News & Special Promotions
Motivate and inspire your students to think about how they can have a positive impact on the community. Our News and Special Promotions can help you elevate the Aussie of the Month program in your school.
Four Morphett Vale East School Students Presented with Aussie of the Month Award by 2022 SA Local Hero
Four students from Morphett Vale East School in South Australia were recognised as Aussies of the Month at the end of August.
Jimmy, Elana, Ruth and Penny were presented their award by 2022 SA Local Hero, Monique Bareham, with the school saving the announcement of all four recipients to coincide with Monique's visit.
Students, who were dressed up for Book Week, were able to hear Monique's inspiring story as a leading Australian Lymphoedema Patient Advocate.
“I am delighted to pay a visit to Morphett Vale East today and present Penny, Ruth, Jimmy and Elana with the Aussie of the Month Awards for their impressive contribution to the school’s core values of respect, persistence, optimism and honesty. These important values form the foundation of building strong connections within community, foster understanding and inclusion and are at the heart of the work I do to improve the lives of those living with lymphoedema,” she said.
Year 2 students also showcased their plastic bottle designs for the Circular Champions Competition. They researched, designed and created unique ways to recycle more than 60 water bottles, creating innovative designs, including bird feeders, space machines, Ten pin bowling games and rain gauges.
2023 WA Local Hero announces Aussie of the Month at Dianella Heights Primary School, plus a first look at Year Five Students' Circular Champions competition entries!
Fair go, mateship, respect, inclusion. These are just some of the Australian values demonstrated by Year five student, Caitlyn, and Year three student, Mia, at Dianella Heights Primary School, who have been presented with the Aussie of the Month Award by 2023 WA Local Hero, Jimmy Murphy, founder of the Town Team Movement, a social enterprise dedicated to improving local communities.
During his visit, Jimmy spoke to the students about the different superheroes who make local communities better. Students then asked him questions on active citizeship including the impact of Town Team Movement, what inspired him, the challenge of making big decisions and who his own heroes are.
“I am delighted to pay a visit to Dianella Heights and present Caitlyn and Mia with the Aussie of the Month Award for their impressive contribution to the school’s core values of kindness, respect and integrity. Mateship, inclusion and creating a strong community are such important values – these have formed the foundation of the Town Team Movement and the work we do to improve local communities,” he said.
Year five students also showcased their entries for the Circular Champions competition, which will see 20 schools across Australia win a share of $20,000RRP of stationery from Pilot Pen Australia. The students researched, designed and created exciting ways to recycle 60 water bottles. The students were excited to share their creative ideas.
“The students worked incredibly hard to produce their entry and they have done such a great job whilst demonstrating how they worked together as a team and enacting our vision ‘Soaring to new heights in excellence, through unity.’ Thank you to Jimmy Murphy for coming in today to acknowledge Caitlyn and Mia, our Aussie of the Month winners, and demonstrating what a good role model can achieve. We are proud to celebrate your achievement today and our partnership over many years,” said Dianella Heights Primary School Principal, Peter Jakimowiez.
Circular Champions entries open 22 July 2024 and close 20 September 2024. Find out more about the competition and how to enter here.
2024 WA Local Hero drops in on students at Rosalie Primary School to encourage Aussie values!
Just two weeks into the new school year, students at Rosalie Primary School heard straight from Nick Hudson about how he founded The Push-Up Challenge, experienced the Australian of the Year Awards in Canberra and visited the Prime Minister's House.
Nick closed the morning assembly by encouraging students to show mateship and inclusion, and think about who they want to nominate for Aussie of the Month!
“I am delighted to help students start the new school year in such a positive way,” said Nick. “Mental health affects so many kids, so it’s important we encourage values such as mateship and inclusion, so that students are actively supporting one another and creating a strong community within their school. It is an absolute joy to meet the schools and students who are making their community a better place.”
Following the visit, Rosalie Principal, Mrs Michelle Nash, said: “Rosalie Primary School is excited to be running the Aussie of the Month program again this year.
“We are proud to celebrate those amazing people who contribute to our community at Rosalie and hope to inspire more students to do the same. It is important to our school to highlight people who have shown personal endeavour whilst displaying both our Rosalie School and Aussie of the Month values of kindness, respect, responsibility and inclusion.”
Click here to register for the program and enquire about Australian of the Year Alumni visits.
WA Local Hero visits Rosalie Primary School to announce the Aussie of the Month
Rosalie Primary School in Western Australia received a special visit from 2023 WA Local Hero, Jimmy Murphy, in October, to announce the Aussie of the Month at the school assembly.
Specially for the visit and to demonstrate active citizenship through the democratic voting process, the Aussie of the Month was selected by a preferential election, in which students and staff voted.
Jimmy, who co-founded Town Team Movement to help volunteers improve their local communities through placemaking, announced the Aussie of the Month recipient to be a group of eight students (pictured above with Jimmy) who jointly raised money for Perth Children's Hospital.
