A Message from the Defence School Mentor
Amy Adam
A very warm welcome to all our CMCC Defence families.
My name is Amy Adam, and I will be the Defence School Mentor at Catherine McAuley Catholic College.
I will be working with our Defence students and families to provide support during school transitions and throughout the academic year.
I am available to staff, students and parents Monday – Thursday, I look forward to working with Defence students to plan some exciting events for the school to participate in this year.
About Amy Adam
Amy Adam understands the unique challenges and experiences of the Defence lifestyle, as a defence spouse for 13 years and Mother of a young child we have experienced 7 defence moves and lived in 3 different states, and many overseas deployments. This personal experience means I can relate to the challenges of frequent moves, parental deployments, and the need to build new connections in a new school community.
The Defence School Mentor Program
The Defence School Mentor (DSM) Program provides funding to schools to minimise the impact of the mobile lifestyle on Defence students’ education. The DSM Program assists Defence students and their families with changing schools, integrating into the school community and providing support during parental absences. This funding provided by the Defence Forces allows for the employment of a DSM to work within the school to raise awareness of the Defence lifestyle and to support students of Defence families.
The program, administered by Defence Member and Family Support (DMFS) (formerly known as Defence Community Organisation), reflects the commitment by Defence to support its members and their families and recognises the partnership between education authorities, Defence and schools.
Aim
The program aims to assist students in Defence families in four key areas throughout their education and as they move from one school to another. The key areas are:
- welcoming
- integrating
- support during deployment and absence; and
- farewelling
Through the program it is hoped that schools are assisted in achieving the following outcomes:
- Facilitation of a supportive educational environment for Defence families during times of change
- Establishment of ongoing programs and resources for use during and beyond the life of the program
- Linkage of Defence families into their local school community; and
- Provision of education resources to support the Defence student’s wellbeing.
Defence families who would like to contact me regarding their children can email: amy.adam@mn.catholic.edu.au