On 31 March, in response to the Australian Government guidelines, the AISSA transitions its operations to remote delivery, with most staff working from home until July. Professional Learning and meetings with member schools shift to Zoom and Microsoft Teams to minimise COVID risks.

The well-established cooperation among the three school sectors in South Australia proves crucial in ensuring that all schools receive advice, as well as essential resources, such as toilet paper, tissues and hand sanitisers.

The impact on international education is significant, with the closure of interstate borders creating major challenges for boarders, their families and their schools.

At the end of 2020, COVID-19 vaccinations are mandated for all school employees and volunteers, sparking conflict in several member schools. Although initially expected to last for at least two years, the mandate is lifted in less than a term.

The decade of the 2020s begins with significant bushfires in NSW, VIC, QLD, ACT, WA and SA.

The World Health Organisation declares the Coronavirus (COVID-19) a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) on 30 January 2020. The Australian Government closes its borders, effective from 19 March 2020.

The AISSA provides ongoing updates to its member schools, starting with its first formal advice on the Novel Coronavirus on 24 January, and continues to offer critical guidance on school operations throughout the evolving COVID-19 pandemic.

Over 188 updates are given in 2020 through the AISSA website and communication materials, offering critical advice on school operations as the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly evolved, with multiple updates on some days reflecting the fast-changing situation and the essential role of schools

The Premier of South Australia, the Hon Steven Marshall, launches the AISSA’s Stretch Reconciliation Action Plan. This Stretch RAP builds on the major achievements of the AISSA’s 2015-2018 Innovate RAP.

Ngarrindjeri and Kaurna Elder, Major Lancelot Sumner AM (Uncle Moogy), conducts the Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony before the launch. The event is also attended by Ms Shona Reid, Reconciliation SA Executive Director and the Minister for Education, the Hon John Gardner.

Through the RAP, the AISSA implements strategies to promote reconciliation both internally and within its wider sphere of influence. Staff reflections in 2018 highlight the personal and professional impact of the journey, particularly in learning untold stories about Australia’s First Peoples and the nation’s history since European contact.

The dedicated RAP Working Group (RWG), including both staff and Aboriginal consultants, works to embed reconciliation into AISSA’s workplace practices and extend these opportunities to schools, emphasising the importance of respect, recognition, and celebration of Australia’s First Peoples.

“The RAP becomes no longer a document; it lives through the people who work here.”

The AISSA continues to base its RAP on Relationships, Respect, Opportunities, and adds a fourth action, Governance to its Stretch RAP

A key initiative of the AISSA is learning the Kaurna language of the Adelaide Plains, allowing staff to offer an Acknowledgement to Country in Kaurna and gain deeper insights into the Kaurna people’s worldview. The AISSA also promotes the Narragunnawali RAP process to its member schools, assisting over a third of them to engage with reconciliation

Carolyn Grantskalns, Uncle Moogy, Hon Steven Marshall and Shona Reid

The 2019 Governance Conference is hosted by Mr Robert Fitzgerald AM, Commissioner to the Australian Government’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, who stresses that it is essential that policies and processes start with and continue to prioritise the best interests of each child.

A new Working with Children Check (WWCC) is introduced for staff in all schools, with the AISSA providing HR and Legal support and advice to implement this important change.

2019 AISSA Governance Conference keynote speaker, Mr Robert Fitzgerald AM, and conference facilitator, Mr Anthony Mackay AM, President of the National Center on Education and the Economy in Washington DC

10 Child Safe Standards (Source: Learning and Challenges from the Royal Commission: Implications for the Board’s Role in Creating Child Safe Schools, Fitzgerald, May 2019)

3 national priorities are highlighted by the South Australian and Australian government in this Bilateral Agreement and are central to the work of the AISSA. These include:

• implementing an intentional focus on quality assurance for the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD);
• supporting school communities to effectively implement change initiatives that enable schools to effectively transition to NAPLAN online; and
• improving school governance.

The new AISSA website features Members-only sections, enabling more information to be loaded onto the website with specific sections for the general public and parents, staff in member schools, and more access to a range of confidential legal and employment information for leaders in schools.

The AISSA moves to its new premises at 128 Greenhill Road, officially opening on 10 August, with a smoking ceremony conducted by Major Lancelot Sumner AM (Uncle Moogy), a senior Elder of the Kaurna and Ngarrindjeri peoples.

The new office is designed, tendered and fitted by Swanbury Penglase Architects and SHAPE, with the process overseen by AISSA Chief Executive, Mrs Carolyn Grantskalns, and Acting Business Manager, Mr Glen Shipley.

The transition to the new location is completed on time and delivered 20% under budget.

Smoking Ceremony by Uncle Moogy

The Kaurna names for the AISSA meeting rooms, as per below table, are provided and approved by the Kaurna Warra Karrpanthi Committee

As part of a new deal negotiated by the AISSA and CESA with the State Government in the lead up to the 2018 State election, non-government schools will transition to 22% of their ‘Gonski’ Schooling Resource Standard (SRS).

In addition, the AISSA successfully secures a $5.5 million State capital grant.

The AISSA works with the Minister’s Office and the Department for Education to ensure fair and proper distribution of capital funds, while also continuing negotiations on implementing the new recurrent arrangements, including that any reductions for schools above 22% of their SRS are sustainable.

Under the Quality Schools Package, the Australian Government funds 80% of a non-government school’s Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) from 1 January 2018. An initial ten-year transition period is announced, but later reduced to six years for schools transitioning to 80%

Some loadings are adjusted, including the loading for Students with Disability, which is based on the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on Students with Disability (NCCD). The AISSA provides significant support for its member schools in ensuring the accuracy of data.

For the first time, SA Year 7 students in secondary school settings are funded as secondary school students.

“It is ISCA’s view that setting the Commonwealth share at 80 per cent for all non-government schools will mean that schools serving similar communities will be entitled to similar funding, creating a level playing field for all non-government schools, including within the independent sector itself.”

(Colette Colman, ISCA Executive Director, Australian Education Amendment Bill 2017 [Provisions] Report, June 2017)

In early 2017, leaders from the AISSA and AISWA work closely with thought leaders, Distinguished Professor Yong Zhao, Larry Rosenstock, founder of Hi-Tech High, and John Cahalin, co-founder of EdCorp and Real World Scholars.

Participants visit Punahou School and the Mid-Pacific Institute in Hawaii, along with High Tech High in San Diego, to gain insights into 21st-century learning approaches, project-based learning and school improvement.

The study tour is grounded on the belief that for young people to thrive in a constantly changing world, they will need to think and act like entrepreneurs, being resourceful, flexible, creative, global-minded, and guided by a strong sense of moral purpose.

Study Tour participants visit Punahou School, Mid-Pacific Institute and High Tech High in the USA