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Be prepared for the new school year with our back to school tips and tools.  

The start of a new school year can be both an exciting and demanding time for parents and students alike.

Our parents and carers Back to school hub can help you prepare for the year ahead with practical articles, tools, activities, calendars and checklists so you and your child can be ready from day 1, term 1. 

Find out about what your child will learn in high school, how to support their health and wellbeing, and help them make decisions about their future.

There’s also a dedicated section for students starting Year 7 and Year 11 & 12 where you’ll find tips for a smooth transition into high school, and pathways for students after school.

Video – #FirstDay2021

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Registrations for the Game Changer Challenge close on Friday, 23 April.

The Game Changer Challenge is back and reinvented for 2021. 

Open to all NSW public schools, the Game Changer Challenge is a student-led, dual-stream design thinking challenge that asks students to tackle real-world problems and explore innovative solutions.

The Game Changer Challenge is a valuable learning opportunity for schools and their students.

This year students will choose to become either a Game Changer or Social Changemaker. They can expect to develop future-focused skills, learn important design thinking processes, engage with their community and have fun with their team along the way. 

Schools can participate by signing up their teams online by Friday 23 April.

Find out more about the challenge, design thinking and how schools can participate on our website.

Make Every Day Count is a film competition open to all students from Kindergarten to Year 12. Entries close 28 May, 2021.

Make Every Day Count

The NSW Department of Education is holding a state-wide film competition for all students from Kindergarten to Year 12.

Schools can participate in the festival as a class entry or submit films created by individual students or groups of students. Schools can submit multiple films.

All films submitted must have the approval of the school principal.

The theme is “make every day count”. Schools and students should explore all the possible reasons why attendance is important and what reasons may cause poor attendance.

Why school attendance?

The overall picture of school attendance in Australia is generally good. Year 1-10 students attend, on average, 92% of ‘available school days’ in Australia.

However, there are areas of concerns, where 25% of Australian school students attend less than 90% of school days. This adds up to 20 or more days absent in a school year.

At this rate, after 13 years of school, it’s equates to more than 260 school days lost or more than 5 terms.

According to the report Attendance matters (PDF), absenteeism can increase social isolation, including alienation and lack of engagement with the school community and peers, leading to emotional and behavioural difficulties.

Schools and students are encouraged to create films that address the issue of attendance in schools and how this can impact the student – socially, academically and personally.

Competition details

Entries close 5pm on 28 May 2021.

All films should be

• 3 minutes or less
• .mp4 format, 1040×1920 screen size and 25fps
• enter through the online submission form.

Budding filmmakers and teachers should read the Information booklet (PDF). Students and their parents and carers will need to sign the consent form enclosed.

The film competition is organised by Film By, established by teachers to recognise and showcase the stories and creativity of students told through digital film media.

Public schools are making sure the sacrifice of war veterans and serving defence personnel is not forgotten.

Across NSW students and public schools last week played a key role in keeping the ANZAC spirit alive.

In the lead-up to the national day of remembrance, students were making artworks, studying literature, writing poems and learning the story of Australia’s military history.

School-based ceremonies also offered children of defence personnel the opportunity to mark their parents’ service.

This included the 28 public primary schools and 10 public secondary schools in NSW that are part of the Defence School Mentor program, which supports the families of current personnel.

The school choir at South Coogee Public School, with defence families from the Randwick and Victoria barracks, continued a 15-year tradition by singing at the Coogee Beach Dawn Service.

At Wattle Grove Public School in Sydney’s west, students created an interactive garden.

The metal poppies are connected to an audio file which is listened to via an old fashion tin can similar to war time.

The audio files include interviews with members of the school’s defence force community talking about their experience in the army and the ANZAC spirit.

At La Perouse Public School in Sydney, the students marked ANZAC Day by unveiling a plaque in the memory of local Aboriginal veteran Uncle Vic Simons, who died earlier this year.

The release of the HSC timetable marks the beginning of the final leg of the Year 12 school journey.

As of 29 April, 76,000 NSW school students received their personalised timetable for the 2021 written HSC exams.

HSC written exams will start on Tuesday 12 October with a compulsory English paper and finish with the examination of Food Technology on Thursday 4 November.

Minister for Education Sarah Mitchell said the release of the HSC timetables were the final leg of the school journey for Year 12 students.

“The HSC is a logistical behemoth, it includes scheduling 18 days of HSC exams involving around 76,000 students, 129 exams and more than 775 exam centres,” Ms Mitchell said.

“The HSC is the culmination of years of schooling and receiving your timetable makes it all the more real for students.

“Students are already working hard in their final year, and I wish them all the best during an exciting time.”

NESA CEO Paul Martin said planning for the HSC exams was a necessarily rigorous process, especially after last year showed just how quickly things could change.

“The timetable is designed to provide a schedule which is as fair and equitable as possible to ensure all students get the opportunity to do their best in their written exams,” said Mr Martin.

“Last year showed that plans can change in an instant and we always want to make sure students, schools and exam supervisors feel prepared for anything, so they can focus on exams.”

To develop the timetable NESA follows rigorous procedures to:

• provide sufficient breaks between exams for popular courses
• provide sufficient breaks between exams for frequently combined courses
• enable all exams to be marked and students to receive their results from 6:00am on Friday 10 December
• minimise the number of students with two exams scheduled at the same time.

