AMES BALGA STAFF

Error in PD Info

2008-12-05T09:15:00.001+09:00

In spite of having been proof read by 3 staff there are some typos in the PD document I sent out earlier. The most grievous is this:

On Thursday 29th January the Senior First Aid course will be a full day session and run from 08:45 to 16:45 and not just for forty-five minutes as indicated.

Sorry.

Philip

Outing to Hillary's

2008-12-04T17:06:00.000+09:00

The Hillary’s outing was enjoyed by all, especially those who had never seen the ocean in Australia! I noticed several Geography lessons going on, with maps being drawn on the sand. Some brave souls (including Simon and Alison) plunged into the ocean and one African student caused some concern by confidently setting out for deeper waters! The weather was perfect, the halal sausages purchased by Simon were very tasty and hundreds of photos were taken. The only hiccup was a lost wallet with lots of dollars in it but even that had a happy ending when the bus company rang at 5 pm to say a school student on a later bus run had handed it in.

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Branka has started sewing activities with her Pre Cert class and the students have taken to it with enthusiasm. Even a young student who has on occasion displayed what could be described as “high school tendencies” seems absorbed in the process.

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Philip has emailed information about professional development in January. Please make sure that you complete the relevant form.

End of term admin procedures will be much the same as last term but I will let you know in the next few days of any changes.

Sue Shaw’s Learner Pathways course is going well, with 14 students on the books. This term it has been running for 5 hours on Mondays but next term it will be full time. It will include vocational training “taster” options such as industrial sewing, warehousing or industrial cleaning.

We are very pleased that Pat Nicolaou will be joining the Balga admin team next term. Samantha and Mary A will be working every day, which will be great for continuity.

The Circular will be published soon and deadline for contributions is 10 December.

Louise Scott sent me an email recently- she and Laurie are having a great time, touring the US. I will email her account to you all.

Market Day

2008-11-17T09:54:00.001+09:00

Thanks to everyone who made market day such a success by collecting clothes and utensils and manning the “stalls”. Some of the proceeds will go towards a centre outing (see below).

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Dubravka in mid sales pitch!

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Elyse appraising the pottery while Wanjira sizes up an appealing garment

2008-11-17T09:42:00.000+09:00

The driving students from October have been attending the Licensing Centre during the term and the results so far have been excellent. Some of Branka’s low level students have really excelled themselves by achieving 40/40 ! Veronica continues to produce high-quality materials and worksheets for the joint AMES/ Edmund Rice project which is aimed at assisting students to pass the actual driving test.

On arrival talks are likely to be scheduled for next week and I also want to do the class photos – am students on Wednesday and pm students on Thursday. If there is a clash with an OA talk we will have to reschedule. On Friday 28 we will have a centre outing, probably to Hillary’s. A flyer will be coming out soon. I have booked the Function Room at Herb Graham Rec Centre for our regular Christmas Party on Thursday18th December.

2008-11-06T15:20:00.000+09:00

We celebrated the outcome of the US election with a cake kindly donated by Wanjira, who, inspired by the meteoric rise of her fellow-Kenyan Obama, now modestly terms herself “the next Prime Minister of Australia.”

2008-11-06T14:56:00.000+09:00

The personal folders used for all the CSWE documentation seem to have been a success so I thought it would be a good idea to issue all staff with a similar folder for administration info/ forms etc. This means that we should not have to issue the same material multiple times and therefore we can cut down on paper use. We will update the folders on a termly basis.

We have had an excellent response (18 students) to the Employment Pathways course, which will start on Monday in “D” Block. Sue Shaw will be teaching on the course every Monday. A projector is being installed in the classroom and we are also getting a projector for one of our “J” Block classrooms. The projectors are used in conjunction with a laptop and can show DVDs as well as Powerpoint presentations.

I will soon give a date for class photos but as I bring my camera to work every day you can ask for your class photo to be taken any time prior to the official date.

There are a number of selection panels taking place/ about to take place in the coming weeks, including Lecturer, Career Adviser and Program Coordinator positions. I will be on the panels of the two latter categories and Simon is involved in lecturer selection.
Philip has asked for suggestions for PD sessons in January. I will be forwarding ideas from recent course reports but if you have any new suggestions, please let me know

TAA

2008-10-24T14:48:00.000+08:00

TAA

Sue Shaw writes:
"There seems to be some confusion about how long students have to complete their TAA certificate. So just to clarify for everyone, Eric Findlay has advised that you have 12 months from the date of enrolment (RPL) or 12 months from the date of the first workshop you attended."

