Tina Wu The NSW Education Department has put forward ideas of overhauling the current testing system for selective schools, as well as placing new focus on gifted and talented students in a bid to drive up Australia’s falling academic performance. In an address to the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children Biennial Conference, the NSW Secretary of the Department of Education, Mark Scott, admitted that a culture of “tutoring” is emerging where parents are spending up to $20 000 a year in coaching fees in the hopes of having their children score a place at one of Sydney’s...

Aidan Wondracz Only 66 per cent of students will complete their university studies within six years, the Federal government unveiled as they released new and startling statistics. The study canvassed information from domestic students enrolled in bachelor courses, revealing that a third of students will take longer than six years to complete their initial degree. Federal Education and Training Minister, Simon Birmingham, suggested the underlying issue was the student’s lack of information about the course, before commencing their studies. “It’s a reminder to think carefully about what the course is and what the university is and make sure it...

Mrs Tanya Vaughan, Head of Junior School at Roseville College A warm welcome and introduction to parents who are, for the very first time, preparing a child for Kindergarten. To many, the notion of “kindergarten readiness” can be daunting. Don’t let it be. It is simply working alongside your child’s pre-school and future Kindergarten to help little people prepare for the transition into “big school” in a way that best enables them to settle in, learn and thrive. In my role as Head of Junior School at Roseville College; a leading Anglican School for girls in Kindergarten to Year...

Peter Vickers, Chartered Accountant, Lindfield It’s never too soon to start saving and in many cases even if you double your deposits at a later date you may never catch up to people who start saving earlier. An understanding of compound interest can encourage young people to start saving now! But good saving and spending habits don’t have to be introduced when the child is old enough to understand compound interest. You can start around the time they start school. Pocket money: children around six or seven can be encouraged to spend a little of their pocket money now...

Danielle Armour As children, we all think we are budding artists. However, many people lose both interest and confidence in their ability to draw through adolescence and adulthood. Recently, there has been a call for the education system to encourage drawing and visualised learning as part of all subjects through high school. The goal is to encourage creative thinking in order to introduce more innovative minds into the workforce. With the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering or maths predicted to have the most available job opportunities for young people, it can be easy to think that drawing is...