The importance of family and community engagement in children’s learning is undisputed, but how to deliver this effectively in diverse school communities is less clear-cut. Schools Plus’ Fair Education program looks to address this very issue.
Here is a taste of the latest news coverage featuring Schools Plus and our work with schools in need and donors who are passionate about making a difference.
CMV Group, through its Foundations, has partnered with Schools Plus to support the the use and understanding of technology in agriculture for students at Loxton High School, SA.
Schools Plus is pleased to announce the 12 inspiring teachers and school leaders named as this year’s Commonwealth Bank Teaching Award recipients. These inspiring educators are transforming education, particularly in some of Australia’s most disadvantaged communities.
Whilst most of Australia gradually returns to a post-pandemic new kind of normal, the recent sequential disasters of drought, bushfires and coronavirus continue to have a devastating impact on school children in disadvantaged communities.
National education charity Schools Plus is thrilled to announce that one of its 2019 Commonwealth Bank Teaching Award recipients, Western Australian maths teacher Ashley Stewart, has been named as a Top 50 finalist for this year’s highly coveted US$1 million Global Teacher Prize.
From remote regional towns to major city suburbs, 12 inspiring teachers and school leaders are today being celebrated for their exceptional work in the profession and an unwavering contribution to their students, the school and the wider community.
In 2018, due to the early success of the Fair Education NSW program (started in 2015), Schools Plus sought funding to trial a similar program in Victoria. The result was a three-year grant from The Ross Trust – a perpetual charitable trust with a vision to create positive social and environmental change so Victorians can thrive.
All transactions by credit card incur fees from Stripe, our internet payment provider. The fees are 30 cents per transaction plus 1.4% for domestic Visa and Mastercard transactions, 1.75% for domestic American Express transactions or 2.9% for all international transactions.
Australian Schools Plus Ltd (Schools Plus) (ABN 65 164 622 459) is a national education charity which improves the education outcomes of students in need by increasing philanthropic support to disadvantaged schools and school communities. The Federal Government has granted Schools Plus Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR1) status, making donations of $2 or more to schools via Schools Plus tax-deductible. More information is available on the About Us page of the website.
1. Donations to Schools Plus:
must be voluntary
must be unconditional
are non-refundable
are not subject to GST
2. Donors may nominate a Schools Plus registered project as the preferred beneficiary of their gift. Whilst tax laws mean donors cannot insist Schools Plus direct their donation to a specific project or school, discretionary grants are made by Schools Plus’ Funding Committee to projects taking into account donor wishes.
3. Donations to schools through Schools Plus are treated as a gift. As such, donors or their associates* must not receive, insist or be promised any material benefit, advantage, right or privilege (apart from tax deductibility) nor act on an expectation that a benefit, material advantage, right or privilege will be returned to him or her in return for their donation (apart from tax deductibility).
4. For donations of $2 or more, an official Schools Plus receipt will be forwarded to donors by email (or by mail where no email address is provided) for taxation purposes.
5. All claims for a tax deduction are subject to being accepted by the Commissioner of Taxation. If either an individual or business is uncertain of their taxation position they should obtain professional advice.
6. Schools Plus retains a contribution from each donation to support our work with schools. This contribution – which is 5% for Fundraise Yourself/Donor Choice projects, 10% for Smart Giving and 7.5% auspiced projects – helps us provide our crowdfunding platform including resources and advice to schools about fundraising and donor relationships, plus contributes towards the assessment and evaluation of projects.
7. All transactions by credit card incur fees from Stripe, our internet payment provider. The fees are 30 cents per transaction plus 1.4% for domestic Visa and Mastercard transactions, 1.75% for domestic American Express transactions or 2.9% for all international transactions.
8. In the case of Smart Giving projects, if the funding target is not met, Schools Plus will negotiate with the school a revised project to which the amount raised can be directed, and inform the relevant donor/s. In the case of Fundraise Yourself projects, if the funding target is not met, Schools Plus will negotiate with the school a revised project to which the amount raised can be directed, and inform the relevant donor/s.
9. Eligible schools are those facing disadvantage – with a value below 1000 on the Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA). You can check a school’s value on the My School website www.myschool.edu.au or by contacting us.
*The definition of associate is very broad, but includes relatives, companies in which you or associates have control, partners in a partnership and spouses of those partners, as well as beneficiaries with an interest in a trust. This list is not exhaustive and is a guide only. Please refer to section 318 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 for the complete definition of associates.
Australian Schools Plus (ABN 65 164 622 459) is committed to protecting your privacy and the privacy of personal information provided to us. We comply with all relevant laws in collecting, using, disclosing, and holding your personal information including the Privacy Act 1988 (Commonwealth) and the relevant Australian Privacy Principles.
This Privacy Policy applies to the collection, use, disclosure and holding of your personal information by us. We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any such updated policy will be posted on our Website.
When using the Website or clicking ‘I Accept’ when signing up for a subscriber or user account on the Website you consent to the collection and use of your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Your use of the Website following any such change to the Privacy Policy will confirm your acceptance of the changes.
Australian Schools Plus (ABN 65 164 622 459) is committed to protecting your privacy and the privacy of personal information provided to us. We comply with all relevant laws in collecting, using, disclosing, and holding your personal information including the Privacy Act 1988 (Commonwealth) and the relevant Australian Privacy Principles.
This Privacy Policy applies to the collection, use, disclosure and holding of your personal information by us. We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any such updated policy will be posted on our Website.