For more info on this see the PD web site

AUSCO Visit to Balga

2008-10-24T10:33:00.003+08:00

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Apologies for the late start to the term's blogging but have had little time to apply myself!
Some classes are still a bit unsettled but hopefully by next week there will be fewer transfers happening. There have been very few students requesting a change of class; changes have been initiated by teachers which is great.

Yesterday we had a visit from 30 delegates attending the AUSCO conference in Perth. AUSCO delivers pre-departures short courses to humanitarian students all over the globe and a few delegates met students they knew from overseas while they were here. Thanks to Sonia for helping me to gather together handouts and info sheets at very short notice. Just as the coach was about to leave we had a "Balga moment" when a plaintive cry was heard from the disabled toilet- one of our visitors had locked themselves in! She just could not work out the dual locking system and in spite of our best efforts she was unable to get out. The coach had to leave and we called Security for assistance. Ken was unable to help so he phoned Willie the handyman who was just coming into sight when the blushing delegate finally managed to escape.

Mary Aitken will be away for four weeks on annual leave- she and Paul are driving across the Nullarbor to South Australia and Victoria. Meanwhile Charmaine is in Kalbarri for two weeks so we will be a bit short-staffed in the office.

This weekend marks the start of daylight saving so no doubt a number of students will be an hour late on Monday- hopdfully not too many!

Highly Commended

2008-09-10T08:37:00.001+08:00

Adult Learners' Week Awards

2008-09-09T10:19:00.001+08:00

On Thursday a group of staff and student representatives attended the Adult Learners’ Awards evening at the Novotel Langley. It was a very successful night and everyone enjoyed it thoroughly. We had nominated the literacy classes for the vegetable garden project and they were entered in the “Outstanding Group of Learners” category. We expected the standard would be high, as it was not an award specifically for migrants, so everyone was delighted when they were given a special “Highly Commended” award, the only nominees to receive such an accolade. A student from the Victoria won the “Outstanding Migrant Learner” award. Thanks to Branka, Veronica and Anna for accompanying the students and making it such a special event.

2008-09-09T10:17:00.001+08:00

Footy Tipping Finale

2008-09-03T15:18:00.000+08:00

On Tuesday we had a morning tea to celebrate the end of the footy tipping competition. The men managed to maintain their dominance to the end, with Chris winning by a single point from Simon and Andrew a further point behind. The girls took defeat with good grace (all the knives have now been removed). Many thanks to Branka for all her work and also for the magnificent cake!

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Third place collects his winnings

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Ecstatic runner-up!

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The winner and the organiser. Enough said!

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CSWE. Thanks to Philip, Clare and Simon for organising the one hour session for staff- it was very productive. Chris and I will be holding a similar session for evening class teachers on Monday 8 September at 6 pm. We will have one more session before the end of term, mainly to explain what ARMS will record automatically and what will have to be done manually. Also thanks to Mary Aitken for all the work she is putting in organising and re-formatting tasks, a tiresome but vital process.

On September 11th AMES are holding a celebration at Thornlie to mark the successful transfer of the Victoria to Swan. The director of the AMEP and our contract manager from Canberra will be over here for an annual contract meeting, so they will be attending the function, together with other dignitaries.

Staff News. We were very sorry to farewell Alfredo- his time at Balga has been brief but many of us have known him for many years and AMES will miss his expertise greatly. Our sympathy goes to Elyse, whose mother passed away last week. Thankfully her end was peaceful and both Elyse and her brother were with her. We are hopeful that Wanjira will make it back from Kenya in the not too distant future; her 3 week stay has been extended owing to flight problems. No doubt she’s overcoming her disappointment by having more makeovers- I hope we recognise her when she gets back!

Afsoun will now be here regularly on Wednesday and Thursday, so teachers can make referrals knowing that students will be seen.

2008-08-21T11:55:00.003+08:00

First of all, please note the new link to Philips' PD site. Keep an eye on this in order to follow developments in the new CSWE.

The Family Connections sessions ( running over three weeks) which started on Tuesday were a great success -Mary and Julie were very pleased with the response from students, who became very involved with discussion about parenting issues, changing roles between husbands and wives etc

Congratulations to Mary for her contribution to a very useful set of publications in a number of languages now produced by the Dept of Planning and Infrastructure which will be of great assistance to recently arrived migrants in engaging successfully in the process of obtaining a Driver's Licence in WA. These information sheets are also downloadable from the DPI website.

