About 1000 former Newington College students met on Wednesday night at a special general meeting.

‘We expected a brawl’:Newington old boys’ council overthrown,as co-ed opposition grows

Former Newington College students have passed votes of no confidence in its old boys union,school council and headmaster at a major alumni meeting.

  • byLucy Carroll

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John Ralston Wenona School

Chair of independent schools peak body quits ‘effective immediately’

John Ralston tendered his resignation after reports the NSW Association of Independent Schools allowed a child sex offender to remain on its board after it was advised of his past crimes.

  • byLucy Carroll
The Sydney Church of England Grammar School’s main campus in North Sydney.

Sydney’s Shore school mourns death of year 11 boy

The year 11 boy from the Sydney Church of England Grammar School died on Wednesday night.

  • byBen Cubby
NSW Governor Margaret Beazley.

Failure to fly:NSW governor narrowly avoids a Bronwyn Bishop moment

Governor Margaret Beazley was set to charter a police helicopter to travel from the CBD to Bankstown,before commonsense prevailed.

  • byKishor Napier-Raman andNoel Towell
Simon Wood studied a postgraduate law degree at RMIT and is now studying a graduate diploma,all while working fulltime.

‘The hardest years of my life’:How Simon survived the relentless work-study struggle

Studying while holding down a full-time job isn’t as impossible as it sounds. Three students share the secret to success.

  • bySian Powell
Lieutenant Colonel Kylie Hasse.

‘It’s not always easy’:Why this Army nurse can’t stop studying

Army officer,nurse,mum and master’s student. Kylie Hasse says she’s been studying since she left school - and she’s not done yet.

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How to get your boss to pay for your next degree.

How to get your boss to pay for your next degree

Be smart and strategic in how you ask your employer to contribute to the cost of your studies - or even pay for them outright.

  • byMelinda Ham
Professions such as architecture,psychology,medicine and physiotherapy require a postgraduate degree to practice.

The six questions you need to ask before taking on postgrad study

From a master’s degree to an MBA or PhD,there are plenty of options. Here’s how to decide which is the right one for you.

  • byMelinda Ham
Master’s degrees in clinical psychology were again the top choices for postgraduate students in NSW and the ACT.

The most popular postgraduate courses in Australia revealed

Legal degrees were the top choice two years ago,but students are now flocking to a different field entirely.

  • bySian Powell
The Australian Research Council’s funding model was rehauled last week.
Analysis

A Christmas scandal sent scientists to war. Last week,they won

New legislation passed last week marks the end of a saga kicked off by the axing of six research projects by the Morrison government.

  • byAngus Dalton
Bree Turner with her children Kirilly,7,Brooklyn,4,and April,2.

The catch-22 preventing mothers from returning to work

The federal government is being urged to scrap income reporting requirements for access to childcare subsidies to help get more families more work.

  • byRachel Clun
Principal,teachers and students from Chifley College.

‘If they hate me,that’s fine’:How to run a classroom at this Sydney school

The teachers at Chifley College in Shalvey are embracing a new way of learning.

  • byChristopher Harris
More students are being awarded high distinctions and distinction grades at some NSW universities when compared with a decade ago.
Exclusive

‘Distinction the new credit’:Grade inflation puts uni integrity at risk

An investigation into grade inflation by Sydney University found a 234 per cent increase in the number of high distinctions awarded over a decade.

  • byDaniella White andLucy Carroll
Bradley,left,says he watched his twin brother James “go through hell” after coming out as gay in high school.
Exclusive

Bradley’s school years were the best of his life. For his twin,James,they were ‘hell’

James Elliot-Watson was an obvious candidate for school prefect – his teachers all told him so. Then,one lunchtime,he told a member of staff he was struggling with his sexuality.

  • byNatassia Chrysanthos
Contract cheaters infiltrating student portals.
Exclusive

Illegal contract cheaters target students via university issued email addresses

Cheating providers infiltrate Australian universities by offering discounts to students who give them access to their IDs and logins.

  • byDaniella White
Sania,left,and Seema are two of the thousands of students with a refugee background who attend NSW public schools.

In their home country,Seema and Sania could not go to high school

There are about 12,000 students from refugee backgrounds enrolled in NSW’s public schools,with about 1800 starting as new students each year.

  • byMary Ward
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handwriting explainer
Explainer

‘Crucial for memory’:Why facts stick when you write them down

It might not be a window to your soul but it’s better for your brain. Why writing – once an ancient “handicraft” – is still worth doing well.

