How should we pick our Premier’s Respect Award winner?

Schools should get as many staff members as possible involved in the decision, so the best idea would be a discussion at a staff meeting. Different teachers and other staff could make suggestions and decide on a student. The executive at the school would need to agree with the selection, and then the teacher who knows the student best should head online to nominate the student.

What should we be looking for to help us decide?

Different schools will have different ideas about what respect means for their community. The three most important things to look for are:

• Respectful behaviour
• Inclusiveness
• Community-mindedness.

What kinds of respect should we be thinking about?

It will help to think about the different groups that a student can positively impact with their respectful behaviour. In general students can show respect to their fellow students, to the teachers and staff at the school, and then to the wider community. A few ways they might do this are to:

• show respect to a fellow student by helping them academically
• show respect to a fellow student by helping them socially
• show respect to a target of teasing or bullying by stepping in to help
• show respect to a teacher by assisting with an educational activity
• show respect to a teacher by demonstrating they value the teacher's efforts
• show respect to the community by volunteering
• show respect to the community through acts of inclusiveness.

Can we nominate more than one student?

Unfortunately schools can only nominate the one Premier’s Respect Award winner. We know you’ll have lots of students at the school worthy of consideration but the idea is to select that one student who best exemplifies respectful behaviour, inclusiveness and community-mindedness.

How do we nominate our award winner?

Use our online form to send us the student's details. We’ll collect the name of the student your school has chosen, the Year they’re from, and the name of a teacher in charge of the nomination along with that teacher’s institutional email address (we won’t be able to accept entries from personal email addresses). We’ll send a certificate through to that teacher for presentation to the student.

Do we have to apply for the Premier’s Respect Awards Showcase?

No, it’s fine to just name your inaugural award-winner and present them with the certificate we’ll send at a school assembly. However, the process to apply for the showcase isn't difficult so schools are encouraged to put their student up for selection. All we’ll ask is for the teacher to give three quick examples of the student’s respectful behaviour in around 50 words each.

How will the ten students for the showcase be selected?

A panel with representatives from all the government and non-government school sectors will come together in November to consider the applications. They’ll look for students who have demonstrated exceptional respectfulness and consider examples of the impact that their behaviour has had on their fellow students, teachers and the wider community.

Who will sit on the panel?

The panel will be chaired by Emeritus Professor Judyth Sachs. The other representatives are:

• Association of Independent Schools NSW: Jim Hanna, Head of Media and Government Relations
• Catholic Schools NSW: Ben Smith, Head of Mission, Identity and Civics
• NSW Department of Education: to be advised
  
• Office of the Advocate for Children and Young People: Zoe Robinson
  
• Student representative: Youth Advisory Council Chair.

Contact Details

Schools can always contact us for any advice with the process or with any further questions about the Premier’s Respect Awards. Call (02) 8512 1171 or email pra@det.nsw.edu.au.