Still on the topic of driving, Mary and Veronica have been heavily involved in setting up (together with the Edmund Rice Centre) the SGP CaLD DL project, funded by DIAC. The purpose of this project is to assist migrants to pass the actual driving test. Veronica is concentrating on the language required in driving instruction and yesterday I received an email describing how she was going: “ I sat in the car with a teacher from Defensive Driving for a few hours today, and noted a lot of dialogue and phrases used by the instructor and the student. I met with the teacher at Kelmscott Licensing and we went to 2 student's houses and had the lessons. It was a great experience and I'm looking forward to arranging another 'sit-in' next wed north of the river, hopefully with a less experienced driver .I've taken several photographs and done some worksheets with these on parts of the car and some sheets on 'cab drill' what to do when you get in the car.”

Union news: Alison reports that there is little positive news in the attempt to secure a new TAFE Agreement. “ In summary, there is a difficult time ahead, and certainly no imminent prospect of a pay rise, and apparently if it goes to arbitration, back pay does not happen. It looks as if nothing is going to be resolved for a long time, possibly going into next year. That's unless a surprise offer is given to us before arbitration.”

On 4 September Branka, Veronica, Anna and I will be taking 4 students to the Adult Learners’ Awards night at the Langley. The students will represent all the literacy students who were nominated for the “Outstanding Group of Learners” award.

Thursday 4 September will also be the day for class photos (all classes to be taken on the same day).
We have all been enjoying the Beijing Olympics and students have been taking a keen interest on the daily updates, medal tables and photos Simon and I have been posting on a display board outside the ILC.

Staff News

2008-08-21T11:55:00.001+08:00

Many thanks to Barbara for so capably filling in for Elyse, who has just returned from 4 weeks in Malaysia. Wanjira is having a great time in Kenya- pampering herself being a major aim, it would seem! “My holiday is fantastic - very relaxing. Spent the entire afternoon today at the salon being pampered with manicure, pedicure etc and massage - all for less than $100 including tip!”

Congratulations

2008-08-21T11:53:00.000+08:00

STOP PRESS Yesterday Christine and Bernard became grandparents for the first time. It’s a girl, Nicola

2008-08-11T13:31:00.001+08:00

The Beijing Olympics are now in full swing, so Simon and I are posting latest news and a medal table for students to read and discuss. We are doing our best to follow the progress of competitors from the 27 nations present at Balga! Click on the image to enlarge.

2008-08-11T13:29:00.001+08:00

It was exactly a year ago that the vegetable garden was started and this winter promises to be equally productive, with lettuces in Anna’s patch almost ready to harvest despite a mini-invasion of bugs!

2008-08-11T13:28:00.000+08:00

Hopefully you can all access the shared drives now that shortcuts have been put on the staff computers. There are a lot of resources on them, so please familiarise yourselves with the contents. Philip has started a blog for professional development, which is an excellent idea, especially as all queries/ suggestions about the new CSWE will appear on this blog. The address is: http://amesud.blogspot.com

This term we are trying a different way of doing the class photos. As in the school system, all photos will be taken on the same day (in our case, a Thursday because all classes are running ) and you will receive plenty of notice.

The footy tipping competition is again very tight, with Simon in the lead on 99 points and Chris and Andrew on 98. In the ladies’ comp. Mary A is leading with 97 points.

In the next blog posting we hope to give you an update on negotiations for the new TAFE Lecturers’ Agreement.

Term 3 Begins

2008-08-06T08:41:00.001+08:00

Rather late for the first posting of the term but as you will be aware it’s been somewhat frantic getting everything up and running. In addition to the usual mayhem, Simon, Mary and I have been contributing towards DIAC’s request for submissions involving setting up an employment pathways program and traineeships in English and work readiness. The deadline is August 15th and we’re fortunate that Swan are able to assist us and that Sophie has taken on the actual submission writing. The courses are due to start in October- not an ideal timeframe.

We are pleased to have Sonia back from LSL, Ingrid and Angela have settled into K Block and Alfredo, Charmaine, Lydia and Julie have quickly found their feet. In all we have 33 staff accessing the centre, and in addition several community teachers dropping in to use the photocopier and resources, so we are bursting at the seams.

The new arrangement for Swan to maintain our student computers has many advantages, though there have been some teething problems, the most significant of which is the need for students to have IDs and passwords. It will take a few weeks for this top run smoothly and many thanks to Samantha for all the work she has put in to help the process- her record-keeping has been great.

Thanks to Mary Aitken and Alison in particular for organising a staff dinner last Friday at Anna’s in Leederville. About 30 staff attended and enjoyed the evening despite a very full house!

Staff Dinner

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Staff Dinner

2008-08-05T10:54:00.001+08:00

Thanks to Mary Aitken and Alison in particular for organising a staff dinner last Friday at Anna’s in Leederville. About 30 staff attended and enjoyed the evening despite a very full house! Unfortunately Blogger is unable to load images today so they will be posted later.

