Susan Ryan
Family Engagement
Awards 2023

Proudly Sponsored by the Australian Secondary Principals’ Association

The Susan Ryan Family Engagement Award, now in its second year, continues to spotlight outstanding achievements in family engagement within government schools and communities across Australia. Named in honour of the late Susan Ryan, a passionate advocate for family engagement and former Australian politician, this prestigious award celebrates government schools and communities that have successfully integrated family involvement as a crucial element in fostering student success.

Nominations for the Susan Ryan Family Engagement Award are set to open on July 17, providing government schools and communities with a platform to showcase their exceptional practices in engaging families. Judges will carefully review and evaluate the nominations, considering the family engagement initiatives' effectiveness, creativity, and impact.

"The Australian Secondary Principals' Association (ASPA) proudly advocates for 5000 School leaders across Australia. ASPA is a very proud supporter of the Susan Ryan Award and parent organisations working in our schools. We look forward to continuing the important work with ACSSO on behalf of government schools and students into the future." (Andrew Pierpoint, President ASPA)

Together we will acknowledge, celebrate, and promote the great practice occurring in schools nationwide, culminating in the award presentation in Sydney on September 15 2023.

What is Family engagement?

Family engagement is an intentional and collaborative strategy to support and leverage the knowledge, capacities, and social capital of families to improve learning and well-being outcomes for all children and young people (Family, School and Community Partnerships Bureau (2014)

School, Family Engagement is ACSSO’s core business, and we would like to hear how your school engages with families and community.

Award Categories

When deciding on award categories, ACSSO will utilise the ICSEA scale (Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage) to ensure that schools with comparable demographics are compared in a just and equitable manner. This scale is not a school rating and is unrelated to the school's personnel, facilities, or instructional programs.

There are four categories

Schools with an ICSEA of less than 800
Schools with an ICSEA of 800 – 1000
Schools with an ICSEA of 1000 – 1100
Schools with an ICSEA of 1100 plus

The finalists in each category will be announced in early September with an invitation to participate in the award presentation on September 15, 2023

Susan Ryan Family Engagement Awards 2023

Proudly Sponsored by the Australian Secondary Principals’ Association
The Susan Ryan Award recipient will receive $2,000.00

Submission Process

Applications must address the topic: “Family Engagement – Our Journey.”

Applications must be in the form of a short 3-minute video and a written statement of no more than 2,000 words and must be endorsed by both a member of the school family community and the school’s Principal.

We know that effective Family – School Partnerships support student achievement and school improvement. All applications for the 2023 Susan Ryan Family Engagement Awards must be made online via the Awards portal.

In presenting your application:

Tell us about your school and the community it serves
Describe your family engagement strategy including how it is embedded in the school plan and programs
Show us your successes and challenges
Demonstrate sustainability including what resources and infrastructure is in place
Explain your evaluation processes

By submitting your application, you are giving the Australian Council of State School Organisations permission to use media files and text provided in your application.

This may be used for promotional and announcement purposes.

Any photographic or other permissions must be obtained by the school prior to submitting the application.

If your application contains classified or yet-to-be-released content, please indicate in your application and provide relevant information about the embargo. We respect all confidentiality requirements.

Applications Close - 9th September 2023 (Closing date extended)

Upload your application

To complete your Award submission, kindly utilise the link provided to upload the necessary Document and Video. It is important that you name your files with the title of your school to avoid any confusion. Uploading your files is a requirement for successful submission.