UPDATE: 05.12 Free software is available to NSW DoE students and their families.

Our new Technology for schools website outlines the Enterprise Agreements:

Software is sourced by DoE for all public schools in NSW to support teaching and learning.

Staff and students can access certain software to use on various devices and locations including work at home (WAH), see the individual software for availability.

Agreements and inclusions vary according to the software vendor.

Standard software

There is a supply agreement in place covering all of DoE with:

• Microsoft
• Adobe
• Google
• SketchUp Pro
• SMART Notebook

Google Apps for Education and Office 365 are accessed online and can be accessed from any device with internet access.

Student owned devices and BYOD

There are many products are available at no cost to all DoE students under our enterprise agreement.

• Google Apps for Education 

  Now known as G Suite)

  Google Apps for Education (GAFE) are online productivity tools that work on any device. GAFE let teachers and students create, communicate and collaborate in real time.
  Teachers and students have access to tools that allow:
• Collaborative word processing, presentation and website creation
• Easy delivery and management of assessment
• Time and task management
• Unlimited online storage.
• Google Apps for Education is accessed via a dedicated DoE domain rather than downloading. Once an account is approved, set up and linked to this domain, it can be accessed from any device with internet access.

• Students - Google Apps is in the Learning Tab on the DoE student portal

The enterprise agreement with Adobe allows school students to install Adobe software for free on one personally owned device. This gives students access to Adobe Creative Suite 6, Presenter, Captivate, Photoshop Elements and Premier Elements. Staff can access Adobe software on school computers. Access for staff from one non-department device is made available by individual subscription under the WAH program.

A range of Adobe software is available for all DoE devices and student BYODs. The capacity of the device and the needs of the user determine which of these programs are installed onto the device.

 Visit Technology for schools website to discover the full list of what can be installed on DoE devices.

FAQs for student free downloads

Your child is unique & special...Make sure they know it!

The Resilient Doughnut shares: Parents worry about many things when their child first starts school. Will she adjust to the long day? Can he remember where the toilets are? Have I given her enough to eat? But one concern often looms even larger than all of those: Will he or she make friends?


In her article The Making of Mates some simple but sound advice is shared: " parents can help by talking with their children about what they can do or try, the responses they might get and how to handle these. Rehearsing certain social behaviours at home such as making eye contact, speaking in a clear voice and asking to join in can also be useful." Zyron Krupenia, a Perth-based clinical psychologist, who has worked with families for over 25 years advised.

"...... girls are more exclusive about their friendships from an earlier age than boys. They’re either eager to lead or eager to please- they have all sorts of rules and hierarchies, and there’s none of this casual coming in and out of a game as boys do.”   Bernadette Healy, a primary school teacher with over ten years experience notes.


 “Children need to be taught assertiveness and confidence building skills, such as how to say no or how to walk away from a bully, ideally before they even start school.”


Well accepted advice is that parents should  talk regularly with their children about their friendships, offer suggestions for handling certain situations or behaviours if necessary, and discuss any concerns with their child’s teacher. Just make sure you organise an appointment to see the teacher so the discussion can occur in a calm unrushed timeframe.

“Parents should be on the lookout for any noticeable change in behavior patterns,” says Corinne Gregory, founder and president of SocialSmarts

Other signs that your child may be struggling include becoming self-absorbed, losing interest in friends, changing eating habits, faking illness to stay home from school, and avoiding social situations she previously enjoyed. Any of these behaviors may indicate that your child is having social problems, ranging from bullying to feeling left out to not making friends easily.

The key is to establish a trusting relationship with your kids and the school before a problem starts so that you can support them when they need it most.

The following  Conversation Starters from  Help your child fit in at school could come in handy.

• “Who did you sit with at lunch today?”
• “What did you do at recess?”
• “What was the best part of the day? What was the worst?”
• “I noticed some new kids in your class. What are they like?”
• “How have things changed between you and (friend’s name) now that you’re not in the same class?”
• “When I was your age, we had the meanest kid in our class. He was such a bully. Do you have anyone like that in your class?”
• “I’ve been hearing a lot in the news about cyberbullying. Is that happening at your school?”

Another three wonderful conversation starting questions that can be asked include:

• What is something that made you smile today?
• What is something that made you cry today?
• What is something that you learned today?

from Ellen at Eyes on Heaven

What do we do if we discover our child has been rejected? What can we do to help our precious children deal with all of the emotions that come with feeling rejected? No-one likes being rejected and some parents can feel like it is a personal attack on them too.

A child who has been told many times over the years that they are wonderful, unique and special will handle rejection much better than a child who has not regularly received the affirmations. There is no one else in the whole world exactly like them. THEY are important… even if someone else doesn’t see it. It is our job as a parent to make sure our child really KNOWS this!

New 'screen time' rules...what are your family's screen time rules?

I discovered this post on the Parenting for a Digital Future website:

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has just revised its stance on screen time. Sonia Livingstone takes a closer look at the new recommendations and their evidence base in the post:

New ‘screen time’ rules from the American Academy of Pediatrics

The new recommendations made, 21.10.16, include:

• A personalised Family Media Plan, including rules for children and their parents, and designated ‘media free’ times – the AAP provides an interactive online tool to help create this.