Farewells

2008-07-02T16:32:00.002+08:00

Staff News

2008-07-02T16:28:00.008+08:00

There is a lot of news on the staff front. On Tuesday we farewelled Susan Cattaneo, Shahin, and Veronica with a morning tea. They were all presented with a memento mug embossed with a staff photo. We will miss them very much but for Shahin and Veronica, who both live in Thornlie and travel here by car, the move is equivalent to a pay rise. We are not quite cutting Shahin free , as she has agreed to work here on Wednesdays. On the bright side, while we are losing a daughter (Veronica) we are gaining a parent (Alfredo) who will also be joining us on Wednesdays. We welcome Charmaine Blogg to the band of clericals. She lives locally and will work on Mondays and Tuesdays.

It is not easy to staff our nine evening classes, so we are very pleased to welcome Lydia O’Reilly and Kim Lai , both of whom work in community classes during the day. Lydia will also do a few hours in a morning class and Wanjira will join the ILC team with Sonia and Simon. Julie Donnelly is our new counsellor and she will start at the beginning of next ter. Finally we wish Valentina “Bon Voyage” as she leaves for the US and Europe on long service leave and hope that Romana’s new arrival will give the minimum trouble!

All staff should have received the new CSWE information file. If you don’t have one, please let me know. You will be relieved to hear that there are 74 assessment tasks online. Over the holidays Mary will download them and put them into files.

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With the term drawing to a close lots of activities are taking place. Veronica and Branka took their pre Cert classes to the Perth Zoo last week and this week Chris and Alison are visiting the Maritime Museum in Fremantle, while Anna’s class is bound for Whiteman Park. On the last day of term we have the finals of Balga Idol followed by lunch at Herb Graham.

2008-07-02T16:21:00.002+08:00

Sausage Sizzle

2008-06-20T15:05:00.001+08:00

Everyone seemed to enjoy the sausage sizzle and Margaret’s class was inspired to continue the “Balga Idol” session into their class time! Special thanks to the chefs, Chris and Simon, who was also spot on with logistics- the 10 kilos of sausages fed everyone and there were only a couple left.

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I was asked not to circulate the most recent info sheet on the CSWE just yet as it was a draft and the final version will be in the Circular early next week. I have also got a number of other handouts to distribute and some time next week we will have an am/pm shift meeting to give them out and discuss. Janice has been working hard to produce a guide which links ILC software to the new Pre Cert course.

I have booked Herb Graham for the last day of term. We will have lunch as usual but prior to that “Balga Idol Part 2” will be held.

Cooking Demo

2008-06-13T11:15:00.002+08:00

Veronica’s class were treated to a cooking demonstration from Ros and Lindy from Edmund Rice Centre last week. The zuccini and carrot fritters were very popular!

2008-06-13T10:06:00.000+08:00

Refugee Week begins on the 15 June and we will be celebrating it with a sausage sizzle on Thursday (weather permitting). Apart from the food, Simon is also organising a display of national flags . In doing so we discovered that there are 37 nationalities in our centre. No wonder it’s a nightmare organising interpreters for on-arrival talks! Students are encouraged to wear national dress and there will be some entertainment provided.

Veronica, Branka, Anna and I are nominating our Pre Cert students’ gardening project for the Adult Learners’ “Outstanding Group of Learners” Award. Apart from addressing criteria we also have to compile a portfolio, which in our case will include a photographic record of the garden’s progress from wasteland to thriving garden.

Last Friday some of us attended a full day workshop about the new CSWE. Philip has put together some information and early next week I will be distributing this together with a few additional notes I made.

One housekeeping issue. When buying incidental items from shops please check with Mary Aitken first- there are government contracts in place even for very minor items and we can’t claim through petty cash in these cases.

Annual Market

2008-06-05T11:35:00.001+08:00

Last week the annual market took place and was a great success. Many thanks to Simon, who put in a lot of work and to all other staff for their assistance. Veronica also acted as official photographer (see below).

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The vegetable garden is progressing well, with recently-planted crops flourishing. Anna has planted broccoli and Branka’s broad beans are growing fast

2008-06-05T11:25:00.000+08:00

During Refugee Week we are hoping to organise a sausage sizzle (halal), weather permitting. Simon will be circulating full details soon but it is envisaged that national dress could be worn, a display organised and maybe some dancing/ singing.

The online First Aid course, which takes 30 minutes to do, will be available until 30 June. The web site is https://www.ambulance.net.au/onlinecourse/login.asp

If anyone is interested in hearing the radio interview I did recently Mary has two copies in the resource room.