When using the Website or clicking ‘I Accept’ when signing up for a subscriber or user account on the Website you consent to the collection and use of your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Your use of the Website following any such change to the Privacy Policy will confirm your acceptance of the changes.
Information We Collect and Hold
We only collect personal information that we need for our work and to provide services to you. We collect information from our donors, schools, and other individuals (for example teachers and volunteers) seeking our services to enable us to carry out our business activities including functions and activities involving connecting supporters with schools in need. We may also collect personal information from people seeking to work with us and other contractors involved in working with us.
We will advise you if it is possible for you to be involved with us and for us to provide our services on an anonymous basis or using a pseudonym. If you do not consent to the collection of your personal information or provide to us incomplete or inaccurate information, we may not be able to provide to you our services.
The type of personal information we may collect includes:
information that you give us from the forms on the Website, through our newsletter sign up, through our donations or grants process or other contact with us. This may include your name, address, email address and possibly financial information and credit card details;
any personal information provided by you when you communicate with us for any reason; and
other information including users’ IP address
How We Collect Your Personal Information
Wherever possible we collect personal information directly from the relevant individual.
We may collect and hold your personal information when:
you provide this information to us in any way including via paper, telephone or electronic media;
when you attend one of our webinars;
you use our services;
when you visit our website;
provide feedback; or
when we are required or authorised by law to do
Use of Information
We may use information collected:
for purposes to which you have consented;
to provide you with services;
to provide you with news and information about our services;
customise, measure, and improve user experiences and our services and content;
send marketing and promotional material that we believe you may be interested in;
internal record keeping, internal management, quality assurance, risk management, billing and administrative purposes;
communicate with you and update you on our activities, including by email, mail or telephone;
to process transactions;
to handle any queries you may have or complaints; and
when we are required to provide your personal information to others by
Disclosure
We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable
information. We will not disclose information that personally identifies you to advertisers. We will confine the disclosure of your personal information to the primary purpose for which that information has been collected, or for a related secondary purpose. This includes when disclosure is necessary to provide services to you, assist us in running our organisation, or for security reasons.
We may disclose personal information to respond to legal requirements.
We may disclose personal information, and you consent to us disclosing your personal information, to third parties:
who assist us in managing our business, such as professional advisors;
who are working directly on our behalf;
who are engaged by us to perform functions or provide services on our behalf, such as processing credit card information or processing grant applications;
anyone authorised by you to receive your personal information held by us (your consent may be implied or express).
Security
We strive to ensure the security, integrity, and privacy of personal information, and will take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure.
To protect your personal information we maintain physical, technical, and administrative safeguards. We update and test our security technology on an ongoing basis.
We train our employees about the importance of confidentiality and maintaining the privacy and security of your information. Access to your personal information is restricted to employees who need it to provide benefits or services to you.
While we endeavour to protect your information, the security of online transactions and the security of communications sent to us by electronic means or by post cannot be guaranteed. The transmission of information via such channels is at your own risk. Where we have given you access to systems such as grant application systems where you enter confidential information, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential.
We use tools such as encryption, passwords, and physical security to protect your personal information against unauthorised access and disclosure, but this cannot be guaranteed.
Off-site links
You might find links to a third-party website on our website. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of any site that is linked to our website. Your activity on those sites is covered by the privacy policies of those sites. You should always read the applicable privacy policies on the other websites.
Use of cookies technology
We use cookies to collect details of your visits to our Website and the resources you access, including, but not limited to, traffic data, location data and communication data. A ‘cookie’ is a packet of information placed on a user’s computer by a website for record-keeping purposes. Cookies are generally used on our Website for the purposes of collecting and holding the following information about visitors to our Website:
server address;
domain name (for example .com, .gov, .au etc);
the date and time of visit;
the web pages accessed and documents downloaded;
previous site visited; and
type of browser
This information cannot directly identify individuals. It is only used to measure the number of visitors to the different parts of the site and to help us make the site more useful to you. Cookies may also be used for other purposes on our website but in each case none of the information collected can be used to personally identify you.
You can configure your browser to accept all cookies, reject all cookies, or notify you when a cookie is sent. Each browser is different, so check the “Help” menu of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences.
If you disable the use of cookies on your web browser or remove or reject specific cookies from our website or linked sites then you may not be able to gain access to all of the content and facilities in those websites.
Access, Amendment and Deletion of Your Personal Information
You have a right to access your personal information which we hold about you. If you make a request to access your personal information, we will ask you to verify your identity and specify the information you require.We will use all reasonable endeavours to keep your personal information accurate, complete, and up to date.
You may contact us to amend any of your personal information that is inaccurate, incomplete, or out-of-date or request that your personal information be deleted. Please contact us in writing below in relation to any privacy issues:
Attention: Operations Team Australian Schools Plus Level 1, 204 Clarence Street Sydney NSW 2000.
Subject to any legal restrictions, we will meet all your requests in relation to accessing, amending, or deleting your personal information within a reasonable period of receipt of your request.
Feedback or queries on this policy
If you have any feedback or queries regarding our privacy policy please contact us at info@schoolsplus.org.au
Complaints
If you have any complaints about our privacy practices or if you consider that we have breached your privacy, you can lodge a complaint by contacting:
Rosemary Conn, CEO, Australian Schools Plus, Level 1, 204 Clarence Street, Sydney, New South Wales, 2000; or
