National Literacy and Numeracy Week
Recognising the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations
The Australian Government provides support and funding for NLNW activities to state and Territory. The ACT would like to acknowledge and thank DEEWR for all their assistance.
For more information about NLNW 2008 go to www.literacyandnumeracy.gov.au 
National Literacy and Numeracy Week is a national initiative to showcase the hard work that is being undertaken in Australian schools to improve the literacy and numeracy skills of all students. National Literacy and Numeracy Week is celebrating its tenth year.
The theme for NLNW 2008 is:
Partnerships in Learning
There will be no NLNW Awards this year.
NLNW in the ACT
In organising and implementing NLNW for the ACT, a high level of collaboration amongst the three education systems occurs. The ACT Education Department of Education and Training, The Catholic Education Office and the Association of Independent Schools have been working together since 1998 to highlight best practice in literacy and numeracy within the ACT.
The events and activities being held during NLNW 2008 are:
- Celebrations in Schools
- Schools have an opportunity to share with the wider community their effective school and classroom practices, which enhance literacy and numeracy learning for all students.
- Professional Learning for teachers
Teachers can participate in workshops, which focus on presenting best pedagogy and practice relating to mathematics and numeracy.
Celebration in Schools Calendar
Forty-four funded Celebrations are being held in schools across Canberra during NLNW 
(131kb)
Please contact the school for further information about a particular event.
Professional Learning Grants
Teachers from all of the three jurisdictions are encouraged to apply. The funding covers a half teachers day relief so that teachers are able to attend the workshops.
Teachers Grant Application Form (180kb)
Making Maths Meaningful: Professional Learning for teachers. This year the workshops have a mathematics and numeracy focus.
Shelley Dole: Senior Lecturer University of Queensland Yrs 7 – 10
Topic: Proportional Reasoning (fractions, decimals, ratio)
Date: 2 Sept 9am-12pm
Venue: Trinity Christian School Wanniassa
Anita Chin: Mathematics Educational Consultant Yrs 5 – 8
Topic: Mental Computation (multiplication & division)
Date: 4 Sept 9am – 12pm
Venue: Amaroo School
Rhonda Faragher: Senior Lecturer at Signadou Yrs K – 4
Topic: Space
Date: 5 Sept 9am – 12pm
Venue: St Judes Primary School Holder
The first workshop has a high school (yrs 7 – 10) focus and is presented by Shelley Dole.
Dr Shelley Dole is a senior lecturer in mathematics education at The University of Queensland. Shelley is an experienced classroom teacher having taught in primary and secondary schools in Victoria, Northern Territory, and Queensland. She has been involved in several major research projects in a range of fields relevant to mathematics education, including mental computation; students’ invented algorithms, early years literacy and numeracy and distance education; middle years literacy and numeracy for ‘at-risk’ students. Her research interests focus particularly on promoting students’ conceptual understanding of mathematics to encourage success and enjoyment of mathematical investigations in school.
Second workshop has a Middle School Years (yrs 5 – 8) focus and is presented by Anita Chin.
Anita Chin worked for the NSW Department of Education and Training for 13 years, firstly as a secondary mathematics teacher and then as a mathematics consultant in Sydney. After working as a consultant on the awarding-winning NSW GO Maths core program, she commenced with ORIGO Education in 2007 as a National Mathematics Consultant. Anita now inspires teachers across Australia and abroad with focused professional development that shows her passion for practical, hands-on activities that engage learners of all ages.
Third workshop has a K – 4 focus and is presented by Rhonda Faragher
Rhonda Faragher has taught mathematics across all levels – early childhood to tertiary. Her research interests have centred on helping all learners experience success with mathematics. More recently, her research has focused on numeracy development of students with intellectual disabilities. She is a committee member of the Canberra Mathematical Association, a past President of the Queensland Association of Mathematics Teachers and a national councillor of the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers. She is a Senior Lecturer in Mathematics Education at the Canberra campus of the Australian Catholic University.
National Events for NLNW
Reach for the Stars
This numeracy activity is aimed at all ages and is developed by the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers (AAMT). Get involved in the biggest coin throwing experiment in Australia. Find out how good your aim is and find out what influences your chance of success.
This event will run from the 1st to 5th of September.
National Reading Day
Reading is important and it’s also fun. The Australian Literacy Educators Association (ALEA) and the Australian Association for the Teaching of English (AATE) develops this event so that the whole community can become involved and share their reading.
National Reading Day will be held on 3 September 2008
The question is asked: What are you reading today?
Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards
This is a national poetry competition for school-aged students, conducted from Gunnedah in northern NSW. It was initiated in honour of Miss Dorothea Mackellar OBE and her famous poem ”My Country”. This year will be the 100th anniversary of the publication of her poem.
Entries must be posted on or before Monday 2nd June 2008.
Letter Link
Australia Post will run this popular program again. School students will be able to write letters of encouragement and support to the Australian athletes competing in this years Olympic Games at Beijing.
Ambassadors for NLNW
National Ambassador
Steve Thornton is a lecturer in mathematics education at the university of Canberra. He taught mathematics in South Australia for twenty years before moving to Canberra to take up a position in teacher development at the Australian Mathematics Trust. He has presented workshops and keynote addresses at a number of local, national and international conferences and works closely with teachers in primary and secondary schools in the ACT. He is a past President and life member of the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers and a recipient of a B.H. Neumann Award for excellence in enriching mathematics education.
ACT Ambassador
Kaye Price is Director of the Ngunnawal Indigenous Higher Education Centre at the University of Canberra, recently moving from a position as lecturer at UC’s Education Faculty.
A doctoral graduate from the Australian National University, she completed a Masters of Education Studies at the University of South Australia and was previously awarded a Bachelor of Education from Edith Cowan University. Training as a teacher in Tasmania at the Hobart Teachers College.
For a time, Kaye was Deputy Principal at Griffith/Narrabundah Primary School and Monash Primary School and has worked in the area of publishing curriculum materials for Aboriginal Studies and Torres Strait Islander Studies. Kaye says that one of the things she has found most intellectually stimulating was working on the National Collaborative Curriculum Project to secure Aboriginal Studies and Torres Strait Islander Studies within the nation's key learning areas.
Kaye is proving learning and education is a life long process that need not end at a school level. She is passionate about English literacy and derives a great deal of pleasure from writing literature-based integrated curriculum and working in this area with teachers.
Most recently, Kaye was named the 2007 ACT Senior Australian of the Year; 2006 ACT NAIDOC Scholar of the Year; and was the National Indigenous Scholar in 2004. She is a member of the National Indigenous Higher Education Council.
