19 December 2023

President’s Report

Hello colleagues,

Speaking with school leaders across the final few weeks of the school year, unsurprisingly there is plenty of energy and emotions swirling around our school communities in the lead up to Christmas! The professional and moral responsibility and commitment that drives our school leaders through assemblies, parades, information evenings, farewells, presentations and maintaining high expectations on teaching and learning right through to the last day can leave our tank just a little empty by the time that the car pulls up in the driveway of an evening! Please know that you are deeply valued by your colleagues and communities, for the important work that you do across the state and more importantly, as an individual that deserves to feel great satisfaction and joy from your role, and enjoy positive levels of wellbeing. 

Member changes

I thank the following members for being a part of our Association, farewell them and extend my very best wishes to them both. May your futures be filled with health and happiness, wherever you go and whatever they hold for you.

• Jane Bovill - retiring as principal of Riverside Primary School 
• Matt Brown - congratulations on your appointment to a leadership position interstate 

2023 has seen significant growth in our membership and we'd like to extend that welcome to our Association to Joe Pearson - Cambridge Primary School.

Final State Executive Meeting

Our State Executive met in Launceston last week across 2 days and discussed a range of key themes and topics.

Across the two days we were also able to connect with the Education Minister Roger Jaensch MP and hear from two principals in NSW who are part of a peer professional supervision pilot in conjunction with University of Sydney, NSW DoE and the primary and secondary principal associations. A large part of our work together was reviewing our progress against the 2023-26 Strategic Plan and the recent member surveys that were used to guide our review.

Member insights highlighted in responding to a 1-10 scale on the following questions:

What level of value/satisfaction do you feel in being a member of a professional association?

• Average of 8.21
• Members valued the visibility of the association, regular communication and the drop-in sessions
• Members identified the opportunity to increase activity/engagement in regional/remote areas and our public profile through media

What activities, professional development or actions would you like to see our Executive undertake under each key practice moving into 2024?

Support & Care

• Average of 7.90

Lead & Develop

• Average of 7.70

Consult & Advocate

• Average of 8.48

The open text responses from members were an important part of this process and the suggestions and feedback were valuable in assisting our planning sessions for 2024. Thank you for the strong member response to the survey at such a busy time, please know that your voice is respected and valued.

Thank you

This will be our last newsletter for the year, and I sincerely thank our Executive for their support in helping me to fulfil my role… for being there whenever I needed someone to run ideas past, for support, and for the innumerable ways they have made my job as your President easier. Thank you for their outstanding service and support: Sarah-Jane Murphy, Georgia Perry, Sam Wells, Rob Fleming, Vicki Mackrill, Lee Craw, Maree Pinnington, Lisa Bailey, Jen Gray, Ted Barrance, Joel Doyle, Monique Carter and Duncan Groves. I also thank our Business Manager, Tamara Clark for her exceptional work on behalf of the TPA and for the direct support she has provided me in ensuring a smooth transition and that our Association is continuing to look for ways to grow, improve and increase our impact. 

I extend to the Education Minister, Roger Jaensch MP leaders of the Department for Education, Children and Young People, my thanks for their ongoing support when working with our Association, which has been as recent as the past fortnight. The mutual regard between the Department and our Association is evident, as is their willingness to listen and respond to concerns raised by our members. Together, we have had a significant positive impact.

The work that we do is enhanced by our sponsors. I thank them for their ongoing support of our Association. We value the relationships we have developed with our sponsors, as their support assists us in providing professional support, advocacy and learning for our members.

I thank our Platinum Sponsors:

• MSP Photography
• BFX Furniture
• ReadCloud
• Education Perfect
• Hearing Loop 
• Zart Art

I thank our Gold Sponsors

• Teachers Health
• Berry Street 
• ASCA
• Schoolzine

On behalf of your Association, we wish you all a successful remainder of 2023 and beyond.

Regards
Mat

2024 Tasmanian Educational Leaders Conference

There is no better time to continue to grow as courageous and connected leaders by prioritising your own learning and wellbeing – we look forward to seeing you making this investment in your professional learning. Please place these dates in your calendar (22-24 May 2024), registrations will be open soon.

Registration Fees

• Full - Early TPA Member - $600.00
• Full - Early Non-Member - $750.00
• Full - Standard TPA Member - $800.00
• Full - Standard Non-Member - $950.00

Keep updated with the progress by visiting - 

Happy (school!) holidays from Teachers Health!

As we wrap up another busy year, we’re sharing our appreciation for all our wonderful teachers, principals and school staff from everyone at Teachers Health. Once again you’ve gone above and beyond to support your students and school communities. We’re proud to support you as the health fund for the education community and wish you a healthy and happy holiday season.

To join the Teachers Health family and get 6 weeks’ free cover when you join with Hospital and Extras by 31 January and skip the 2 & 6 month waits on Extras*. Head to teachershealth.com.au for more info.

ASPA Summit

Remember to log onto www.asca.com.au to check on your Rewards points and for that last minute shopping, don’t forget to take advantage of the great savings from ASCAPlus!

100% Club Gold Members will continue to collect bonus points in 2024, so don’t forget to ask how you can become a Gold member 😊

Finally, a very special THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU OUR MEMBERS, your support allows us to continue supporting our Charity Partners – we couldn’t do it without you all.

TPA Sponsors

Platinum

Gold

Silver