2026
Issue 138 | Term 4 | Week 3
Tip - Get your 2027 calendar
Want to pre-fill your Microsoft Outlook calendar, or your Google Calendar with all the school weeks for 2027? It's so handy to know what week of the school term we are in when looking at your online calendar. Here's a quick and easy way to add all the school weeks, all the school holidays, all the public holidays and all the important dates for 2027 to your Outlook calendar.
Once added, they'll be shown in your calendar across all your devices - desktops, notebooks, tablets and smartphones! If you need these 2027 school weeks and events in your Google or Apple calendar, there's an ICS file for that too!
Click here to download the ics file (preferred).
Click here to download the csv file.
So how do you do this? Head to the T4L website’s Microsoft Outlook Calendar page for either a helpful video or how to guide to step you through the process.
NOTE: if you have previously imported items into your calendar for 2027 DO NOT use the files above otherwise you may get duplicate events.
Tip - 2026 HSC online exams
The HSC online examinations will be held in Term 4 for the following subjects:
- Science Extension - Monday 26 October 2026, 1.50 pm - 4.00 pm
- Software Engineering - Tuesday 27 October 2026, 9.50 am - 12.20 pm
- Enterprise Computing - Thursday 29 October 2026, 9.50 am - 12.20 pm
To give students the best chance of success schools, with students sitting these tests, are asked to minimise competing network activities such as bandwidth heavy tasks like video streaming, software updates, or bulk file transfers should be avoided while exams are in progress.
Limiting non-essential activity helps maintain stable connections, ensures the exam platform runs smoothly, and reduces the risk of technical interruptions.
Your support is vital in creating a reliable exam environment where students can focus on demonstrating their knowledge with confidence. For further support, contact NESA on 1800 200 955 or onlineexams@nesa.nsw.edu.au.
Update - Enhanced MFA
Have you or your colleagues set up Enhanced MFA yet? Staff across the state have been setting up Enhanced MFA, making their accounts more secure and logging onto their devices efficiently. However, there’s still a long way to go!
We suggest you share the latest video by Deputy Secretary Public Schools, Deb Summerhayes, in a staff meeting, along with the easy to follow set up guides so everyone can be prepared.
Staff will be contacted via email over the coming months to remind them about setting up Enhanced MFA, but you don’t need to wait! Act now and set up the Microsoft Authenticator app on your mobile device.
For staff that have mobile devices which are incompatible with the Microsoft Authenticator app, a new method of authentication called Synchronised Passkeys is now available. This doesn’t use the Authenticator app, instead uses your phone’s password manager to store a passkey. Visit the Enhanced MFA intranet page for more information.
Info - Digital Field Services
Purchasing new printers?
All schools need to purchase print and imaging equipment from EdBuy. Schools should refer to the Buyer Guide Book to help get the correct advice prior to engaging with a contracted supplier. Your Digital Field Services (DFS) team are also available to give advice as to the number of printers and their location within your school.
DFS teams will also ensure the printers are set up correctly by assigning the correct DHCP reservation and settings withing CDM.
Prior to making any printer purchase, please log a ticket with EDConnect Online or talk with your relevant DFS team member on their next scheduled visit to make sure there is adequate preparation time to get your printers set up correctly.
Checking printer installation and permission
When troubleshooting printers added from CDM you can run a tool from the Start menu called CDM-Printers-Info. This tool will check which printers are assigned to that device and what printers the logged in user has.
It also directs you to the log file which can help pinpoint issues (Eg. the logged in user doesn't have permission to that printer or they're a student).
Tip - Timely time-saver
Microsoft Teams is continuing to rollout new updates to its interface and other helpful features. Below are just a few that are coming our way:
- Test mic and speakers prior to joining a meeting
- New meeting interface
- Planner now available in Private and Shared channels
- Change the position of notifications and test what they look like.
Check out the handy guide to learn more.
PL - Digital Support Team webinars
Did you miss the Term 4 Staff Development Day sessions? Click the links below to catch up on the recordings and discover practical tips and strategies from our three sessions:
- Microsoft Word: Work Smarter with Your Documents.
- Google Docs: Work Smarter with Your Documents.
- OneNote Programming: Create, Collaborate and Organise.
For upcoming sessions, check out the T4L Events page and register! For previous sessions, go to our Webinar Recordings page.
Update - Student GenAI lesson updates
Teachers can access five student lessons designed to help students in Stages 3 to 6 understand GenAI and NSWEduChat, while developing the skills to use these tools safely and effectively.
