2020 Parents Victoria Conference

PV Online Conference: Monday 19 October

Our Annual Conference is going online this year and, as usual, we're bringing you expert speakers on current issues in education. We encourage all parents, school counsellors and school staff to attend. Having staff and parents from your school at the same conference, hearing the same messages and discussing the same issues, is a great community-building activity for your school!

Program

10:00am - Opening

Education Minister James Merlino will open the conference.

Mr Merlino will also answer questions. Questions must be submitted in advance to the Parents Victoria office via email. The deadline for questions is Sunday 11 October.

Mr Merlino has also agreed to present the Joan Kirner Award. This is an annual award given to a Member Parent Club, Parent, or Individual Member who has demonstrated, encouraged, or facilitated parent or family engagement in their school. 

11:15am - Re-setting the foundations for good mental health for families post COVID

Presenter: Dr Stephen Carbone, Executive Director, Prevention United.

A focus on mental health has never been more important as we continue to negotiate the social and economic impacts caused by COVID-19. This session will focus on self-care, parenting and help-seeking in the age of Covid-19. It will explore the impacts of COVID in the lives of students and parents, discuss ways that parents can look after their own mental health and wellbeing and also support their children’s mental wellbeing, and provide advice on what parents can do if they are concerned that their child may be experiencing mental health difficulties.

As a result of this presentation parents will:

• Understand the mental health continuum and the difference between mental health and ill-health
• Recognise the importance of self-care and the practical strategies to look after their mental health
• Hear about evidence-based parenting strategies that help to promote positive child and adolescent mental wellbeing
• Learn the signs that their child may be experiencing a mental health condition, and where and how they can access support.

12:00pm - Family Engagement Officers in schools

Presenter: Dori Ellington, Community Engagement Officer at Whittington Primary School. 

There are a lot of pieces that make up our school system. Family Engagement is a collective of ideas and initiatives designed to bring schools, parents and communities closer together. To make it happen takes special people in unique roles.

(For a parent perspective on Dori's role at the school, see this recent article by parent Jade Millman.)  

12:10pm - Connected Schools Communities: The Next School Improvement Frontier

Presenter: Adam Voigt, Director, Real Schools.

• How schools can be cognisant of what parents really want from their school.
• How parents and schools can not only get on the same page, but write that page together.
• An understanding of what goes wrong when the home-school partnership erodes.
• What’s really required for parents and schools to rebuild high trust relationships geared for success.

1:10pm - Closing

A wrap of the day's proceedings, including potential future PV forums.

1:15pm - Conference ends

Registration

The Conference will take place on Zoom. It's free but registration is essential. Please register by 17 October at the latest. Participants will be emailed a Zoom link on 18 October.