Market Day

2008-05-26T09:45:00.002+08:00

The annual market will be taking place on Thursday. Many thanks to Simon for organising it - this year he has included another category "children's books" which will great for parents with young children.

2008-05-25T20:24:00.001+08:00

I will be on leave in Darwin from Tuesday 27 May until Tuesday 3^rd June and if there are any emergencies please speak to Simon. Mary Aitken will be back from Bali on Wednesday.

2008-05-25T20:22:00.002+08:00

Staff from the Victoria have been told where they will be located in Term 3. The move has meant that we will be losing Veronica and Shahin, who after much thought have put in a transfer to Thornlie- both of them live within 5 minutes of Thornlie TAFE. They will be sorely missed - Shahin for her gentle manner and amazing linguistic skills and Veronica for her literacy skills and of course being our “driving guru”! We welcome Dorothy Parin to Balga – living in Wanneroo she was top of the list for a transfer to our northernmost centre! Also Charmaine Blogg, who lives in Girrawheen, will be taking Shahin’s admin position. Charmaine will be a great asset- she modestly states that she can “get by” in Burmese but having lived there for the first 18 years of her life she is probably under-selling herself.

There is an excellent “crash course” in First Aid available online. See Philip’s email of 19 May. This is only available until 30 June. It requires registration, which only takes a couple of minutes. The course takes about 30 minutes to complete- well worth it.

Please do not apply for leave until Wednesday or later next week- because I’m away applications done on Monday and Tuesday will lapse before I can process them.

Student Surveys. Copies of surveys will be in the staff room early this week.

Don’t forget to tell your students that next Monday is a public holiday.

The footy tipping comp is again very tight, with three (Chris Andrew and Mary A) within a point of each other in the overall standings. Round winners to date are Simon, Anna, Chris, Andrew, Branka and Carol (twice!). Last week was a record, with five staff tipping 8 out of 8!

West Coast Awards

2008-05-15T10:02:00.002+08:00

At the College Awards night last week Monika Mer received a Pre Certificate award. She was nominated by Veronica, who accompanied her (and her aunt Anjelina) to the ceremony.

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Staff news. Samantha is back today from her holiday in Phuket- refreshed and ready to go hopefully, as we have a lot on in the office getting Exit and On Arrival lists out.
Mary C and I were on the panel to appoint a new part-time counsellor for Balga and we are hopeful that this time we have found a suitable candidate. Fortunately Susan Cattaneo is able to fill in for the next few weeks.

Mary A leaves for Bali on Monday and the following Tuesday it’s my turn – 4 days plus the weekend in Darwin. Incidentally a new record was set this week in the “delayed postcard” category. Mary-Anne’s postcard sent on her trans - Australia train journey on the 11th of February arrived yesterday! So the advice to travellers is: don’t send a postcard from the middle of the Nullarbor when you stop in a “town” with a total population of 8!!

Meanwhile, back at the coalface: DIAC have sent us a summary of the results of a nationwide survey of AMEP students carried out by them using interpreters. The report states that “ West Coast TAFE performed best in comparison to other providers and …had several stand out positives and no stand out negatives” The stand out positives included:

Distance Learning
Clients being comfortable with others in the class
Provision of childcare
Provision of counselling services.

So congratulations to everyone on achieving these outstanding results.

I have been asked to give a radio interview at 6EBA next Monday about the AMEP in WA. The main purpose is to to attempt to educate community organisations who hold a lot of misconceptions about what we do. It may also reach potential students who have not heard of the AMEP.

Last week Mary Crogan and I had a meeting with Mercy Employment, one of the Job Network providers in Mirrabooka. Originally we had wanted to discuss how more and more students were leaving class in order to take up casual employment but the discussion developed into how we could set up to joint training courses. It looks really positive because they have funding and accommodation and we have the clients. It will start small (for example a three day industrial cleaning course in the July holidays) but hopefully will develop.

We have just received the latest in the series "Get Wise" There are 10 books CD plus DVD “Your Health and Wellbeing” The DVD in particular comes very highly recommended.

60th Birthday

2008-05-06T09:58:00.002+08:00

Thank you to all staff for making this significant birthday so memorable! The trouble you went to in providing a typically lavish Balga-style morning tea and the fantastic iPod car radio adaptor I received were very much appreciated.

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Term 2 has got off to a good start, with most classes fairly healthy. There are some exceptions however, so top-ups from interviews will be added in the next couple of weeks. Evening classes are mostly full.

This term we are planning to have two centre events, a market and a sausage sizzle. Simon will let you know when to bring in clothes for the market.