  • byAngus Holland
More students are claiming HSC disability support.
Exclusive

Schools in wealthy areas claim more HSC exam help as provisions double in a decade

More than 44 per cent of students at high-fee private schools,including Redlands and The McDonald College,claimed HSC disability provisions last year.

  • byLucy Carroll andNigel Gladstone
Students are more likely to be excluded from the state’s schools for physical violence than any other reason.

NSW principals exposed to rising threats and violence from parents,students

An annual survey of principals and deputies found 44 per cent had been exposed to violence in schools,with more staff reporting they were victims of cyberbullying.

  • byChristopher Harris andLucy Carroll
Australia’s ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd and former US president Donald Trump.

‘Disloyalty and disrespect’:Coalition taking Trump’s side is tacky point-scoring

Australia’s diplomatic representatives,whoever they are and wherever they are stationed,deserve loyalty and respect from Australian politicians and should be immune from home-grown party political sniping.

Macarthur Anglican School students and best friends Emily Chad and Annabelle Woodmor,both 12,with their favourite sheep.

How to get a 12-year-old out of bed before dawn

When their alarms went off before 4am on Thursday,Emily Chad and Annabelle Woodmore had no trouble getting ready to go to school. The best friends were on a mission.

  • byCatherine Naylor
A message for the schools raising future leaders.
Opinion

If I could gather all the leaders of boys’ schools in one room,here’s what I would tell them

I am not interested in an exposé of male behaviour at any particular school. Our problem is society-wide,but the leaders of all-boys schools can make a real difference.

  • byChanel Contos
Immigration levels are higher than the government forecasts.

Migrant numbers growing as government’s student crackdown begins

New figures out on Thursday are likely to show a further lift in net overseas migration,putting more pressure on the government to limit population growth.

  • byShane Wright
The Sydney schools facing opportunity class overhaul.
Exclusive

The winners in radical shake-up of opportunity classes at Sydney schools

Lindfield East and Maroubra Junction Public are among the schools gaining new classes for gifted students,while others will have their OC intakes halved.

  • byLucy Carroll andNigel Gladstone
The King’s School’s headmaster Tony George
Opinion

Privileged white men are under attack again. Somebody please call Anti-Discrimination!

The King’s School headmaster is railing against ‘wokeness’. Grab a musket and ready the hounds.

  • byMichelle Cazzulino
The King’s School headmaster Tony George.

‘Victimhood culture’:King’s School head takes aim at ‘wokeness’

Headmaster Tony George says children attending non-government schools are being increasingly ridiculed.

  • byChristopher Harris
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The government is being urged to subsidise childcare for all families.
Exclusive

Childcare will be as transformative as Medicare,says business leader

A major report into childcare and early education is due later this year. Businesswoman Sam Mostyn says they are as important to the economy as public schooling and universal healthcare.

  • byShane Wright
University of Sydney vice chancellor Professor Mark Scott.

Why hundreds of new uni teaching jobs are generating controversy

University of Sydney vice chancellor Mark Scott says the new academic roles will carve out a new career path for teaching specialists.

  • byDaniella White
It has been a tumultuous week at Cranbrook following the resignation of headmaster Nicholas Sampson. The volatility might not be over yet.
Exclusive

Cranbrook crisis escalates as headmaster threatens legal action

Former headmaster Nicholas Sampson has engaged high-profile lawyers as the dispute between him and the school’s council intensifies.

  • byLucy Carroll
Catalyst's Lily Serna
Opinion

I couldn’t solve this maths whiz’s problem. Without HSC maths,could you?

Lily Serna,“one of the faces of mathematics in Australia”,says maths not being a compulsory subject in the HSC doesn’t add up.

  • byPeter FitzSimons
Sydney Boys High School at Moore Park has asked for more than $2500 in contributions from parents this year.

The public school charging students to receive a report card

The education department has asked a Sydney selective school to be mindful of language after it sent letters asking parents to pay $2500 a year for their child’s public education.

  • byMary Ward
Liverpool West Public School was forced to close in February after asbestos-contaminated mulch was detected onsite.

One in four state schools requires monthly checks for buried asbestos

There are 569 public schools under the Department of Education’s current site-specific asbestos management plans after contaminated was detected in soil.

  • byAmber Schultz
Universities are rejecting applications from people already in Australia on tourist and post-study work visas in a new phase of the foreign student clampdown.
Exclusive

Unis rejecting tourist,bridging visa holders as foreign crackdown intensifies

Universities are knocking back international student applications from people already in Australia on tourist,temporary work or bridging visas,as the sector considers calling for a reprieve from the overhaul.

