[12 May 2022]: The Bryan Foundation is proud to join forces with three highly respected philanthropic organisations to support the Thriving Queensland Kids Partnership (TQKP), to focus on bringing communities and workforces closer together to improve health and wellbeing outcomes for children and their families around the state.
Joining the Foundation in announcing their ongoing support for TQKP is Queensland’s largest charitable fund, Hand Heart Pocket Foundation; active supporter of rural and regional youth, The John Villers Trust, together with one of the nation’s largest philanthropic organisations, the Paul Ramsay Foundation.
Thriving Queensland Kids Partnership was formed in 2020 by Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY) to facilitate change by bringing people and knowledge together, to benefit children and young people across Queensland.
TQKP enables ARACY to provide an on-the-ground presence in Queensland with a purpose of contributing to:
The Bryan Foundation Executive Director Matthew Cox said the Foundation was delighted to be working with other leading philanthropic organisations to help make it happen.
“TQKP brings together everyone with an important role to play in improving things for kids in Queensland.”
“We’re looking forward to working with TQKP partners to build a 10- or 20-year program of work that will make lasting changes in communities across the State,” Matthew said.
[4 February 2022]: The Board of The Bryan Foundation and The Bryan Education Foundation are pleased to announce the appointment of widely-respected early childhood and community development champion, Matthew Cox, to the position of Executive Director of both Foundations.
Matthew replaces long-standing Managing Director, Geoff McMahon who has worked with the Bryan Family Group and its associated companies for over 30 years. Geoff will remain a Non-Executive Director of both Foundations to ensure a smooth management transition to Matthew and he will also remain on the Foundation’s Investment Committee.
Chair, Jill Simes said that while Matthew will have big shoes to fill following Geoff handing over the reins, she was confident that he would take both Foundations on their next growth trajectories based on his extensive philanthropic networks and experience in the social change space.
“Matthew’s appointment will broaden our management expertise and we expect this to be particularly beneficial for our most recent core impact initiative, FamilyLinQ – a collaboration between The Bryan Education Foundation and Queensland Government – which is an integrated school-based hubs initiative that connects education, health and community services.
Before joining the Foundations, Matthew was the founding Executive Director of Logan Together – one of Australia’s largest child development programs – responsible for pioneering the use of collective impact approaches to make large-scale community change.
Prior to founding Logan Together, he spent a decade leading the Red Cross’ human services program in Queensland following on from earlier careers in local government and rural and regional industries.
Matthew also serves on the boards of several state and national child development programs and social change initiatives, complementing The Bryan Foundations’ core focus of empowering young Queenslanders through education.
Jill welcomed Matthew to the team and paid tribute to Geoff’s long-standing role with both the Foundations and Bryan Family Group.
“We wish to acknowledge Geoff’s significant contribution and on behalf of the Bryan family, convey our sincere appreciation for his many years of dedication and commitment.
“Geoff has been instrumental in overseeing the growth and strategic direction of both Foundations and we are delighted that he will remain as a Non-Executive Director on the two boards,” Jill added.
Education Minister Grace Grace said the Palaszczuk Government was partnering with The Bryan Foundation to deliver the integrated school-based hub, opening in 2023.
"This is a fantastic announcement for the Kingston State School community, connecting local families with health services and training initiatives for parents," Ms Grace said.
Pictured L to R: attending the milestone announcement on 13 October 2021 were The Bryan Foundation's Managing Director, Geoff McMahon; Member for Woodridge and Queensland Treasurer The Hon. Cameron Dick, MP; and Minister for Education, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Racing, The Hon. Grace Grace, MP.
The COVID-19 pandemic is the greatest health and economic crisis in modern times, which has led to The Bryan Foundation freeing-up additional capital for rapid response funding to support three Queensland-based COVID-19 programs — to help communities at risk, fund vaccine development research and clinical trials.
The Bryan Foundation is supporting the University of Queensland’s (UQ) COVID-19 Vaccine Acceleration Project. UQ is one of four organisations globally selected by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), for funding the development of a COVID-19 vaccine. Phase I clinical trials commenced on July 13, 2020 comprising 120 people in Brisbane. If that trial is successful, Phase 2 clinical trials will commence overseas involving 800 to 1,000 people.
1st photo: University of Queensland's Professor Paul Young with UQ's COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
2nd photo: Jill Simes, The Bryan Foundation's Executive Chair participates in UQ's 'Passing the Hat' COVID-19 ChangeMakers video.
View UQ's COVID-19 ChangeMakers video here
The Bryan Foundation is also supporting Logan Together’s Coronavirus Emergency Fund. Logan Together is providing emergency relief funds and frontline services for individuals and families affected by coronavirus. Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation has also matched The Bryan Foundation’s donation, with the combined funds helping Logan Together to purchase recycled tablets, computers and data packs for families with no data access; together with helping local charities to provide home schooling, physical activity and mental health support services.
