Don’t you just love the smell of the new?

It’s with no small amount of pride, and to mark Media Literacy Week around the country,  that we are delighted to launch a new look Squiz Kids website and a new-and-improved Newshounds this week. The result of months of planning, testing and hard work.

A huge shout out to my wonderful colleague Christie – whose project management of the overhaul belied an attention to detail that has no equal. Props to you Christie.

The result is a brand new website: cleaner, slicker and oh-so-easy to navigate. And of course a brand new Newshounds.

Exactly how it is new and improved is explaned below.

And why have we made this significant investment? Because Squiz Kids is four years-old now, and it was time we started acting our age. In that time, we’ve grown to become Australia’s premier daily news podcast for kids – a helping of sugar-coated broccoli to kick-start yours and your childrens’ day – piquing curiosity about the world around them, and hopefully sparking conversations.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us on the journey so far. Your passion for what we do is keenly felt, and hugely appreciated. And thank you to the Google News Initiative, who have supported Newshounds from its inception. 

Here’s to writing the next chapter all together!

And as ever, if you like what we do: please tell your friends. It’s the only way we grow and the only way by which we’ll be able to continue to do what we do.

Squiz-E gets a makeover

Since it launched just over 18 months ago, we were always proud of Newshounds, our free classroom resource teaching primary school kids how to spot misinformation when they come across it online.

Media literacy for the next generation – or making our kids critical consumers of information – has become our purpose at Squiz Kids.

And while from its inception, Newshounds has always been true to that purpose, its delivery was never really up to scratch. I always felt like the platform – its user-interface, the website, resources and video assets – were all just a little bit lo-fi. And feedback from teachers only served to underscore that.

So we plonked on the hard-hat and jumped into full renovation mode.

The result is a brand new user interface – slicker and easier for teachers to use in the classroom. Brand new, curriculum-aligned content – including new sessions on AI and influencers. Plus a new-and-improved virtual game board and a whole new set of challenges for kids as they help Squiz-E the Newshound collect items for his Internet Detective’s Kit.

And because primary school teachers are the end-user of this resource, we made sure we road-tested it in classrooms. A great big Squiz Kids shout out to those teachers who were part of the Newshounds Teacher Brains Trust (you know who you are … )

So: whether you’ve stumbled across Newshounds for the first time or whether you’re an old hand: there’s something new for everyone to discover. It’s the perfect end-of-Term-4 activity.

If you’re among the 3,500 primary school teachers who have already signed up, just use your existing log-in to dip back in. Otherwise, sign-up for your free account here.

Why? Well – as that bloke in the new video promo says …”because we owe kids the truth”.

This week on Squiz Kids …

This week’s Squiz Kids Shortcut is on the United Nations – a fascinating, kid-friendly deep-dive on why and when it was created, what it does and how it works. I have a feeling there might be a few adults out there who might learn a thing or two from this one. I know I did. The pod drops on the Squiz Kids feed first thing tomorrow.

And of course, on Friday you can test to see who’s been paying the most attention to the week that just was in our celebrated Kids v Adult Weekly News S’Quiz. Apparently competition on the school run and in classrooms is hotting up …

This week on the (Big) Squiz …

Our big sister podcast The Squiz is teaming with the Media Literacy Week theme this week with the publication on Wednesday of an excellent episode of News Club with Professor Tanya Notley.

When it comes to media literacy in Australia, there are few academics more credentialled. And News Club listeners are about to find out why.

Professor Notley is a big supporter of Newshounds (for which we’re eternally grateful) , and one of the country’s foremost authorities on how and why media literacy education for adults, as well as kids, is sorely lacking in Australia.

She also has a handle on exactly what other countries have been doing in this space – and why Australia needs to pull its socks up .

On our radar …

We’re up to our eyeballs all day, everyday in all things kids and parenting. So when we see an article or come across a topic we think you might be interested in, we’ll post it here.

Anti-Tate courses  … the Victorian government last week announced it would be rolling-out new material in its respectful relationships curriculum – specifically aimed at countering the toxic masculinity pedalled by the likes of Andrew Tate.

Selective school scramble … many education ‘experts’ might not be fans, but it seems parents can’t get enough of selective schools – as witnessed by this story and the number of parents who have appealed the decision when their kids don’t make the cut.

Smile on your dial … 

Forgive me this little moment of parochialism. But as an Honorary Queenslander (you’re never really a Queenslander unless you’ve been born here) – I’ve been so excited to watch this kid conquer the athletics world. His name is Gout Gout, he’s at Ipswich Grammar School and he’s the fastest under 16 year-old in Australian history. Watch him run here. The fact he is the son of South Sudanese refugees and just so incredibly humble only makes his achievements all the more notable.