• Rather than policing or controlling or monitoring their children’s media use, parents should think of themselves as their child’s ‘media mentor’.

• Infants and toddlers should be ‘unplugged,’ though even infants are now allowed to Skype granny, and from 18 months old, high quality television content is also OK as long as a parent watches with them.

• For 2-5 year olds, screen time should be less than one hour per day, again with parents watching alongside to interpret and discuss what they’re watching.

• Children from 6+ need that media use plan, with limits to ensure screen time doesn’t displace sleeping, playing, conversation and physical activities.

For further information visit the above post:

New ‘screen time’ rules from the American Academy of Pediatrics

For me the following sums up how we should be looking at the problem in its entirety: 

"Behind a lot of the AAP’s evidence and recommendations is not so much 

the idea that screens are bad for children but 

that social, cognitive and physical activity is good for children."

By creating a Personalized Family Media Use Plan, you can be aware of when you are using media to achieve your purpose. This requires parents & users to think about what they want those purposes to be. The tool below will help you to think about media & create goals & rules that are in line with your family’s values

It is important to set up your family's screen time rules early in the child/children's life. The poster from 'Get kids to stop arguing', below may give you some management tips.

Sunshine and Hurricanes

Taking Control of Technology Before Technology Takes Over Your Family offer this poster:

Have fun! It's your family!

Kids' who read, succeed!!! Cheers :-)

Well read & informed parents equals empowerment!

Where do you head to when you need help with your child's education? There are so many places to go these days that it's often overwhelming.
I suggest that you start with this current, authoritive and informative app:

 presents their free app for parents:

Each of these tabs: Homework and Study; Wellbeing; Technology; School Guide; and Conversations offer plenty of quality current material and advice to help parents feel more informed about partnering schools to develop their children into well adjusted, happy, educated & good citizens of the future.

We want our children to be good digital citizens, too.

The cybersafety and cyberbullying sections have plenty of great advice about how to help your children be safe online and free from bullying and its effects. 

In the Wellbeing section there are plenty of resources to explore on Behaviour; Development; Fitness; Food & Health.

Under the food tab they include some delicious lunchbox ideas to fuel your children's brain and learning power.

If you struggle to help your child with certain assignments because you don't understand the terms, or would just love to be sure of what is being asked,  there is help at hand in the English section with A-Z glossary, help sheets. assignments starters & a section on My Book Club.

Help is also at hand for the Maths area with A-Z glossary; help sheets;  tips & maths assignment starters. There is also a game app included- Maths Monkey Quest for students to work on recall of maths facts.

                                                                          Maths Monkey Quest

But that's not all!-there is also plenty of support material available for other subject areas:

 and even more!! Tips to help you plan for your child's future:

http://www.schoolatoz.nsw.edu.au/homework-and-study/planning-for-the-future

You will also find the following apps created by the NSW Department of Education available for download.

Other Department of Education apps

and Kids' whose parents read, succeed even more!!!
Cheers :-)

Good quality free apps are not hard to find if you know where to look!

 I used to feel confused when it cames to choosing quality apps from  the huge & ever-growing range of apps available from the app store. I also found it was very easy to have the cost of the apps mount up over time. My husband was forever noticing & commenting  "O Oh! another app from iTunes!" as he went through on the bank statements.

I have been exploring and downloading apps for many years now in both my role as a Grandmother of small children and as a Teacher Librarian in a Primary (K-6) school in NSW, Australia.

I have found over the years a number of excellent places to go to for advice and guidance in selecting my apps.I especially love the #FREE ones when they are truly discounted and have no in app purchases!

I was delighted to find Music with Grandma FREE ATM-usually $3.79 US. I was notified of this app because it was on my wish list in the AppShopper ios app.

"Grandma has always been a favorite of mine, and this new app is my all-time favourite. It teaches kids note names, placements, instrument sounds and patterns. Grandma still dances, and Grandpa makes appearances playing instruments, too. A great app for learning and appreciating music, designed for kids from 6-12 but great for preschoolers, too, with a few settings accommodations." from
http://www.smartappsforkids.com/2016/01/best-app-for-music-enjoy-music-with-your-child-and-grandma-with-this-new-top-pick.html

I have found this site to be  a great source of help in identifying quality apps.

I love finding apps that will meet the needs of a student, or one of my grand-daughters, who wants to explore an area of interest. The following app Monki Home -Language is totally FREE ATM with a 4 star rating. I am notified each day of the choice of today's apps gone free on this "News" app. I have found many valuable apps with a great saving in cost.

For those who have children interested in learning various languages: Try Monki :Home FREE
To ensure you get all the languages for free make sure that  after you download the app, Open and Unlock. You will need to Confirm your purchases which are Free. If you wait a few days they will no longer be available for free.

MyBrushes Pro-Sketch 3 1/2 stars FREE ATM  Usually $3.79 

I hope that knowing about these helpful app will save you some time and money!

Kids' who read, succeed!!! Cheers :-)