During the assembly, Room 18 demonstrated the Aussie of the Month values of fair go (as the Matildas playing in the Women's World Cup); mateship (as doctors working on the Covid-19 vaccine to protect others); respect (helping the environment); and inclusion (in the playground).
Jimmy then joined a Year 4 Health class, during which the students asked him about his Local Hero award, his inspiration and why he likes helping people. Jimmy described meeting Australia's Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, in Canberra.
This visit was made possible thanks to the support of Australian of the Year Awards and the Department of Home Affairs.
Click here to register for the program and enquire about Australian of the Year Alumni visits.
Australia's Local Hero visits schools in Northern Territory and Western Australia as part of Aussie of the Month
2023 Australia's Local Hero, Amar Singh, has been travelling through the Northern Territory and Western Australia in July, visiting primary schools for Aussie of the Month! During his appearances, he helped to announce the recipients and inspired students to contribute to their community by volunteering and demonstrating the Aussie of the Month values of fair go, mateship, respect and inclusion - values he shows as founder of T4A - Turbans 4 Australia.
Amar visited Durack School NT and Woodroffe Primary School in NT, before heading to WA to meet the students at Dianella Heights Primary School and North Harrisdale Primary School. Amar was joined by representatives of the Australian Department of Home Affairs, the proud partner of our amazing program!
Local Hero visits are exclusive to Aussie of the Month schools.
Click here to register for the program and enquire about Australian of the Year Alumni visits.
ACT Local Hero drops in on school to announce the Aussie of the Month
Canberra Grammar School was recently visited by Luke Ferguson, 2022 ACT Local Hero to present the Aussie of the Month certificate, badge and a Pilot Pen gift to recipient Mairead.
Mairead and her school mates were thrilled to meet Luke when he announced the Aussie of the Month and share his inspiring message of inclusion and how he set up Daydream Machine, a music school that runs dynamic programs for neurodiverse young people - Cool Kids Doing Cool Stuff! Students were even treated to a performance from Daydream Machine member, Grace Flanagan aka Charlie Grace, who sang her original song 'Stuck in My Dreams'!
His story of active citizenship and the power of community building, inspired students to make a difference in their own community both in and beyond the school gates.
Lauren Dunn, Director of Students at Canberra Grammar School said that the Aussie of the Month program and Luke’s visit as an Australian of the Year award alumni was an opportunity for kids to be inspired by a powerful role model.
“The kids absolutely loved the assembly today and I think Luke’s message had a massive impact. There were kids in the audience that came out of their shell for the first time when Luke and Grace shared their message.”
Aussie of the Month recognises and celebrates personal endeavour, achievement and contribution to community and reflects the values we share as Australians – such as a fair go, mateship, respect and inclusion.
Schools now have the opportunity to have a Local Hero virtually “visit” the school to present each monthly award through downloading a new video each month. Schools keen to take advantage of this initiative and hear from Australian of the Year Alumni need to sign up to the Aussie of the Month program at aussieofthemonth.org.au
Primary schools can register for the Aussie of the Month program for free at any time during the year. Once registered, schools are provided with certificates, lapel pins and Pilot Pen stationery items for monthly presentations within their school and online guidelines and over-the-phone support on how to run the program in their school.
The program is delivered in partnership with the Department of Home Affairs and is supported by Pilot Pen Australia.
Click here to enquire about Australian of the Year Alumni visits.
Australian of the Year Awards Recipients support primary school kids kicking goals in communities
Australian of the Year Awards Alumni are cheering on primary school students who are being recognised in ‘Aussie of the Month’, a program celebrating community contribution and active citizenship in a similar way to the prestigious Australian of the Year Awards.
Aussie of the Month recognises and celebrates personal endeavour, achievement and contribution to community and reflects the values we share as Australians – such as a fair go, respect and inclusion.
The program is free for primary schools, whereby students and teachers nominate a student each month for their achievements or contributions. At the school’s regular assembly, a selected student is presented with an Aussie of the Month certificate.
Now, to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the highly popular Local Hero category of the Australian of the Year Awards, students can also hear from inspiring Local Hero Award recipients at these presentation assemblies.
Through online video presentations, Local Hero Alumni such as Short Back & Sidewalks founder Craig Hollywood, geoscientist Suzy Urbaniak, police officer Erica Gibson, social entrepreneur Juliette Wright and No One Left Behind founder and fundraiser, Rebecca Forrest are congratulating recipients and inspiring students to be active citizens.
As the 2023 school year commences, it is anticipated many schools will be keen to ride the wave of the recently announced 2023 Australian of the Year Awards and join the program to access the Local Hero category recipients.
In order to support an influx of new schools joining almost 1,400 highly-engaged schools already signed up, it is anticipated the newly offered virtual school visits will become the preference because, no matter where schools are based, or how remote or regional, Australia’s Local Heroes are able to visit all around Australia.
Click here to enquire about Australian of the Year Alumni visits.
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