March

NSW public schools are set to undergo the biggest educational transformation in decades as the $158 million Connected Classrooms Program rolls out enhanced technology and increased data bandwidth to link classrooms around the state. Find out more.

Students and teachers in NSW now have access to world-leading digital learning resources following a historic partnership between the education department and an international technology company. Find out more.

Bankstown Senior College becomes the first Sydney school – and only the second NSW government school – to adopt a four-day school week this year. Find out more.

Reading is a “journey of pleasure to destinations unknown”, according to the education department’s director-general, Michael Coutts-Trotter. Find out more about the NSW Premier's Reading Challenge.

Wyong High School students can now securely access lessons and submit assignments electronically from home through the education department’s portal. Find out more.

After seeing Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth in a science lesson, a group of Blacktown Girls High School students decided they wanted to do something significant to reduce their school’s carbon footprint. Find out more.

The best piece of advice Michael Calacouris has for the Rainbow Street Public School students he coaches in chess is “don’t panic”.  Find out more.

Schools in the Sydney region will be making the planet a greener and cleaner place after a bill tabled in Parliament pledging a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions was passed unanimously by students. Learn more here.

Blackheath Public School has had a makeover from the inside out with a health-conscious canteen menu and an environmental program involving the school community. Find out more.

Students from the Bankstown and Canterbury areas recently brushed with success after completing a hairdressing and beauty course designed to encourage them to complete Year 12 or transition into further education and training. Find out more.

At the start of a busy school year, when thoughts are dominated by issues such as classroom programming and finalising new enrolments, student health is another topic demanding schools’ attention. Find out more.

For weeks Evelyn Tomazos had been telling her students about the hidden treasures of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The students toured The Arts of Islam exhibition and were amazed at the massive size of paintings, the lashings of gold and the intricate patterns and colours. Find out more.

In recent years public schools have established extensive transition to school programs in the year before formal schooling begins that aim to make children comfortable with the classroom and the routines expected of them for learning. Find out more.

They are only 30 kilometres apart in distance but each of the nine schools in the Southern Cross Small Schools Learning Community has something that makes it unique. Find out more.

Displaying more than a dash of the old razzle-dazzle, students from 17 Sydney region primary schools competed in the finals of the Dancing Classrooms program at the State Sports Centre late last year. Find out more.

Maroota Public School students had a hands on introduction to biodiversity through a program devised by the Field of Mars Environmental Education Centre. Find out more.

Snowy Mountains primary school students came to grips with sources of clean, green energy during a two-day camp at Talbingo Public School. Find out more.

Capertee Public School – which is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year – has 15 students and the town’s population averages about 180. But what Capertee lacks in size it makes up for in history, as demonstrated by its successful application for a Community Heritage Grant. Find out more.

North Coast primary schools are reporting marked improvements in spelling after implementing a region-wide program which arms students with strategies to enhance their literacy. Find out more.

Nina Pinto won the 2007 Science Teachers Association of NSW Young Scientist of the Year award for her study which examined how salinity levels affected the snails’ ability to grasp onto a surface. Find out more.

A small rural high school is forging links with the economic powerhouse of China and intends to use the benefits of technology for a two-way learning partnership for students. Find out more.

A special kind of magic was woven last term when students from Rose Bay Secondary College in a support unit class starred in a musical production performed for their school. Find out more.

Bilgola Plateau Public School has produced a DVD for its starting students, which was narrated by children and features the 2007 Kindergarten students giving the lowdown on everything from using computers to singing the national anthem. Find out more.

At Gulgong’s Flirtation Hill, students have worked with adult mentors to clear scrub, move rocks, design and construct paths and rip out weeds for a middle years’ program called “Boys Becoming Men”. Find out more.

Libraries have traditionally been thought of as quiet places for reading but there’s still room for craft and games at the Lurnea High School library. Find out more.