Another program The Bryan Foundation is assisting is the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH) Foundation Coronavirus Action Fund that is working with Melbourne’s Doherty Institute on an Australasian COVID-19 Trial known as ASCOT. The ASCOT clinical trial is an adaptive study where different drugs can be trialled as and when required.
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It has been 70 years since Bob Bryan first walked through the front gates of Brisbane Grammar School; with his children and grandchildren also following in his footsteps.
Read about Bob’s journey from his days as a rugby-loving student to his remarkable years in business through to the creation of The Bryan Foundation — a perpetual family legacy and a means of making a difference to the lives of vulnerable young Queenslanders through education. Pictured: Bob with his son Scott Bryan and grandsons Sebastian and Lucas.
Communication, curiosity and conversation are key predictors of young children’s success later in life, according to new best practice resources on early childhood education launched in Brisbane in March 2020.
The Early Childhood Education Toolkit (ECE Toolkit), launched by Social Ventures Australia-backed education not-for-profit, Evidence for Learning, shows that communication and language approaches consistently provide benefits for children between the ages of two and five years old. Oral language acquisition is a predictor of a child’s success in formal classroom settings and life trajectories more broadly.
The ECE Toolkit is an accessible summary of more than 1,700 education research studies, made possible by the assistance of The Bryan Foundation. It provides an example of how philanthropy can ensure funding is invested in approaches that work best for Australian children.
To support the use of communication and language approaches, Evidence for Learning commissioned the University of Queensland to develop tip sheets for educators. They contain three oral language resources, available for free, which are based on a systemic review of current research and provide evidence-informed strategies to support rich conversations with young learners.
The launch event brought together a range of early childhood educators and policy makers from around Queensland to discuss how evidence can help great practice become common practice not just in Queensland, but across Australia.
The Bryan Foundation Executive Chair Jill Simes said the organisation was proud to partner with Evidence for Learning, saying: “The Evidence for Learning early childhood education initiative has the potential to deliver national positive impacts but also has special features to generate high value for early learning throughout Queensland.”
Chair of Evidence for Learning’s Early Childhood Education Expert Reference Council, Professor Karen Thorpe, from The University of Queensland said: “Evidence for Learning’s work in early childhood education supports educators in their everyday decision-making. By collating and analysing the most current evidence, Evidence for Learning mobilises the best knowledge in early learning research for the benefit of educators, children and our nation’s future.”
[26 March 2019]: The Bryan Foundation is proud to announce a new collaboration with Social Ventures Australia (SVA) to launch a ground breaking evidence based toolkit, to ensure Early Childhood Education (ECE) is being spent on programs that actually work and improve ECE practices for children before they start school.
The Bryan Foundation’s Executive Chair, Jill Simes said the new partnership with SVA was one of the most significant and ambitious projects the Foundation has embarked upon to date.
The Foundation’s funding will be used to:
“The E4L ECE program has the potential to deliver great national positive impacts but also has special features to generate high value for early learning throughout Queensland,” Jill said.
“The program will generate evidence to ensure early childhood expenditure is directed towards programs that actually work and the Foundation is extremely proud to partner with SVA.
“SVA’s primary aim with Evidence for Learning is to reduce the impact of social disadvantage on student achievement by supporting teachers and school leaders to adopt and embrace evidence based research, that will achieve better outcomes within the vital early childhood learning sector,” she added.
Evidence for Learning Director Matthew Deeble says: “High-quality early learning has a significant positive effect on a child’s readiness for school, and it has the greatest benefit for those from disadvantaged families. That’s why we’re dedicated to greater evidence directed towards helping early childhood educators. As we did with our work in schools, we will consult widely and involve closely early childhood education research and practice experts as we combine the global knowledge with Australian experience to present clear and useful learning to busy early childhood educators.”
Thirty-five Queensland schools will share in $3.3 million of philanthropic funding and support over three years to help them improve family and community engagement and enrich student learning at their schools.
Education Minister Grace Grace today [8 March 2019] announced 15 projects had received an inaugural Queensland Fair Education Program grant from national education charity, Schools Plus.
“The program provides project funding direct to schools as well as additional support from education experts to coach and mentor the schools to help them deliver their projects,” Ms Grace said.
“Among this year’s successful applicants are projects focusing on parent and student engagement, the early years and kindergarten, Indigenous language and culture, literacy, wellbeing and the transition to high school.
As the lead in a cluster of local schools, Redcliffe State High School was awarded $250,000 over three years to deliver its Respect project.
Redcliffe State High School Principal Shona McKinlay said her school was looking forward to working with the other seven schools in its cluster to promote positive relationships between parents, carers and schools.
“This grant will allow us to employ a social worker to work with parents and carers to promote a more collaborative school community and maximise our students’ learning outcomes,” Ms McKinlay said.
“Over time, this valuable resource will be available for the other schools in our local cluster enabling families and schools to work better together in the best interests of our students.”
