That's a wrap on 2025's Annual Full Council & AGM Conference! What a fantastic day with incredible participation, enthusiasm, discussion & dedication from all who attended; all in the name of bettering education across our NT government schools.
"Ruth is an amazing presenter. She speaks clearly and pleasantly. The NTCOGSO team were supportive and professional as always. I have been honoured to be part of this amazing day. Thank you all."
Our day kicked-off with a beautiful didgeridoo performance by Trent Lee, followed by a Welcome to Country by Mya Lee Gregory. NTCOGSO's President, Ruth Mirams, took the stage and welcomed all, including COGSO staff - before handing over to our keynote speaker, Professor Yalmay Yunupingu.
Yalmay shared some great wisdom from her 40 years working in education, and her vision for true two-way collaboration.
Proceedings of the Annual Full Council followed - confirming the 2024 minutes, looking at the work of the Executive Committee across the past year, as well as the financial position.
After morning tea, lead teacher from Nightcliff Middle School, Lisa Svara, got the room up and moving with her engaging guest speaker presentation 'Why Moving More Matters for Learning and Wellbeing'. Lisa shared relevant (and somewhat alarming) data on young people's physical and technology activity, before demonstrating initiatives to bring more movement to students' school days - and what benefits this brings about.
My biggest take-away from today was... "The energy and excitement from the Minister about her involvement in education."
Education Minister, Jo Hersey, joined us for an address and update, including information from her very recent meeting with Federal Education Minister, Jason Clare, regarding anti-bullying measures in schools. The Chief Executive, Susan Bowden, and Deputy CE, Aderyn Chatterton, then joined the Minister on stage to participate in a Q&A session - giving input on a series of 10 pre-submitted questions from School Bodies.
NTCOGSO was absolutely thrilled to award ex-President, Tabby Fudge, life membership, for more than 10 years of outstanding dedication to public education across the Territory.
"Parents voices matter but helping parents & communities to combine their voices is more powerful."
After lunch, NTCOGSO's Project Officer, Harry, took members through the upcoming social media age restrictions in a 'workshop together' presentation. Unpacking helpful information and resources from Australia's eSafety Commissioner - great discussions, questions, thoughts, worries, ideas and requests were shared together. Delegates also received a 'goodie bag' full of parent and family resources, kindly sent by the eSafety team.
To finish the day, the AGM was officially opened whereby 2024's minutes were confirmed and passed, the President and Regional Representatives delivered their annual reports, the audited financial report was shared, and we welcomed several returning and new Executive Committee members (including a few nominations and elections from the floor!). We will officially introduce these members and their positions in the near future.
Two motions-on-notice were spoken to and subsequently voted on and passed by members. These motions were:
- “That Council request the Northern Territory Government (NTG) through their departments allocate ongoing funding for the Period Pain and Endometriosis (PPEP) Talk Program in all NT government schools.”
- “That Council requests the Department of Education and Training and Department of Logistics and Infrastructure:
- To urgently fund and construct permanent classroom facilities at Zuccoli Primary School to meet current and anticipated student enrolment growth;
- To allocate funding and support for the development of a purpose-built, expanded Outside Hours School Care (OHSC) facility to increase capacity and reduce the current waitlist;
- To ensure that any expansion allows for the retention and protection of specialist spaces, such as music and science rooms, which are essential for broad educational outcomes;
- To develop a long-term strategy for primary education infrastructure in Zuccoli, including consideration of an additional primary school to meet projected demand."
An updated NTCOGSO Policy document was also discussed and voted on, passing with suggestions and recommendations for future amendments. This policy will be available on our website in the coming weeks.
"Fantastic meeting! Looking forward to attending the next one."
"Thank you it was informative and did not feel stressful e.g. going back to school with a long to do list."
"Great conference, very valuable and very glad I attended."
"The amount of work NTCOGSO do to advocate for all NT govt schools. Very fortunate to have such an amazing team! Thank you all."
It was such a privilege to share the day with so many dedicated and passionate individuals from across the Territory. Although exhausted on Saturday evening - our cups were very full from such a fantastic day. We hope you enjoyed it, too, and had plenty of inspiration to take away. A huge thank you to all who came along. We look forward to continuing to work together to continually strengthen public education in the Northern Territory.
After a copy of presentations from the day? Find downloads here
Have a watch: visual highlights of the day