Region:

South West Metro

Also in this issue:

School requests • Promotions • Volunteer

Morning tea • Statistics • Resources

Liaison Officer’s Round-upWelcome to the half way point ofthe year.

As we look to headinginto third term, all volunteersshould be settled into their rolesand working with their students.If this is not the case pleasecontact me immediately as I havebeen assured by schools that thisis the case.

It was a joy to catch upwith many of the volunteers atthe recent annual morning teabut as always there is neverenough time to speak with all ofmy volunteers that attended. If Ididn’t get the opportunity to chatwith you, I’m sorry, but I hopeyou all had a wonderful time. Ifyou ever want to catch up for achat or a chance to talk throughany issues please call me I'mhappy to meet with you at a cafénear you to save you the trip toMaylands.

Recently I was asked thequestion about volunteerreimbursement for resources.Please note that if you needresources for an activity pleaseask the school to provide it and ifsomething specific maybe I couldsource it for you. There is noexpectation that volunteersshould pay for resources or thatthe school accept responsibilityfor reimbursing the volunteer. Ifthe resource cant be sourcedthen maybe another activityshould be undertaken.

I managed to visit manyof my schools last term and willbe endeavouring to catch those Imissed early in term 3. It isimportant that we have thesecatch ups so that I can keep thedata up to date and so that ifthere is any issues, or changeswhich require my assistancethese can be sorted.

As always I wouldappreciate that if either avolunteer or School coordinator,is having any issues, that you letme know as soon as possible, asmost are easily resolved.

I will be sendingout to the volunteer that areworking one on one, the mentormatch forms to you shortly andask you to fill them in and returnthem to me at your earliestconvenience. If you areexperiencing any issue with themplease feel free to give me a call.

I hope you havean awesome term and hope tocatch up with you all very soon.

Julz

July 2017

Long Service

Awards

Congratulations to the

following people for their

achievement of 5, 10 and 15

years with EdConnect

Australia.

I will be endeavoring to catch

up with all of you during the

third term.

15 years

Marie Dykstra

10 Years

Ian Sills

Bob Mitchell

5 years

Jill Adams

Kay clayton

Roni Fitzpatrick

Hilary Slater

Betty McAuliffe

Ann Macliver

It was with a very heavy heart that I was informed of the

recent passing of Don Pearce, who was one of the

wonderful volunteers at Lynwood SHS, and recently lost

his battle with cancer.

Don started at Lynwood in 2011 and has worked with both

the mainstream and the ESL students, in a variety of

different subject areas. He had been nominated for

several awards, including being a finalist in the 2015

Mentor of the Year Award.

“He takes a personal and friendly interest in everyone he

meets and has also been very supportive of staff some of

whom have has some difficult personal issues. He is

highly thought of.” Staff member

“Due to his sincerity and big heart, students have

disclosed information which has been life changing for

their time at home and at school with their peers. His total

commitment in supporting our students in their learning

and his ability to make adaptations to individual students

needs, show his expertise and invaluable service to this

school. I applaud his dedication to our students who love

him and the staff who adore him.” Staff member

“Mr Pearce is the best volunteer ever and the kindest. He

helped me so much and I got A’s and B’s in two of my

subjects, he is wise and he understands a lot of things

and even through he is old he keeps up with things.”

Student

The EdConnect and Lynwood families are lessened by his

passing and we send our sympathies to his family. His

legacy will live on in the students who will fondly

remember him. May he rest in peace.

Vale: Don Pearce – Lynwood SHS

Annual Volunteer Morning TeaThese holidays saw the annual volunteer morning tea being held at Maylands. With over 80 people attending is was a fantastic opportunity to learn about other volunteers and what is happening in other schools as well as allowing EdConnect to thanks all the wonderful volunteers for the hard work that they do. It was great to hear the wonderful stories you all have and feedback on each schools. Those of you that asked me to follow up with you on issues, I will endeavour to do so as soon as school goes back.