All 2021 HSC students can access their timetable on Students Online.

The full 2021 HSC written exam timetable is available on the NESA website.

Every child in NSW deserves the opportunity to develop the necessary mathematics and numeracy skills to succeed in life, increasing their post-school pathways and life options while building the foundations for future dreams.

From 2022, all NSW secondary schools will have access to the new Numeracy course in Stage 6.  This course is proven to lift student engagement in mathematics and numeracy and contribute to their HSC.

The new course is being rolled out following evaluation of the pilot that was led by the Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation (CESE).  The evaluation found an increase in participation and engagement with students of Stage 6 mathematics including Students enrolled in Vocational Education and Training courses, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander students and Students in rural and remote areas.

To support and drive awareness of the importance of mathematics in everyday life – a group of well-respected ambassadors and content creators will continue to share with students how they use mathematics in their daily life. 

Some of our ambassadors have already shared their stories with us:

• Sports brains with professional athlete, Steve Solomon, and mathematics teacher, Eddie Woo
• Creative brains with former Harper’s BAZAAR editor-in-chief, Kellie Hush, and mathematics teacher Eddie Woo 
• Chef brains with former Masterchef contestant, Alice Zaslavsky, and mathematics teacher Eddie Woo.

For more examples and ideas for you and your child to explore mathematics in a fun and engaging way, check out the Everyday Maths Hub.

The Everyday Maths Hub was designed specifically to support students and their families to bring mathematics into the everyday, developing and supporting positive attitudes towards mathematics and numeracy.

As we know from evidenced-based research, when teachers and schools work together with parents and carers, our students’ attitudes, engagement and success are enhanced.  We can work together to achieve great results across mathematics and numeracy. For ideas on how to engage your child visit Everyday Maths Hub.

This year Ed Week will be held from 26 to 30 July 2021 celebrating the theme Lifelong learners. 

NSW public schools will celebrate Education Week from 26 to 30 July 2021 with the theme Lifelong learners.

Education Week is an annual celebration of NSW public education and it’s your chance to celebrate the achievements of your school, students and learning community.

This year’s theme is ‘Lifelong learners’ and celebrates education as a lifelong journey from before a child enters an early childhood setting, progressing to primary and secondary school, and continuing their learning journey into adulthood; learning a trade, entering tertiary education, or the workforce.

Continuous learning is critical for success throughout life and everyone can be a lifelong learner.

This year’s celebrations will kick-off with a virtual live stream launch from 10am on Monday 26 July, with more events to follow.

Schools can enter the Ed Week video competition by creating a mini documentary that showcases the theme of Lifelong learners.

Tell us about a unique or interesting story from your school community for the chance to win filmmaking gear for your school. Visit the Ed Week video competition webpage for details on how to enter.

Visit the Education Week website for ideas and resources to plan a celebration in your local school community and share your Ed Week celebrations and activities on social media using #EdWeek21. 

We are proud to be a Share Our Space school these school holidays, placing the school at the heart of our community by helping provide more quality open spaces to enjoy.

Whether you’re looking for a place to play sport with friends, exercise using fitness equipment, or simply to relax and gather with your family, you can Share Our Space with participating schools opening from 8am to 5pm from Monday 28 June – Friday 9 July, including weekends and public holidays.

Key things to know about Share Our Space:

• Gates are opened at 8am and closed at 5pm each day.

• To remind visitors to maintain appropriate physical distancing and COVID safe hygiene practices, additional signage will be provided. An external cleaning service will also be provided twice weekly to all Share Our Space schools during the holidays and at the end of the program.

• The list of schools that are open may change because of emergencies or natural disasters.

• Each school will have only one gate open during Share Our Space.

• School toilets are not open during Share Our Space.

 To find out details and a school near you, go to the Share Our Space webpage at https://edu.nsw.link/ShareOurSpace

Learning from home; schools are open for families who need it – applies to schools in Greater Sydney (including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour).

Students learning from home. No student is to be turned away. Early childhood education services can continue to operate.

All non–core curriculum related activities are to cease on school site.

Schools should not turn away any student from attending the school site in person. Schools will provide a program of learning for students who attend school, and students who are learning from home.

Schools will revert to their remote learning mode, using existing resources and programs. For additional support, refer to Learning from home.

Under the current health orders, there is nothing to restrict students and staff who must attend school from moving between two areas with different levels of restrictions.

Latest advice

Refer to Advice for families for the latest information.

Restrictions on certain activities and non-essential visitors – applies to schools outside of Greater Sydney (including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour).

All students are expected to be at school unless they have even the mildest of COVID-19 symptoms.

Under the current health orders, there is nothing to restrict students and staff who must attend school from moving between two areas with different levels of restrictions. Students and staff should reduce traveling to geographical areas with higher levels of COVID-19 restrictions in place.

A reminder for all families

Students should not attend school if unwell, even with mild symptoms of COVID-19. Any person with any COVID-19 symptoms should be sent home and should not return until they have received a negative test result and are symptom-free. In circumstances where children have other medical reasons for recurrent symptoms a letter from their GP is sufficient to negate the requirement for a negative test.

Anyone who is unwell with COVID-19 symptoms is strongly encouraged to get tested and self-isolate until a negative result is received. Find your local testing clinics.

Latest advice

Refer to Advice for families for more information.