Drawing on expertise and objectivity, the Parent Institute provides a safe place for an ideas exchange on parenting practices and challenges.
Our Purpose
The power of parents
The two biggest areas of control are the school envirnonment, and the home environment. Every second that a child spends in each of these domains is spent perceiving, interpreting, learning, and practicing. They learn from what we say, and they learn even more from what we do.
Being a parent or carer of young people is a wonderful blessing, and also can seem like an impossible challenge. Everyone has an an opinion, but few know what it is like in your household.
Parents should be able to feel confident as role models, protectors, providers, companions, first aiders (for both mental and physical health challenges), safe spaces, instructors, counsellors, boundary setters. The Parent Institute believes that the resources can be found, or created, to allow this to be the case.
None of this can be achieved alone and so through partnerships within households, between households, and between home and school our young people can learn to thrive.
Upcoming Events
Parenting this Generation with Confidence
- Monday 24 February
- 7:00pm - 8:15pm
- Barker College
In a century of increased parenting uncertainty, we seek to understand the historical and social context, and how parents can reclaim confidence.
The Confident Parent Course
- Monday 10 March
- 7:00 - 8:40 pm
- The Piazza, Kurrajong Building, Barker College Junior School
A chance to grow, discuss and connect around parenthood.
Avoiding and breaking free from tech-enabled addiction
- Monday 23 June
- 7:00pm - 8:15pm
- Barker College
Two experts in the psychology of tech-enabled addiction share strategies with parents around teen behaviours concerning online gambling, social media, and gaming.
Past Events
On The Same Page: A special webinar for Year 10 families
- Monday 23 September
- 7:30 - 8:45pm
- Online Webinar
The Barker College Wellbeing Team have invited David and Katie Kobler of YourChoicez to present an online webinar designed to facilitate conversations amongst Year 10 families.
Female Athlete Health & Understanding the Menstrual Cycle
- Tuesday 20 August
- 6:30 - 7:45 pm
- Rhodes Theatre, Barker College
A workshop designed to educate all families, athletes and friends, to support and empower female athletes to build confidence so they can reach their potential in sport and life.
Adolescent Cyber Safety in 2024 with 'ySafe'
- 5 August 2024
- 7:00 - 8:15 pm
- Rhodes Theatre, Barker College
The online world continues to grow and extend into all areas of our lives including that of our students. YSafe can give parents the knowledge and skills to support children as they develop in this technology-enabled world.
Adolescent Drug & Alcohol Education - with Tanya Cavanagh of 'Not Even Once'
- Tuesday 25 June
- 7:00 - 8:15pm
- Rhodes Theatre, Barker College
In 2024 Barker is partnering with leading drug and alcohol education provider, 'Not Even Once', to work with students, and on the evening of June 25, with parents.
Relationships & Consent Education - with Elephant Ed
- Thursday 16 May
- 6:30 - 8:00 pm
- Rhodes Theatre, Barker College
In 2024 Barker is partnering with leading relationships and consent education provider, Elephant Ed, to work with students, and on the evening of May 16th, with parents.
On The Same Page: A special webinar for Year 7 families
- Tuesday 2 April
- 7:30 - 8:45pm
- Online Webinar
The Barker College Wellbeing Team have invited David and Katie Kobler of YourChoicez to present an online webinar designed to facilitate conversations amongst Year 7 families.
Discover Barker
- Thursday 29 February
- 6:00 - 7:00pm
- The Piazza, Kurrajong Building, Barker College Junior School
An informative session that will create an opportunity to further connect our community.
Year 11 Jumpstart - Webinar for Students and Parents
- Thursday 8 February
- 7:30-8:15 pm
- Online Webinar
An opportunity to meet key Barker staff members supporting Year 11 in 2024 and ask questions. Students and parents are encouraged to watch this webinar together.
School TV
The Parent Institute offers support to families through an external provider known as School TV. Barker Families have full access to the School TV libarary with talks and interviews from leading specialists on topics such as:
- Understanding adolescence // Raising Girls / Raising Boys // Resilience // Blended Families //
- Sleep // Body Image // Eating Disorders // Managing Screen Time //
- Respectful Relationships // Bullying // Internet Addiction // Online Pornography // Youth Anxiety
Barker families can contact The Barker Institute for a direct link to access all content now.
Parent Hope Project
The Parent Institute is a provider of training as part of the Parent Hope project (see https://parenthopeproject.com.au/).
In Semester 1, 2024 Barker Junior School staff are being trained in the project in order to continue to support family practices at the school. This training will be extended to an offering for parents at Barker and in the wider community later in 2024. Benefits for parents include:
- Parents learning to manage their own anxieties and anxieties of their children
- Parents recovering confidence in their capacity to contribute to their child’s wellbeing and responsibility.
- Parents working as part of communities to foster emotional and social development of children
Read more about the Parent Hope project at Barker in our blog.
Lift@Barker
In 2022 and 2023 The Barker Wellbeing Team sought detailed feedback on Student Wellbeing Programs from Senior Leaders, Pastoral Care Teachers and Students. The team then sought the input of Dr Darren Morton of Avondale University. Dr Morton is a Senior Lecturer and researcher at the Lifestyle Research Centre, and he developed a wellbeing program based on the positive psychology philosophy called The Lift Project. The Barker Wellbeing Team and Dr Morton then created a hybrid student wellbeing program called Lift@Barker. This is 10 module program with a duration of 10 months. Since launching this program at Barker, Dr Morton has worked closely with our school pastoral care teachers and students to ensure the appropriate implementation of the program. Lift@Barker is a whole school program for our students, staff, and families undertaken together as a community and is implemented in our Connect Time lessons.
Find out more about The Lift Project at The Lift Project website.
Barker families can also access Lift@Barker via Canvas links. Contact The Barker Institute for more information and direct access.
"The Great Cause" - with Phillip Heath AM
The Barker Institute proudly supports an important new podcast in the educational landscape - "The Great Cause" - with Phillip Heath AM.
- Dr Matthew Hill
- 04 December 2024
Parent Hope Project – the Confident Parent Course begins….!
Supporting parents to be the best resource for their children
- Lisa Chalmers
- 24 May 2024
Event: Year 7 Study Habits 2024
Notes from an interactive workshop to help Year 7 students and their parents develop good study habits
- Dr Matthew Hill
- 30 April 2024
Character and Its Importance
Someone who has helped me think about character is the journalist David Brooks. Brooks says there are two kinds of virtues by which we tend to define ourselves.
- Mark Lovell
- 15 February 2024
Effective Character Education
Character education is more than the provision of an a well-intentioned, resourced, researched opportunities and programs targeting values, it involves a journey of becoming, where students learn to make wise moral decisions, think critically, live in harmony with others and be successful in challenges of life.
- Peter Gibson
- 18 August 2023