Hillary who is in the picture to the right in orange was acknowledged for her 5 years of service to the EdConnect program. Hillary not only volunteers at Mt Pleasant Primary school but has also been coming into the office every Friday for the last 4 years, working on entering the data from the observation, YMS and MCQ forms. She is well deserving of recognition.

My volunteers did very well in the prize draws with Ian, Hillary, Julia, and Edwina walking away with some great gifts. Thanks to the Good Guys, Event Cinemas, Grilled, and AMF Bowling for the donation of prizes.

Web Resources

Communication

I found a simple but great article on communication, although it was by the School of Medicine I thought it was still relevant to your role as mentors . The website is listed below if you would like to read more. I was surprised and enjoyed the tree example as I was not aware of this. http://www.ohsu.edu/xd/education/schools/school-of-medicine/faculty/mentoring/mentoring-best-practices/communication/index.cfm

Four key skills for effective communication in mentoring relationships are:

Increase your awareness of yourself and others.You are the instrument through which mentoring happens, both as mentor and mentee. The more you are clear about your own agenda and able to separate out your own thoughts, feelings, and wants from those of your mentor/mentee, the greater the potential for intentional partnership and mutual benefit.

"In each moment you spend in another person's presence, you are communicating that person's importance to you. Are you doing this consciously or unconsciously?" Denise Holmes

Get curious about the other person's story.Listening in order to learn something new (rather than to confirm what you already know) is essential to good mentoring. When you get curious about the other person’s story, you open up the possibility of greater connection and value for both parties.

"In order to understand what another person is saying, you must assume that it is true, and try to imagine what it could be true of." George Miller

Listen for passion and potential.Great mentoring means understanding what makes the other person tick, what has brought them to this moment in their career, and where they would like to go next.

"Listening for potential means listening to people as if they have all the tools they need to be successful, and could simply benefit from exploring their thoughts and ideas out loud." David Rock

Share your own crystallized experience.One of the pleasures of mentoring is the chance to share one’s own hard-earned experience so that it might be helpful to others coming along a similar path.

"Ecologists tell us that a tree planted in a clearing of an old forest will grow more successfully than one planted in an open field. The reason, it seems, is that the roots of the forest tree are able to follow the intricate pathways created by former trees and thus imbed themselves more deeply. This literally enables stronger trees to share resources with the weaker so that the whole forest becomes healthier. Similarly, human beings thrive best when we grow in the presence of those who have gone before." Parks Daloz

If you come across any great resources you think other volunteers would be interested in or great Ted Talks email them through to me and I will pass them on.

Maggie Dent is well renowned for her work especially with boys. She has got some wonderful resources on her webpage https://www.maggiedent.com/

Those of you that are working with Dyslexic children there are some great resources on the Dyslexic Speld foundation https://dsf.net.au/ this has some great tips on teaching reading

spelling and general literacy. Go to the tab that says learning to read and click on the relevant section.

School

Requests

I have had several requests

from schools for games that

volunteers can use whilst they

are with their students.

Uno, Cards, Rubik cubes,

connect four, and other simple

type games are needed. If you

have any lying around at home

that you no longer need. Please

let me know, I'm happy to come

and pick them up.

As always I have a need for

both Males and any aboriginal

mentors. I have recently had

multiple requests for children

with post traumatic stress who

need support. If you know of

someone that can help please

encourage them to apply.

I recently signed up Willetton

and Kensington primary to the

program and are seeking

volunteers for these area.

Mentors are also required in the

Gosnells, Thornlie and

Armadale areas.

If you have contacts in the Hills

area Roleystone Community

College and Pickering Brook

Primary are also looking for

volunteers. As is Darling Range

sports college further north.

Thanks to all the wonderful coordinators who have sent

me through their timetables and updated me on changes

to volunteering status. Special thanks to those who

arranged time out of your busy schedules to meet with

me.

I am aware that for many of you this is addition work to

your all ready busy school life and I'm happy to be flexible

with my requests, however please note that I too have

deadlines for the Department of Education and the more

time I have to spend chasing people the less time I have

for getting you more volunteers.