Schools Plus CEO Rosemary Conn said the grants would make an immense difference to the successful schools, located throughout Queensland from Mornington Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria to Mossman in the far north, Yelarbon in the south and Cunnamulla in the west.
“Our organisation aims to close the education gap by connecting donors who recognise the value of a great education with the Australian schools that need it most,” Ms Conn said.
“Our unique Fair Education Program is a perfect example of how we work with schools to deliver initiatives that have the greatest impact for students.
“The program has already been very successful in New South Wales so we are pleased to have the support of Tim Fairfax Family Foundation and The Bryan Foundation to bring it to Queensland.”
The $3.3 million program includes project funding of up to $70,000 for individual school projects and up to $250,000 for school cluster projects. A full list of the successful recipients can be found below.
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Caboolture State School
— NGARA (Hello) – Dance and Story Telling
Darling Heights State School
— Community Intensive English and cultural program for LBOTE parents
Toogooloowa School, Ormeau (Independent Schools Queensland)
— LEM Phonic Program
Pumicestone State School
— Step into Prep
Bundaberg State High School cluster (including Norville State School, Walkervale State School, Bundaberg West State School, Branyan Road State School, Avoca State School, Bundaberg Central State School)
— Ignite Family and Community Engagement Initiative
Yelarbon State School
— Supporting children and empowering families to transition to school through engagement in kindergarten in our rural community
Redcliffe State High School cluster (includes Scarborough State School, Hercules Road State School, Clontarf Beach State School, Humpybong State School, Deception Bay State High School, Deception Bay State School, Deception Bay North State School)
— Respect Project
Loganlea State High School
— Uplift Logan – Raising the Profile of Logan Youth
Raceview State School
— Character Matters
Mornington Island State School
— Engaging parents/carers in the teaching of reading – building partnerships, adult learning and literacy, the local reading intervention team at MISS, and future employment capacity
Ravenshoe State High School
— Whatever It Takes: A program to improve learning outcomes by engaging students, their families and the wider community in tailored, flexible learning pathways
Mossman State School
— Indigenous Language Project
Marsden State High School cluster (includes Marsden State School, Burrowes State School, Crestmead State School, Waterford West State School)
— A community of exceptional learners
Kawungan State School
— RISE (Respect, Inspire, Support, Engage
Cunnamulla P-12 State School cluster (includes Sacred Heart Primary School, Eulo State School)
— Keeping early years in the spotlight (K.E.Y.S.)
The Bryan Foundation is delighted to announce Irish PhD student Robert Emo is the inaugural recipient of the WH (Walter Heywood) Bryan PhD Scholarship in Queensland Earth Sciences who will carry out his doctorate at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT).
A special presentation was held at Old Government House within the grounds of QUT’s Gardens Point campus on Tuesday 20 November, to celebrate and welcome Robert on his exciting new endeavour.
The Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation (ALNF) was founded in 1999 by speech-language pathologist, Mary-Ruth Mendel and businesswoman Kim Kelly, to help people in Australia’s most marginalised communities to gain literacy skills.
ALNF has identified a critical gap in service delivery for children and families to meet vital early learning needs, particularly for vulnerable children, many of whom experience language and literacy delays as a result of socio-economic disadvantage.
The lack of access to and participation in quality early childhood education results in a significant ‘school readiness gap’ and research shows that this gap continues to widen if developmental vulnerabilities are not addressed in the before-school years, and supported during the transition into school.
The Bryan Foundation’s executive chair, Jill Simes said vulnerable young children demonstrate specific needs in areas of language and literacy development and require targeted support in fostering vital pre-literacy skills, including phonemic awareness, oral language development, vocabulary knowledge, emergent writing, print awareness and early comprehension skills.
"It was ALNF’s innovative ‘Early Language & Literacy program’ (EL&L) that struck a chord with the Foundation and its particular relevance to our recently established partnership with Logan Together, targeting early childhood years,” Jill said.
“ALNF’s EL&L program adopts an approach that incorporates a unique strategy of combined speech pathology and early childhood education that focuses on strengthening foundational language, communication and early literacy skills.
“EL&L’s coordinated, whole-of-community approach is consistent with objectives being set in the Logan area and particularly those being set through the ‘Early Years Neighbourhood Networks’ initiative coordinated by Logan Together, in partnership with the Queensland Department of Education and Training, which is also supported by The Bryan Foundation,” Jill added.
“The program seeks to work collaboratively across community, in prior-to-school and school settings, to implement an initiative that is designed to enhance the pre-literacy skill development of children in a developmentally appropriate time frame. Through this additional instruction, children will be better equipped to take advantage of literacy instruction in school.
“The principal aim for the Early Language & Literacy program is to close the gap so all children are ready to commence school and are ready to learn, regardless of socio-economic status…and it is this philosophy that mirrors that of the Foundation’s,” Jill concluded.