Much like adults, children will help people in distress, unless there is a personal cost.
  Dr James Kirby from UQ’s School of Psychology and his team worked with 285 children aged 4 and 5 to investigate what drives them to be compassionate.
   “We tested if their compassion response changed depending on who they were interacting with,” Dr Kirby said, “Our research found children will assist every time if there is no personal cost." Read more

There are big changes ahead for NAPLAN, including reducing the assessment bands from 10 to four, holding the test in March not May, moving the test online and introducing a new panel to oversee changes.
   The idea is to simplify the assessment but the simplification of NAPLAN testing bands might come at the cost of relevant, granular information when more investigation is needed around equity issues.
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School can be a dauting prospect for many kids, especially a new one, and it’s often left to parents to deal with the issue. Schools can do their part by making themselves welcoming places to attend but its parents that need to get their kid dressed, fed and out of the door.
   There are strategies that teachers might give to parents about supporting children through their anxiety.
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Does your school have a story to tell? Wakakirri is an award winning performing arts program and festival that helps schools develop student engagement and well-being.
   Participating schools each create their own unique ‘Story-Dance’ (a creative combination of dancing and acting) and present in Term 3 at one of over 30 Wakakirri festivals held in some of our most famed live theatres around Australia.
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In a super connected world, word gets out about the quality of a school very quickly and that means new parents’ first impressions, from initial contact to first day, need to be positive.
  A raft of Millennial and soon Gen Z parents who are tech savvy, time poor and increasingly insistent on personalisation and regular communication puts pressure on traditional methods of parent engagement. Read more

Australian architecture has lost one of its quietly brilliant changemakers. The designer of the first new government school designed by a private architect and founder of the first major independent secular school in Australia, Les Clarke AM was a pioneer.
   To the many who knew and loved him he was also a masterful masterplanner, playful fun-lover, thoughtful friend, unconventional problem-solver, and encouraging mentor. Read more