By now all of your volunteers should be well settled. For

those volunteers that are working one on one with a

student, I will be sending each School coordinator the

Youth Survey forms in the next couple of weeks. If there is

any problems will filling these out please let me know.

These give us a chance to find out how the student feel

about working with a mentor. Please note that this year

this survey will be for the year 4s and above only, as we

are redeveloping the younger years to simplify them ready

for next year..

For those students being mentored If you still have

screening/ observation forms outstanding or waiting to

send could you please get them to me ASAP.

With so many new volunteers so far this year to be

placed, it’s a great reminder to let me know if you have a

student in need or a learning support role that needs to be

filled. Many applicants list areas rather than specific

schools and it helps me when placing them what the

current needs are in each school.

I am interested in knowing what are the major issues that

School coordinators face in their roles, I know in many

cases I'm told that time is the biggest factor and

competing priorities, however please let me know what

are the issues you face. I think you all agree that the

program reaps results, however if there is ongoing issues

with the delivery we can look at how we can either change

our process, or see if there is any additional support that

could be provided.

School Coordinator Corner

Statistics For The South Metro Area

I thought I would share with you the mid year

data statistics, and how we get this information.

At the beginning of the year I approach all my

schools about the work that the volunteers are

undertaking and this information is collated in

large excel data sheets, one for each school.

The numbers only, are then utalised for

contractual agreements with the Department of

Education and for our impact statements.

I use this information to track what days the

volunteers are working and which students they

are working with so that I can ensure that

everyone is comfortable with their tasks. It also

helps me to know what sort of tasks you are

undertaking with your student and its this

information that drives the additional training that

is made available.

This information is checked every term and any

adjustments made. By the end of the year we

know how many students in each area have

been worked with either one on one or in the

classroom.

This information is kept strictly confidential and

when reporting, it is the numbers only that are

shared.

I believe that its great to share these with you so

that you can see the awesome results you

achieve as a group for the south metro area.

Total Numbers

Active volunteer this year 293

Active volunteer as at 6 July 275

Students being mentored 264

Students supported in classes 2992

Students supporting in other areas 200

Schools in the region 45

Hours per week volunteered 456

Ages of students being mentored

Pre primary 1%

Year 1 8%

Year 2 6%

Year 3 12%

Year 4 13%

Year 5 14%

Year 6 16%

Year 7 6%

Year 8 9%

Year 9 6%

Year 10 3%

Year 11 3%

Year 12 3%

These as you can see are very significant

especially as they are just for the south metro

area. Thank to all of you for the contribution you

make.

Case Studies

As we fast approach the end of the financial year we are seeking case studies from School coordinator and Volunteers about their experiences to put in our annual report. If you would like to contribute please email me. Please note that we might slightly adapt the information so that we

can retain the child confidential information

Visit www.edconnectaustralia.org.au or

follow us facebook.com/EdConnectAustralia

Call us in Western Australia on – 08 9444 8646

Or email us at edconnect@edconnect.org.au

Or Me at Julie.mullett@edconnect.org.au

and we’ll be in touch.

Upcoming Events and Training

We are just waiting on budget confirmations

before scheduling our next lot of extra training.

Hopefully safeguarding children, resilient kids

and communicating with children will be

available for the later half of the year. However

it has been noted that people are booking into

these courses and then not showing up on the

day. We ask that you ensure you will be

available prior to booking in.

Training

Dates

Earlier on this term I attended the City of Cockburn Thank You Volunteer Expo at the Next Gen health club in Bibra Lakes. I got to talk to some wonderful people about their volunteering and also was able to recruit new volunteers to our program. Thanks to Ada and the team at the City of Cockburn for setting up this opportunity. Thanks also to City of Canning volunteer manager Liz Borrello and Gemma Moon and the community development team for organising an expo at the Riverton Library in May.

Promotions

and

Recruitment