Latest Announcements
Media Releases
High Stakes High School – what needs to change for SA’s Year 12 students
South Australia’s Commissioner for Children and Young People, Helen Connolly, has launched her latest report: High Stakes High School – The experiences of South Australian Year 12 students. The report is the result of a series of face-to-face consultations with groups of students attending Year 12 at four Adelaide Schools with an additional 72 Year 12 students engaged with the issue via one-off conversations with the Commissioner. In addition to these conversations, a broader group of 223 young people aged 16 – 19 years completed a survey asking them questions that covered their expectations, challenges, and highlights, as well as how prepared and supported they felt during their final year of school – sharing their experiences, feelings, and reflections in real-time as they navigated the highs and lows of their final school year. The survey also asked how confident they felt about life beyond Year 12, and what they thought would improve the Year 12 experience. Key messages contained in the report include the need to deepen our understanding of the significant challenges and barriers being faced by Year 12 students and recommendations for development of a Year 12 Charter for students and teachers thereby changing the ways in which we engage with children and young people throughout their entire schooling years – supporting them to not only prepare for Year 12, but to develop a lifelong love of learning that is not just about where a good ATAR score can get them in life.
“Imagine a world in which final year students are made to feel optimistic about their future and the choices available to them. A future they enter to embark on the next phase of their life’s journey with confidence and enthusiasm for what lays ahead – not dread and fear of not measuring up.” Commissioner Helen Connolly.
Commissioner notes ‘little change’ on Child Rights on SA despite increased recognition of what’s needed
Commissioner Helen Connolly has today released her annual series of reports on South Australia’s progress toward meeting recommendations made by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. The recommendations relate to concerns the Committee has in relation to Australian children and young people.
The suite of reports measure progress across seven child rights areas reviewed on behalf of the 369,400* children and young people (under 18 years) living in South Australia. They list the initiatives and programs that have been introduced to address areas of concern, and outline where gaps and shortfalls remain. Released each year to coincide with International Human Rights Day (10 December) the Commissioner’s Child Rights Progress Reports examine Child Health, Child Justice, Child Protection, Education, Physical Punishment, Disability, and the Environment.
Download the full media release (including links to each of the reports) here
Space to Dream Exhibition Opens at Space Discovery Centre
The Commissioner’s 2022 Space to Dream Exhibition opens today (1 December 2022) at the Australian Space Discovery Centre at Lot Fourteen. The exhibition features 20 designs chosen from more than 92 entries received from 32 schools across the State from an estimated 12,000 South Australian students who completed the Space to Dream Challenge this year. Now in its third year, the Commissioner’s Space to Dream Challenge supports students to learn design thinking skills and apply them to the design of a toy or gadget for someone their age who is ‘moving to Mars’.
“Every year I’m excited to see what students come up with. They always surprise me which makes it difficult to select which entries will be featured in the annual exhibition, and awarded prizes. I found it interesting this year that there was such a strong focus on designs providing toys or gadgets that cared for children, rather those of previous years that did practical things, or which entertained. All children and young people in SA should be able to engage with the digital world and access its benefits. That’s why I made my Challenge suitable for every school student and adaptable to any age and digital literacy level.” Commissioner Helen Connolly
The top-rated designs will be on display in the Endeavour Room at the Australian Space Discovery Centre, McEwin Building at Lot Fourteen through to Friday 20 January 2023.
Over 13,868 ‘Tweens’ told their Commissioner what matters most
Every year Commissioner Connolly asks SA ‘Tweens’ a series of open-ended questions about what matters to them most at this time in their lives. Questions include what they would like grownups to know about their lives, what they’re good at, what they care about, and what they think would make the world a better place.
Read the full media release here
Read the Things That Matter 3 here
Commissioner funds dozens of community projects to help normalise menstruation in SA
Commissioner Helen Connolly has chosen this year’s National Menstrual Hygiene Day to announce the recipients of her 2022 Period Poverty Community Grants program. She is also calling for artists to design a Menstrual Mural to complement the grants program and help normalise menstruation and periods, particularly amongst children and young people.
Period Poverty Grants are being made available to community organisations from Whyalla to Woodville and Marree to Millswood. Children and young people who menstruate, as well as those who don’t, will benefit from better education around periods and menstruation. Sports clubs, arts organisations, community groups and local councils across South Australia will use the grant funds to raise awareness of period poverty and provide better access to period products, toilets, and disposal units in community spaces. Many of the grants will also be used to run high quality information and education programs aimed at reducing stigma and taboo associated with periods and menstruation.