Please note two emails from Philip: 1. a research project for teachers who have a master’s degree and 2. a possible PD session on salary packaging.

Refugee week is from June 15 to June 21. UN World Refugee Day is on June 20.
An excellent resource kit is available at www.refugeecouncil.org.au/newsevents/refugeeweek.html

2008-05-06T09:25:00.001+08:00

Some minor works should be starting soon. New blinds for J006 and J007, verandahs for J011 and J012 and non-slip surface for the ramp going down to the toilets.

2008-04-03T10:31:00.002+08:00

Veronica’s wedding was a memorable occasion – the weather was perfect and the Bridgeleigh venue was beautiful, as was the bride! Thanks to Mary, Sonia and Rodney (Veronica's brother) for the photos. James and Veronica will be honeymooning in Vanuata over the Easter break.

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Several AMES staff attended Anna Phelps funeral on rain-soaked Monday. Many thanks to Alison for organising the rose bush as a memorial. It is situated near the steps to our office.

2008-04-03T09:06:00.001+08:00

From Philip: “Please be advised that if you wish to use the AMEP Research Centre website, there will be a login as of April 1st.” See me if you need login details as I can’t publish them on the blog.

Many thanks to Simon for organising the AMES PD and FLAN so everyone’s choices were in before the deadline.

Weather permitting we intend to have a picnic at Matilda Bay on the last day of term, Friday 11th April. A poster will be issued soon.

2008-03-27T14:15:00.000+09:00

Anna’s passing is being felt by us all and our thoughts have been with Graham and the two boys this week. Her funeral is on Monday at 10 am and there will be a good representation from Balga. Thank you for the generous contributions to cover the cost of the death notice in the West and the rose bush which Alison kindly bought. It will be planted in our garden in her memory.

You will have noticed from your email that Sue Slavin is to talk to city teachers on Tuesday to update them on developments regarding accommodation from July. She has been negotiating on David’s behalf (he will be back from leave on April 7th).

Thanks to everyone for getting re-enrolments in on time- it really helps the admin. There are still a few rankings to come in

Please make sure you download the PD program for April from Groupwise (see Philip’s email). PD runs from Mon 21 April through to Wed 23.rd Thurs 24th is Centre Day.

Staff News

2008-03-17T11:27:00.001+09:00

Sonia and Steve continue their wanderings round northern Australia. After they left the Whitsundays we had some news from Cairns, where it was raining but apparently felt like taking a warm shower.

Garden Latest

2008-03-17T11:25:00.000+09:00

Alison’s class, after looking longingly at the gardening activities taking place next to their classroom, has formally laid claim to the last quarter of the garden. Some vigorous planting occurred last Friday, with the Vietnamese students showing that they were no shrinking violets!

Advisers' Committee

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Branka and Mary have completed a new literacy resource called “Medial Sounds”. It’s available from the resource room.

Class photos are almost finished- please get your orders in as quickly as possible.

Driving students have been taking their “L” permits during the term and results have been excellent, so well done to Branka, Wanjira and Veronica.

Harmony Day Sports is confirmed for the Thursday 20th March (day before Good Friday). There will be a separate flyer coming round soon.

2008-03-07T16:32:00.000+09:00

Tending the tomato plants and lemon grass

2008-03-07T16:10:00.001+09:00

2008-03-07T15:53:00.002+09:00

By all accounts International Women’s Day was a great success. Carmen, Christine and Margaret took their classes up to Joondalup on the bus organised by Jean Wyder and the students thoroughly enjoyed the visit. They enjoyed the displays, the dancing and lunch, though some were somewhat overawed by the palatial surroundings and one or two were keen to transfer from Balga to Joondalup immediately!

Staff News
We would like to welcome Moya Durack back to the Balga fold- she will be assisting Mary and Susan with counselling duties for the second half of term. Naz should be back on 12 March after undergoing further treatment.

Two staff are taking some leave in the next few weeks: Sonia is off to Sydney (by plane) then joins a cruise ship which will track round the northern half of Australia, finally arriving in Fremantle. Shahin leaves on March 12 for and overseas holiday in Bahrein and won’t be back until week 10. Mary Aitken, Samantha and I will be taking short breaks in May.

Harmony Week is being celebrated in WA from March 15th to 21st so it would probably be a good idea for us to have our Harmony Day on Thursday 20th March, the last day before the Easter break.

2008-02-29T15:34:00.000+09:00

Tomato planting has commenced over the past week but because of the hot weather a lot of watering has had to be done. Veronica has harvested some lemon grass and the class made lemon grass tea.

