Education

This page will provide an increasing range of links and information to provide support to you as a pre-school, primary, secondary, tertiary, or adult education student, and to students you support.

We particularly recommend the “Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association” website for student resources.

Some of the information on this page was originally developed by BIRRR in consultation with the ICPA.

Setting up for video conferencing in education

We’ve developed a quick guide on things to consider when setting up your space to use video conferencing for educational purposes. By considering these factors, you improve your learning space and are set up for success.

Free internet for a year using the School Student Broadband Initiative (SSBI)

The Australian Government has established the School Student Broadband Initiative (SSBI) to provide free home internet for one year for up to 30,000 unconnected families with school age students, creating an opportunity for students to access fast and reliable broadband internet at home. Research shows that children who can access online learning as part of their education are more likely to be engaged in classroom activities and have better educational experiences and opportunities.

nbn is leading implementation of this initiative and to date has been working closely with nominating organisations such as education authorities, national charities and community organisations who identify and nominate students and families who could benefit from the SSBI.

Access to the Australian Government SSBI is now easier for families, with the launch of the new National Referral Centre (NRC).

On Tuesday 17 October 2023 in Canberra, Michelle Rowland, Minister for Communications, announced Anglicare Victoria as the National Referral Centre to support the rollout of the initiative and assist families in confirming their eligibility for the program which provides 12 months of free nbn. The media announcement of the NRC can be found here https://minister.infrastructure.gov.au/rowland/media-release.

On Tuesday 14 November 2023 Minister Rowland extended this program, announcing that the School Student Broadband Initiative nomination period will remain open until 31 December 2024 with free nbn broadband services for all new and existing families continuing until 31 December 2025. This gives nominating organisations and supporters more time to promote and support families in registering for the SSBI.

Eligibility

To be eligible, a family must have a child living at home that is enrolled in an Australian school, have no active broadband service over the nbn network, and live in a premises where they can access a standard nbn service. Families must not have had an active nbn connection during the previous 14 days.

Families can contact the NRC directly to check their eligibility and be supported to access the one year of free home broadband, rather than relying on being identified by a nominating organisation.

Help spread the word

The SSBI program is primarily intended as an affordability measure to help those with school-aged children who may be experiencing financial hardship. If you know someone who may be eligible for the SSBI, please help us to spread the word and share these three simple steps:

  1. Contact the National Referral Centre on 1800 954 610 (Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm AEDT), or by visiting the website: anglicarevic.org.au/student-internet. Call back and webchat functions are also available via the website.
  2. Eligibility check – the National Referral Centre team will assess the family’s eligibility by checking their residential address and asking some questions to determine if the family meets the Government’s eligibility criteria.
  3. If eligible, a voucher will be issued to be redeemed at any of the participating SSBI retail service providers. The National Referral Centre will also be available to assist with contacting an SSBI service provider of choice or providing follow-up support.

You can find more information about the NRC on Anglicare Victoria’s website available here:  Student Internet Program – Anglicare Victoria

You can also use the following promotional materials to let your networks know about the NRC:

NRC promotional materials: (available via https://www.anglicarevic.org.au/student-internet/ and directly via the links below)

The nbn® Sky Muster® education service

This is a service available to pre-school, primary and secondary students ONLY, who use nbn Sky Muster internet for their distance or home-schooling education.

Use the following links for more information on this service.

Unmetered content for education sites

Some service providers and products offer what’s called “unmetered content”. This refers to content or services whose data usage isn’t counted against your monthly data quota.

For non-Sky Muster services, Telstra provides unmetered access to a range of educational websites when accessed via most of its broadband services. Check with Telstra to find if your service is eligible.

Our page on “Unmetered content” provides a list of education-related pages known to be unmetered at time of writing (April 2021). Please contact us if you know of other pages.

nbn™ Sky Muster™ Plus plans also offer unmetered content.

Resources and more information

Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association

Distance education pages for each state Department of Education (where possible).

nbn blog: Education