Based on valuable feedback from schools, some of these lessons have recently been updated to include:
- Understanding the Socratic questioning model in NSWEduChat: Clear explanations of how the Socratic questioning model in NSWEduChat supports student learning and why it is a key feature of the tool.
- Tips for using NSWEduChat effectively: Practical support for students to select appropriate tasks for using Socratic questioning, along with strategies to engage effectively with NSWEduChat to support their learning.
- An introduction to cognitive offloading and the performance paradox: Simple explanations of cognitive offloading and the performance paradox when using GenAI tools, helping students understand the potential challenges of overreliance on these technologies and their impact on learning.
Differentiated versions of these students’ lessons are available for Stages 3-6. These lessons are designed to be self-paced online modules. However, teachers can facilitate these lessons as a whole class using the lesson plans provided.
Find these updated student lessons and accompanying resources in the NSWEduChat Staff Resource Library and start thinking about how this learning could support students in Term 4.
News - 2027 stem.T4L Kit Bookings are now open!
Are you interested in booking a stem.T4L kit for 2027? Bookings are now open! For this initial round, you can book one main kit and select from specific items while availability lasts. You can log back in during Week 5, when second-round bookings open, to book another kit!
New to stem.T4L?
- Request access to the stem.T4L Kit Booking System via the ‘Manage My Access’ tile.
- Once your principal approves access, go to the 'stem.T4L Kit Booking System' tile in the portal to choose your kit.
- Explore the stem.T4L Learning Library for support, lesson ideas, and technical guides.
Update - Google Classroom Learning Goals
Google Classroom now enables NSW teachers to define, tag, and track student achievement using Learning Goals linked directly to NSW Syllabus. Teachers can select actionable Learning Skills or configure official Learning Standards via Class Settings. When creating classwork, you can tag up to 10 goals and link them directly to specific rubric criteria.
Progress is monitored in the Grades tab via a dedicated Learning Goals toggle, offering whole-class trend overviews and single-goal deep dives.
To get started, navigate to Class Settings under Learning Goals to select your standard sets. To learn more visit Use Learning Goals in Classroom - Classroom Help.
Alert - Staff Access Controls Awareness Sessions
Following the recent Staff Notice Board communication, the Department will be holding Staff Access Controls Awareness Sessions for Principals and their delegates during Term 4, Weeks 2–4.
The sessions will provide an overview of the Department’s approach to strengthening staff access controls, including:
- the requirements of the Department of Education Identity and Access Management Standard
- what these requirements mean for schools when managing staff access and permissions
- upcoming changes to staff access management across Administration Marketplace Panel for Schools (AMPS) supplier products
- how schools can prepare for the changes and minimise operational impacts.
As AMPS supplier products support critical school operations, Principals and their delegates are strongly encouraged to attend.
Choose a session for your AMPS products
Sessions will be available across different supplier combinations to support schools using School Bytes, Sentral, Compass, Hero and Millennium.
When registering, select the Awareness Session that includes the AMPS supplier product/s used at your school.
To register: Visit the AMPS guided learning sessions, select ‘Technology’ from the menu on the left, then choose the Awareness Session that matches the AMPS supplier product/s used at your school.
Early registration is encouraged to secure your preferred session.
For further information, view the Staff NoticeBoard Link.
Tip - Create Learning Journals in Canva
Digital journals are a lovely way for students to reflect, express themselves, and look back on their growth over a year, term or topic, and Canva makes the whole thing easy to set up.
As the teacher, start with a ready-made template and tweak the pages to suit your class.
Tap Assign so each student gets their own editable copy, or share the link through your Learning Management System. From there, students can find their journal anytime under Classwork and Assignments.
Once they're in, it's over to them. Students can make it their own, changing colours, fonts, and layouts, and adding stickers, emojis, or photos from the Elements tab. Their journal stays live, ready for new notes, reflections, and drawings whenever inspiration strikes.
When it's time to share, students can present their journal like a slideshow or share the link to show off their progress. And with the ability to add slides, docs, sheets, videos and whiteboards to a single Canva design, students can truly create a multi-modal journal.
Fun - ICT thought of the day
news.T4L - back in Week 6!
ITD publishes three issues of news.T4L each term. Share each issue with your staff! Subscribe to get email notification as soon as a new issue of news.T4L drops.
Tell us about your school's great ICT initiatives! Send us an email to T4LNews@det.nsw.edu.au