2008-02-29T15:31:00.001+09:00

Staff news- City and Balga
Sue Shaw is going to China on 7 March to look at the English program there and to conduct workshops for 50-60 lecturers. Some of their students will be coming to West Coast to study hospitality.

PJ O’Keefe (known as PJ) is settling in well to his new position as PM in the city. Most Balga staff haven’t met him but he has been on the teaching staff in the Victoria for a while. Prior to that he was a Director of Studies at Edith Cowan.

Our sympathy goes to Philip on the loss of his father earlier this month in England. Fortunately Philip had already planned a visit and so he was there when his father passed away.

Alison thanks staff for their generosity in collecting $44.10 to buy a teapot for Anna. The teapot was $39.99, and with a card and paper the amount was just right. Chris went to visit Anna this Friday and she also phoned Mary-Anne on the same day.

Upgrade to TAA Cert IV . You should have received a handout about this and you will need to respond by 5 March.

2008-02-24T14:25:00.000+09:00

Things have been very busy over the past couple of weeks, so the Blog has been neglected somewhat. However regular postings should appear from now on!

Our classes vary in numbers but we have had to start a Cert 1 Holding class (Alison and Louise) and another evening class (Branka). We now have 8 evening classes running so Chris and evening staff have been very busy.

There will be two days of PD in April, one day of FLAN and one centre day (Anzac Day is on the Friday). One PD day will be devoted to the new CSWE and another is set aside for workshops for those who wish to make a start on the TAA upgrade.

All of you are probably aware that the AMEP contract has been extended further, to June 2010. While the implications for Balga are not as far-reaching as for the city, in that we don’t have accommodation problems, we will nevertheless have to make some decisions regarding our infrastructure. For example we could have limped along for a further 6 to 12 months with our sub-standard computing facilities but with a further two and a half years stretching ahead, we need to consider giving up a classroom in order to fit out a proper computing room.

Alright for Some!

2008-02-24T14:22:00.001+09:00

While all of us here have been slaving away at the coalface, Mary-Anne has (as far as can be established from her texts!) been living a pampered existence in Sydney and Coff’s Harbour, with massages, gourmet food and cocktails every day. Many thanks to Samantha for filling in so capably- she certainly earned her wages!

2008-02-24T14:16:00.002+09:00

2008-02-24T14:11:00.000+09:00

While we are on social matters, Christine learned this week that she is to be a grandmother for the first time (so you need to add “to be” to the caption above). She joins a rapidly expanding club (seven?) of grandparents at Balga.

2008 Under Way!

2008-02-08T11:23:00.000+09:00

2008 has started with the usual flurry of interviews – 40 plus so far and 17 booked for next week. Hopefully we can place the bulk of these by the end of next week. We have had an influx of Cert 3 students and may have to rearrange Cert 3 classes.

Our two new phones have been installed and the numbers are:

J001 Counsellor Room X4367
J002 Interview Room X 4365

There are two PD projects and Clare Harris is looking for participants. She summarises the first as follows:

Funded by NCELTR, - teachers work together in pairs (one long-term with AMES, one newish to AMES though maybe with experience elsewhere). They look at how they might incorporate employablity skills into their CSWE practice, go into each other's classrooms, do some team teaching, and get either relief or extra payment to do this (max 15 hours each over the next 5 months). They would get PD support, probably could do a lot of the reporting verbally, would need to keep a running sheet of their meetings, etc. We'd love to get a pair from Balga if that's possible. It would help if they are teaching at a similar level, of course. And employability skills can happen at lower or higher levels (just easier to articulate to students at the higher levels).

The other project, which involves visiting Joondalup, is closely related:
To inspire AMES staff to incorporate employability skills in delivery in order that clients progress to further training or employment and are able to make a positive contribution to Australian Society.
Further details from me.

Please let me have teacher timetables in the next week.

The Greening of Balga

2008-02-08T11:15:00.000+09:00

The College, like many other businesses and organisations, has undertaken to address the issue of sustainability this year. Many of us are starting to do this at home, so changing practices in the workplace should not be too difficult. I have got a copy of “Introducing the Green Office” for the centre and will leave it in the staff room for a while. If anyone (or two) is keen take on the role of organising/ overseeing a sustainability initiative as part of professional duties, then let me know. I’ll just quote the first two paragraphs of the “Green Office”:

Every day in every office, classroom and workspace across WCT decisions are made that impact heavily on the state of our environment. Should I put that old report in recycling or in general waste? Should I shut down my computer while I'm at this afternoon's two hour meeting? Is it up to me to report that dripping tap? Should I turn out the lights as I leave the room? Do I need a hard copy of this document? These might seem like very small matters, but multiplied by 400 staff and 4,000 students, these small factors become a large environmental footprint.
Reducing our impact on the environment is one of the major social priorities for Australians in the new century. Achieving this is the responsibility of every person as an individual and as a member of the broader society. Many people have already begun to make changes at home that will reduce the environmental consequences of every day actions.

