Welcome back to Term 3. This week marks one year since I joined the Ripley Valley State Secondary School in the role of Defence School Mentor. In that time, I have worked on establishing a framework of support for Defence Students of full time Australian Defence Force parents, who frequently move due to Military postings or who are dealing with parental absences as a result of exercises, courses and deployments, and ex-serving ADF members who are currently transitioning out of Defence.

I have had the pleasure of getting to know many of our Defence students and some of the parents too.

As the school roll of ADF students grows, I hope to be able to implement more support for our students so that their educational needs are impacted as little as possible by the demands of military life.

This term I am organising an art piece to be displayed the week leading up to and including Remembrance Day. It is my hope I can gather as many knitted or crochet poppies as possible. This will form a field of poppies in the art piece that is representative not only of Flander Fields but also of the sacrifice Australia has made through all the Wars we have participated in.

If anyone would like to be involved by donating knitted or crochet poppies, please contact me either by email tcoop203@eq.edu.au or by phoning 3819 5333.

July 1st marks the renaming of the 'Defence Community Organisation' to 'Defence Member and Family Support'. Our new name reflects our vision, what we do and who we do it for. While we have changed our name, there will be no changes to any of the services or programs offered to ADF members and their families.

Find out more about our name change at:

www.defence.gov.au/dco