  • byAngus Thompson
University of Sydney
Exclusive

Hundreds of uni students caught in ‘new wave’ cheating

The real number of students using artificial intelligence is likely far higher,experts say,with detection tools only able to catch unsophisticated cheats.

  • byDaniella White
Lisa Price of Love2Learn teaches a boy,6,the fundamentals of handwriting.
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Teaching young people to write

Lisa Price of Love2Learn teaches a boy,6,the fundamentals of handwriting.

Prue Car speaking at the SMH Schools Summit.
Editorial

NSW education shows some improvement but must apply itself more

NSW has carried an unenviable reputation for a public education system hit by falling standards,teacher flight and cancelled classes but Minister for Education and Early Learning Prue Car told a school summit those days were receding with recent reforms.

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NESA chief executive Paul Martin
Exclusive

Digitised exams,essay rethink on table in HSC overhaul

NSW Education Standards Authority chief Paul Martin wants to see a modernisation of the HSC,which has not faced major changes in more than 20 years.

  • byDaniella White
Dr Amanda Bell will lead a review into Cranbrook School.

Education expert tapped to lead Cranbrook investigation

Dr Amanda Bell has an impeccable resume in women’s education,including stints at Kambala,Queenwood,Sydney University and Brisbane Girls Grammar School.

  • byCarrie Fellner
Education Minister Prue Car.

SMH Schools Summit 2024 as it happened:Prue Car,Jason Clare speak;co-education on agenda

Coeducation,funding and creating schools of the future:follow our live coverage of the Sydney Morning Herald Schools Summit.

  • byAnthony Segaert
Education Minister Prue Carr

Every school in NSW to offer gifted education programs

High potential and gifted education is available in only half the state’s schools,but Education Minister Prue Car plans to change that.

  • byDaniella White andLucy Carroll
Adam Spencer says lacking a qualified maths teacher in high school can be particularly damaging to a student’s education by the time they reach the HSC.

‘No point dragging a kid kicking and screaming’ into this HSC subject

Adam Spencer,the inaugural mathematics and science ambassador for the University of Sydney,has welcomed a decision to dump making maths compulsory in years 11 and 12.

  • byChristopher Harris
A Year 7 maths question from the 2017 NAPLAN test obtained by mathematician Marty Ross.

The NAPLAN maths questions that ‘simply make zero sense’

High school students are being asked “absurd” and “badly worded” questions in NAPLAN’s numeracy exams,but a lack of transparency from the national testing authority is preventing teachers from addressing the issues,an expert says.

  • byRobyn Grace
HSC top schools.
Exclusive

The Sydney schools that have surged past 3000 students

The latest snapshot of school profile data reveals Sydney’s western and northern suburbs have recorded the biggest enrolment growth in the past decade.

  • byLucy Carroll andNigel Gladstone
Would a behaviour tsar stop bullying?
Opinion

Sticks and stones may break my kid’s bones,but it’s the words that hurt most

The problem is,asking your bullied child to wait out the school years isn’t always straightforward. So where do you go from here?

  • byMichelle Cazzulino
Opinion

The ‘transparency revolution’ has swept the world,but skipped Cranbrook

Some private schools operate as if it’s the 1960s. Schools like Cranbrook carry on as if it’s the 1930s when institutional transparency was virtually non-existent.

  • byJohn Simpson
The review would look at matters dating back to 2010,or earlier if required.

Cranbrook launches review into child safety allegations since 2010

The school’s policies on sexual misconduct,bullying and discrimination will also be scrutinised.

  • byChristopher Harris andLucy Carroll
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Former Telstra boss David Thodey has been named Sydney University’s next chancellor.

Former Telstra boss David Thodey named new Sydney University chancellor

Thodey is best known as the former boss of the telco giant and currently chairs Ramsay Health Care and technology company Xero.

  • byDaniella White
Cranbrook School in Bellevue Hill,Sydney.

Cranbrook to hold ‘independent’ review into scandal

Embattled private boys’ school Cranbrook is set to announce an independent review into the scandal that forced out its high-profile headmaster Nicholas Sampson.

  • byLucy Carroll
Former Blue Mountains Grammar School student Aimee Clifton is suing the school for bullying.
Exclusive

Aimee says bullying hurt her HSC results. Now she’s suing her school

Aimee Clifton says bullying at school led to severe stress,which caused her to under-perform in the HSC. She wants the school to pay almost $600,000 in compensation.

  • byJordan Baker
Cranbrook school.

Cranbrook School council in ongoing crisis talks

The new Acting Head of School Michele Marquet told parents she is “working to restore the harmony of our school” amid a series of “distressing” allegations.

  • byAmber Schultz