YOU TO OUR 2021 WEBINAR PARTNERS

Our sincere thanks go to the following presenters who contributed their expertise so we, as educators, can help students succeed.

Nerio Baldini, Enable Workplace Consulting, VIC for his insightful three part series on how to identify and stop workplace bullying.

Jo Opie, Head Teacher, Jamboree Centre, Oak Flats High School, NSW for inspiring us with her strengths based approach to maximising student outcomes.

Greg Clement, Principal, Clayton South Primary School, VIC for sharing the data from his school that shows how coaching all staff in a systematic synthetic phonics approach can improve student reading.

Zoe Molgaard, Head of Special Education Services at Tagai College, Torres Strait Islands for helping us understand how we can build school capability to support students with hearing loss.

Louise Griffiths, Teacher, Mount Evelyn Christian School, VIC for presenting 8 simple and practical strategies that can help us to avoid and manage meltdowns in students.

Taryn Riles, 2020 Australian Teacher Aide of the Year, Boorowa Central School, NSW for her motivating presentation that empowers teacher aides to take ownership and pride in their profession.

Patty Duque, Certified Coach, Speaker and Author, QLD for stepping in at short notice, and wowing us with her practical strategies to build resilience and cope with adversity.

Julia Bailey, Principal, Rocklea State School, QLD for presenting an awesome three-part series on gifted and talented learners.

All these live web events were recorded and uploaded to our professional development library where they can be viewed by members, at any time.

View Professional Development Library

UPDATE ON STANDARDS - STAGE 2

Since our last newsletter, we have welcomed several new schools and organisations to the Australian Standards for Paraprofessional Educators in Schools - Industry Reference Group (ASPES - IRG).

Currently, the IRG is providing feedback on the Standards that will make explicit what paraprofessional educators know and do, how they interact with others, and how they identify their own learning needs, within the corresponding domains.

We will share the outcomes early next year, and update you on where to next!