Today’s our birthday… we’ve made it to our teens! It’s been an amazing journey so far, for us and for our scholars. Thanks for watching us grow and supporting us along the way!
We’re thrilled to welcome 2021 with new scholarship opportunities for students, teachers and principals and a wrap-up of our final scholarship numbers for 2020.
Despite the unprecedented challenges, 2020 was a banner year for us with scholarships awarded to 398 students and 27 educators. We are most grateful to our donors who responded to our appeal. Thanks to their generosity, we were able to award an additional 27 scholarships to our waitlisted pool of applicants, which meant 27 students received an email just before Christmas letting them know that they’ll be receiving a scholarship in 2021!!! (Yes, there are actually more students still in our waitlist in case you're curious.)
In December we opened our educator scholarships for 2021 offering professional development opportunities for teachers and principals – sponsored by Teachers Health, Teachers Mutual Bank and the Harvard Club of Australia. Applications close 9th February. See below for more details on all scholarship opportunities.
An exciting new international scholarship for Australian high school students…
LAST CHANCE TO APPLY - APPLICATIONS CLOSE 29th JANUARY!!!
Schmidt Futures,in partnership with The Rhodes Trust, announced the opening of applications for Rise, a new global talent program to find outstanding young people who need opportunity, and support them for life as they use their talents to build a better world. Rise is the anchor program of a broader $1 billion commitmentfrom Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
The Public Education Foundation is proud to partner with Rise to extend this exciting opportunity to young people across Australia. PEF is Rise’s inaugural Australian partner, building on its existing support of high-potential young Australians experiencing need. PEF will harness its extensive network of Australian students, teachers, principals and administrators to ensure the Rise opportunity is shared with as many young Australians as possible.
Rise seeks to identify talented young people, ages 15 to 17, from around the world who have the potential to use their talents to tackle the world’s most pressing issues. The program will build a global community of rising leaders, connecting everyone who applies with peers around the world, free learning resources, and access to additional opportunities from the Rise network of partners. Additionally, each year, Rise will select 100 Global Winners and provide them with a lifetime of personalized support—including scholarships, mentorship, career services, and access to funding to develop their ideas—as they work together to serve others.
”Many thousands of impressive young people are missed by conventional talent-spotting channels,” said David Hetherington, Executive Director of the Public Education Foundation. “At PEF, our focus has always been on Australian youth at the intersection of potential and need; we believe Rise will enable these young Australians to join an equally talented group of global peers to address the problems and challenges of tomorrow.”
Teachers Mutual Bank Victorian Mid-Career Scholarship supports public school teachers in Victoria who have been teaching for between five and fifteen years. The scholarship provides $10,000 to spend on approved professional development / professional learning. The scholarship may be spent on a single professional development course, including approved overseas courses with travel, or on a set of professional learning activities.
Teachers Mutual Bank – the only dedicated bank in Australia for employees of the education sector
Teachers Health was created by teachers for teachers over 65 years ago – the only health fund built from day one to benefit the education community.
Teachers Health Early Career Scholarship supports public school teachers in the first three years of their career. The scholarship provides $10,000 to spend on approved professional development / professional learning. The scholarship may be spent on a single professional development course, including approved overseas courses with travel, or on a set of professional learning activities.
Principals Scholarships
Our Principal’s scholarships provide opportunities for principals of government primary and secondary schools to undertake a short professional education program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in the USA. The scholarships provide a successful applicant with the opportunity to ‘reflect, refocus and recharge’ through a professional education program tailor-made for school principals.
There are three scholarships available for principals: the Teachers Mutual Bank Principal’s scholarship, the Harvard Club of Australia Principal’s scholarship, and the Public Education Foundation Principal’s scholarship.
The RAMS Victorian Pacific Islands Scholarship supports Pacific Islander students enrolled in public schools in Victoria to successfully complete their senior years of schooling.
The scholarship is supported by the Moorabbin RAMS Rugby Club which has established a Performance Centre as a leadership program focused on providing young athletes with development pathways while offering targeted support for education and meaningful employment.
The scholarship is open to Pacific Islander students who have been accepted into the RAMS Performance Centre, and who will be enrolled in years 9, 10, 11 or 12 in public high schools in Victoria in 2021. APPLICATIONS CLOSE 1st FEBRUARY 2021
NSW Cookery Teachers Association Scholarship
The NSW Cookery Teachers Association Scholarship assists public school students who have obtained a high degree of proficiency in the subject of Food Technology. The scholarship is offered to students completing Year 12 in 2020 who intend to continue to university to study a Bachelor of Education (Secondary) or equivalent with a major in Food Technology. APPLICATIONS CLOSE 9th MARCH 2021
This past year, we’ve seen firsthand the difference a mentor can make. The scholars in our mentoring program tell us they feel more confident, better able to handle conflict and stress, more sure of themselves and their plans for the future.
In a few short months, a new group of scholars begins their journey with PEF, and we would love to be able to offer every one of our high school scholars the chance to have a mentor. To do that, though, we’re going to need your help. Please look at your schedule – could you spare an hour or two per month? Or take a minute to look through your contacts - see any good listeners? Please, let them know about us! Mentors-to-be can contact jannine@publiceducationfoundation.org.au. We hope you’ll join us!!
Thank you for continuing to follow the work of the Public Education Foundation. Each year we increase our reach nationally so that we can support even more students and educators within our public schools.
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