Menstrual Mural – Call for EOIs from Artists
Artists are invited to create a public artwork that will raise awareness of menstruation and help to normalise periods. The design should seek to destigmatise periods and menstruation in a way that will appeal to children and young people. Funding of up to $8,000 (inclusive of GST) is available for the design and installation of the mural/decals, including the cost of materials.
Read the full media release here
See full details of the Menstrual Mural EOI including downloadable EOI Application Form here
Commissioner seeks to amplify the voices of children and young people living with disability
South Australia’s Commissioner for Children and Young People, Helen Connolly, has launched her latest report: From Checkbox to Commitment – what children and young people living with disability said about identify, inclusion and independence. The report is the culmination of a targeted listening project the Commissioner undertook throughout 2020/21, specifically aimed at hearing directly from children and young people with disability aged 9-22 years.
The Commissioner’s report aims to amplify the voices of children and young people living with disability and in their words documents their diverse and unique perspectives on their own lives and the world around them. Although many of their points of view are similar to those of other young South Australians, children and young people living with disability raised issues that reflect their own particular priorities.
Key messages contained in the report include ensuring children and young people living with disability are more than their disability. They want opportunities to participate in decisions and share their views on a broad range of topics not limited to disability. They also want support to build friendships and attend social outings on their own terms, as well as more opportunities to interact with “mainstream kids”. Educating service providers and the wider community on living with disability should be a priority to avoid ongoing exclusion.
Read the full media release here
Download the full report here
Members of Commissioner’s new SA SRC meet for the first time
South Australia’s Commissioner for Children and Young People, Helen Connolly, is hosting the first face to face meeting of members of the State’s newly established SA student representative council (SA SRC). The inaugural meeting will take place at Adelaide Festival Centre on Friday 13 May with 123 members of the 166 strong body of students who make up the SA SRC (selected from over 240 applicants) who are travelling from around the state to attend in person.
A partnership between the CCYP and the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA) supported by the National Indigenous Youth Education Coalition (NIYEC), the Commissioner is particularly excited to be welcoming SA SRC members from regional South Australia who have been financially supported to attend. They include student representatives from Whyalla, Ceduna, Roxby Downs, Mount Gambier, Port Lincoln, Kimba, Victor Harbour, and Meningie who will have the chance to meet and spend time with their metro counterparts to take advantage of a rare opportunity to connect and exchange ideas and strategies with other young people who share their passion for bringing about positive change.
Read the full media release here
Find out more about the SA SRC including here
New state-wide SRC seeking 100 SA school students
South Australia’s Commissioner for Children and Young People, Helen Connolly, has today launched a new model for South Australian school students that will ensure they have a voice in policy and decision making that is led by young people themselves.
A partnership between the CCYP and the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA) supported by the National Indigenous Youth Education Coalition (NIYEC), the South Australian Student Representative Council (SA SRC) will be a body of up to 100 students in Years 10, 11 and 12 from across the state, working together to create genuine, student-led change within their own communities.
Read the full media release 2022-02-07 – MR_New State-wide SRC seeking 100 school students
Find out more about the SA SRC including how to apply here
Commissioner cautiously optimistic about Children’s Rights
Commissioner Connolly has released her annual series of reports on South Australia’s progress toward meeting recommendations made by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child today. Although progress in some areas still has some way to go, COVID-19 has not stopped all progress being made in children’s health and wellbeing.Released to coincide with International Human Rights Day (10 December) the progress reports cover seven child rights issues highlighted by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child as areas of concern in relation to Australian children and young people; child health, child justice, child protection, education, physical punishment, disability, and the environment (included this year for the first time).
The reports overall indicate some indicate slow but positive progress overall and show that if South Australia was to put a little more effort into the following three child rights areas, the state would begin to see real change:
- raising the criminal age from 10 to 14 years;
- stemming the flow of children being excluded from school (particularly children living with disability); and
- comprehensive rollout of the State’s Mental Health Plan.
Read the full media release here
Download the suite of CCYP 2021 Child Rights Progress Reports here
Commissioner’s Space to Dream Exhibition opens at Australian Space Discovery Centre
Commissioner Connolly has today announced the opening of the 2021 Space to Dream Exhibition at the Australian Space Discovery Centre at Lot Fourteen. The exhibition features 21 designs chosen from entries received from more than 2,180 South Australian students whose schools sent them through to the Commissioner for her consideration.
They were a portion of the overall number of South Australian students who participated in the Challenge this year, estimated to be in the vicinity of 10,080 students representing more than 220 SA schools that registered to take part – double the number of participants in 2020. The Space to Dream Challenge supports students to learn design thinking skills and then apply their knowledge to design a toy or gadget for someone their age who is ‘moving to Mars’.
Read the full media release here
See the Space to Dream Exhibition here
