For those who may be new or unfamiliar with my role, I am the Defence Transition Mentor (DTM) for Campbell Primary School. I am employed by CPS and funded by the Department of Defence to support students from active service Australian Defence Force (ADF) families, particularly through the challenges of frequent relocation and parental absence. My role also includes connecting families to local community and defence support and opportunities. As such my position is primarily for social and emotional support for our families and students – more akin to a chaplaincy type role than formal counselling or learning support. I am privileged to form part of the CPS support team that also includes (among others) our wonderful admin staff, dedicated LSA’s and our school psychologist. Together we work to provide the best possible support to all of our CPS community. It’s a role I have filled for 6 years across 3 different schools and one I am passionate about.

Most of our new students have started to really find their feet here at Campbell, and I was particularly thrilled to see some of our newest year 6 students put their hand up for leadership positions last week. Other new students have been going out of their way to support peers and our school SCARFFF values every day; a true testament to their resilience given that they have been here less than 20 days! Defence Club has returned with a bang, with the new timetable to fit with our amended breaks proving a real hit. For the remainder of this term junior students (yr 1 and 2) can access Defence Club in the BER at recess while senior students (yr3 – 6) can do the same at lunch on Mondays and Wednesdays. Friday sessions will pause to allow for junior taekwondo sporting school sessions to take place but will return in term 2. Kindergarten students from ADF families will be invited to join Defence Club in term 2 also.

For those ADF families that have come to us on posting from interstate please be aware of the ability to access education support via DCO’s Education Assistance Scheme. This allows those impacted by relocation to access reimbursement for tutoring support in areas identified as requiring extra tuition or where a subject wasn’t previously offered (for example Japanese). Additional information is available via the link here. The application form AD301 is available via webforms for the serving member, or via the DCO helpline on 1800 624 608 at any time. Recent changes mean you will require a supporting letter from CPS which I am happy to arrange, as well as a report card from your previous school. Kindergarten students are ineligible unless posting occurred in the middle of the year. Please let me know if you have any questions.

I am at CPS full time this year from 9am until 4pm and can usually be found either in the playground or supporting within classrooms. I am always happy to meet with parents to answer any questions you may have; please check in with the front office and they will locate me for you. I am also available via email at any time on Karyn.heitmann@ed.act.edu.au . I encourage families to communicate often as a collaborative approach is always the most successful.