Active Schools kicks off for 2024

And we’re off! With the 2024 Victoria school year now well underway, we are excited to share some Active Schools (AS) news with you, including Expert Support Service (ESS) team updates, information on free upcoming regional professional learning plus an innovative student voice Impact Story. Read on!

Hello, goodbye

We bid a special adieu to Kathy Tessier who first joined the team in late 2021. Kathy and her work have been both critical and pivotal in the success achieved by the ESS team within the Active Schools Project. Her passion, drive and experience has enabled the AS ESS to not only develop, but to reach and exceed its goals. We wish Kathy all the very best in her next chapter.

Trend alert: student voice

The 2024 ESS is an enthusiastic and ambitious team of Physical Activity Advisors who have hit the ground running, already engaging with a number of funded schools to implement their 2024 plans. A big focus of this year’s planning is integrating student voice.

More than ever, student voice sessions are at the fore of schools decision-making process, and engagement in the development of individual and unique whole school approaches to increasing physical activity is at an all-time high!

“Student voice facilitates opportunities for students to ask questions, share their ideas and opinions, reflect through feedback with teachers and peers, engage with curriculum planning based on their interests, set learning goals, develop learning intentions and engage in differentiated learning, which we also know develops student learning as a high impact teaching strategy.” – (High Impact Teaching Strategies, Victorian Department of Education 2021). Read more about driving student engagement in physical education using student voice here >>

Free regional professional learning

For teachers looking to upskill in areas of the Active Schools Framework (including Active Classrooms, Active Travel and Quality Physical Education), consider attending one of our FREE regional events.

Receive practical tips and guidance for making your school more active and draw on the experience of other teachers by exploring their successes and how they have worked through the barriers in the process of creating an active school.

Click here to learn more including dates and locations (please check back regularly as more dates will be added progressively throughout the year).

NOTE: these events are free, however registration is a MUST, so get in early to avoid events being booked out.

Active Schools: Impact Stories

Check out this brief student voice Impact Story from Monterey Secondary College where the students have taken Active Classrooms to a whole new level by delivering an engaging professional learning session to their teachers(!) >>

To find more Impact Stories plus a huge range of resources to support the implementation of the Active Schools Framework at your school, please head to the Active Schools Online Community >>

For more information on the Active Schools project, or to explore how your school can become an 'Active School', follow this link.