Happy Holiday!

2008-02-08T11:10:00.000+09:00

Mary-Anne will be away on holiday in the Eastern States for the next two weeks. The trip begins with a train journey across Australia on the Indian Pacific, four days at a Vietnam Vets reunion outside Sydney and a stay in Coff’s Harbour.

Spring at Balga has never been more beautiful!

2007-11-22T09:34:00.001+09:00

2007-11-22T09:30:00.000+09:00

More Resources: Veronica has produced a booklet to accompany the “Picture Dictionary” computer program. It is a complete list of vocab and sentences used. Another new resource is her letter recognition and writing practice worksheets to accompany the “Everyday Picture Dictionary Suite”. They are suitable for Pre Cert students. Finally, there will be a three-day ISLPR training session for 6 staff from AMES and 6 from Central TAFE (Elaine Wylie is coming over from Queensland to conduct the sessions).

Provisional PD program for January 30th and 31st includes a full day on the new CSWE, “Show and Tell” session, “Workplace Focus”, and “Workplace Training”. Philip will also run a session on how to make easy, interesting worksheets. During the same week staff who do not have Cert 4 will have the chance to obtain the relevant units of the new TAA.

CAFCTIA Celebration

2007-11-15T15:41:00.000+09:00

A ceremony to mark the conclusion of Communities and Families Coming Together in Australia (CAFCTIA), in which Mary Crogan has played a major role, took place at the Herb Graham Recreation Centre on 15 November. The Azusu drummers from Koondoola Primary School gave a spirited performance as did the Djitty Djitty Dance Troop (indigenous dancers).

2007-11-15T15:31:00.000+09:00

2007-11-15T15:22:00.000+09:00

Shahin continues to ride her luck by winning the Melbourne Cup staff sweep. Second was Mary C, third Branka and lucky last Marg Hunt.

Other Info / News

2007-11-15T15:20:00.000+09:00

The College has approved expenditure of nearly $ 10000 to bring additional phone lines to “J” Block. We are very grateful for this, as lack of lines has been an ongoing problem for years.

Student Awards. Please refer to information in pigeon holes. I would encourage more staff to consider nominating suitable students, as we didn’t have any “winners” from Balga in the College awards last year.

Class Photos. I will bring in my camera for the next week. Let me know when numbers are good.

There’s now a Thai translation of “Forms of Irregular Verbs” Available in ILC with a cassette. Thanks to Veronica for organising it and Carmen’s student for translating it. While on the topic of the ILC, Veronica needs to have a 30 minute lunch break before her afternoon class, so would teachers who are using this time for small group work or testing please make sure that they finish at ten to twelve and come into the ILC to put CDs away/ tidy up etc

There are some new fact sheets from DIAC: “Supporting Dinka Speakers from Southern Sudan” is of particular interest, as is “Meeting the Needs of Learner Drivers”

Alison has updated the student blog. Encourage your students to have a look when they next come to the ILC.

The Harvest

2007-11-01T17:22:00.000+09:00

Fruits of their labour!

2007-10-31T15:36:00.000+09:00

The Sale

2007-10-31T15:30:00.000+09:00

2007-10-31T15:15:00.000+09:00

The first harvest from the vegie garden took place last week and, first of all, a big "thank you" to Anna, Branka and Veronica for making the project such a success and so worthwhile for their students. The garden has been a talking point among staff, students and visitors alike and has become something of a focal point for the centre. The quality of the produce was much better than we had expected and Patrick the gardener' recommendation to use sheep manure was probably the key.

The four classes involved all enjoyed a stir-fry using Anna's electric wok and the balance of the crop was sold to the students- a variety of vegetables, each bag sold for 50 cents.

Some vegies are not quite ready for harvest (for e.g. broccoli) and once the harvest is complete we will have to make a decision as to whether to sow anything in the hot weather.

King's Park Outing

2007-10-19T16:12:00.000+08:00

We had glorious weather for our end of term outing on September 28th. The wildflower festival was excellent and we were entertained by indigenous dancers to mark the end of Mary Crogan's Early Years project. More photos will be posted on the Student Blog soon.

Vegetable Garden

2007-10-19T16:09:00.000+08:00

Latest photo. Harvest is next week, followed by sale of vegetables.