Little J, Big Cuz and their teacher Miss Chen are heading back to class for a third season of their Logie-award winning animated children’s series, which supports the transition from home to school for Indigenous children and their families.

Researchers have held forums with students about their views on moving up to high school and, in a new report, share that students are most concerned about academic expectations, high school systems and social challenges during the transition process.

The Connection is a network of high-performing school leaders working in some of Australia’s most challenged communities. They’ve been reflecting on successful practices in their own schools since the start of the pandemic. Today’s article shares their top five recommendations for learning through COVID.

‘Educators employ a range of strategies to manage student wellbeing, but the impact of COVID-19 on their approach to this is not yet fully understood.’ Dr Bridianne O’Dea – Senior Research Fellow in youth mental health at the Black Dog Institute – shares the findings of a recent investigation into secondary school educators’ approaches to student mental health during the COVID-19 lockdown.

As a school, fostering strong relationships with the wider community has wide-ranging benefits to student outcomes. In this edition of Researching education: Five further readings, we’re sharing five readings on the topic of school-community relationships.

‘I’ve emptied my cup completely several times. It always creeps up slowly, but surely, in the background under the guise of contributing to the greater good.’ Aimee Blazek from Mount St Patrick College in Murwillumbah, New South Wales, shares a range of wellbeing strategies she employs to fill her cup.

For students who are unable to attend normal classes in school, a telepresence robot represents a very real solution to a very difficult situation and has the potential to transform their lives. Dr Susan O’Donnell and Adrian Rayner explain more, and share comments from teachers and students who’ve been using the technology.

Back in 2018, we brought you the story of a new intervention program for disengaged male students at Cherrybrook Technology High School in New South Wales. Nearly four years later, in today’s article, we hear how the program has evolved over the years and the impact it’s had on student learning and wellbeing.

In a three-part series, we are delving into the Civics and Citizenship learning area of the Australian Curriculum, and some aspects of the Australian Curriculum: History to explore students’ misconceptions, and to share some lesson activities to help your planning for 2022. This final article focuses on ‘Australian history’ and ‘Civics and citizenship and history skills’.

In her final Teacher column of the year, Dr Sue Thomson explores data from a new large-scale survey of young people’s social and emotional skills that reveals significant differences between students from advantaged and disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds.