Welcome back to another school year. We hope you had a chance to recharge over the holidays, and that you are ready for a fresh start. At ATA, we are feeling supercharged after our break, and cannot wait to get our fabulous line up of web events underway.

We love being able to bring the experts to you! This year, you can learn from highly skilled practitioners and school leaders from the Torres Strait, regional Victoria, central NSW, and metropolitan Queensland. Simply register for the events you are interested in, and join us virtually.

 

If you, or your school, have an ATA membership, all events are free, and you will also have ongoing access to the recordings in our online professional learning library! 

If you are not yet a member you only have three more days to take advantage of our early bird event special.

We hope that 2021 will be a COVID free year, and that students will thrive with your expert support and encouragement.

Whilst the majority of students coped with learning from home, and some even thrived; other students were left behind, and now have significant gaps in their learning.

To close the gaps, several State governments are funding tutoring packages for students disadvantaged by the pandemic. In this month’s feature article you can read about the packages and why some interventions led by paraprofessionals, have been 100% successful.

Lastly, we would like to extend a warm welcome to our continuing and new members all across Australia. A special shout out goes to Alta-1 College, in Kununurra, Western Australia, being one of our most remote new member schools. 

 

Have a fabulous Term I, everyone! We look forward to meeting you at our next live web event.

Warm regards
Mandy and Stella

If you have had a break from professional learning for the last couple of months, and you are feeling a little rusty around the edges, check out our New Member Orientation video, to refresh how you can get the most out of your membership with ATA.

Workplace Bullying Part 2: What it is and what you can do about it - Tuesday, 9 February 2021 at 3:30pm AEST

Nerio Baldini, a specialist in the prevention of bullying and conflict resolution is back to present Workplace Bullying Part 2. In the last web event, participants learned how to identify workplace bullying, and how to respond most effectively.

 

This time Nerio will focus on strategies we can use to bully-proof our organisations.

Maximising Student Outcomes at Oak Flats High School

 - Tuesday, 9 March 2021 at 3:30pm AEST

If you want to learn the secrets to building an effective team, where teacher aides are considered vital to maximising student outcomes, then you won’t want to miss our March webinar presented by Jo Opie, Head Teacher of the Jamberoo Centre at Oak Flats High School in NSW.

 

Jo will inspire you with her inclusive and strength-based approach, and share her strategies for working together to successfully support the learning and wellbeing of young people with Autism and behaviour difficulties.

Taryn Riles 2020 Australian Teacher Aide of the Year – Boorowa Central School NSW

This short video is beautifully narrated by Taryn Riles, Australian Teacher Aide of the Year in 2020. Taryn shares her passion for the teacher aide role, and gives us a snapshot of the many ways that students and staff are valued at Boorowa Central School.

Should schools employ paraprofessionals to provide intervention under new government funding? 

Late last year, the Victorian and NSW governments announced that they would be funding tutoring packages to support students affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, whilst the South Australian government will implement an online math tutoring pilot program.

 

The tutoring packages to be rolled out in 2021 will enable schools to provide one-on-one and small group interventions for students with learning gaps, as a result of school closures during the pandemic.

Bet you can! And you did!!

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Wow, what a response! This should be really difficult to read yet so many of you were able to decode the message with no trouble at all! What does that tell us about the science of reading??