Our Blog - Primary Ethics

The thriving ethics community of Bondi Beach

Evelyn Levisohn is an ethics volunteer at Bondi Beach – a teacher and team coordinator. She writes here about their thriving ethics community, who help children look beneath the surface and have come together in firm solidarity after the recent tragedy on their doorstep.

Beyond the surface: Surfers, sunshine, run clubs and speedos: these might be the first things you think of when you think of Bondi Beach. It’s a place often associated with the ‘surface’: the tans, the activewear, the perfectly poured Instagrammable matcha latte. [Though tragically, it is also now known for the terrible shootings that took place in December 2025. More on that later.]

Look a little further, past the tourists on the promenade, and you’ll find there is a community engaged in something much deeper. At Bondi Beach Public School, just across the road from the beach, we have a thriving ethics program that is teaching the next generation how to look beneath the surface and question the status quo.

I’ve been part of this organisation for six years now, teaching two classes a week and serving as the ethics coordinator. We currently run 11 classes every week, from Kindergarten to Year 6, powered by a dedicated team of nine volunteers.

PHOTO-2023-09-21-12-06-28 — The Bondi Beach team at the beach, Evelyn on left.

Journey into the ethics classroom: My journey into the classroom actually started at my day job. I’m a Marketing Manager for Studiosity, a purpose-driven edtech company that believes in the power of education to change the world. Because they value social impact, my work is flexible enough to allow me to teach and coordinate each year. In fact, I first heard about Primary Ethics because my boss was a volunteer. Every Wednesday, she would come into the office and regale us with stories about how funny the kids were, how fascinating the topics were and how rewarding and challenging the role was.

It sounded incredible and I signed up to teach at Bondi Beach the year before my eldest son even started there. I still remember the nerves of that first day teaching Kindergarten. They were so sweet and charming, offering unselfconscious answers with brash honesty. But the moment that truly hooked me, the moment I felt that click of satisfaction, was when a child made a logical argument about a story that even I hadn’t considered. Watching a child learn to reason, think and find their own voice is incredibly gratifying.

Becoming a coordinator: Eventually, my passion for the program outweighed my fear of stepping into the team coordinator role. When our previous coordinator moved away, I realised I was too invested to let anyone else take the reins. I cared deeply about the program’s success, especially as we navigated the long road back from the COVID shutdowns. Our school was actually the last in the state to bring scripture and ethics back onsite, only resuming in 2023. During that break, I kept my skills sharp by doing relief teaching at other local schools. When we finally came back onsite, my mission was clear: I wanted to build back a sense of belonging and camaraderie within the team. I started ensuring we had termly coffee catch-ups and end-of-year dinners.

PHOTO-2024-12-20-09-56-39 — The team out for dinner, Evelyn second from left.

Depth and compassion: Today, we have a thriving team from all walks of life, parents and community members alike. Our catch-ups are no longer just an admin checkbox; they are filled with deep personal reflections and philosophical musings. We support each other, as does the whole Bondi Beach community who came together with steadfast compassion when the school had to close for a few days following the shootings, ensuring nobody was feeling alone and the kids had a sense of togetherness and normalcy.

In the darkest of times, our community shone in its solidarity.

Evelyn

The world beyond the beach: Despite recent events, Bondi will always have its sunshine and its tourists, but what happens inside our classrooms is what prepares these kids for the world beyond the beach. Considering what our community has been through, and in an era of AI and global upheaval, these lessons in critical thinking and logical reasoning are what will truly help our children navigate the changing world. We aren’t teaching them to follow a specific set of beliefs; we’re teaching them to think for themselves. And there is nothing more important than that.

Join Evelyn as a volunteer - as a teacher or coordinator >>

PHOTO-2024-06-08-08-57-22 — Celebrating team achievements. Evelyn is centre.

A new leader for Primary Ethics

The appointment of a new Chief Operating Officer for 2026 has been announced by Roger Reidy, Chair of the Primary Ethics Board. “It gives me great pleasure to announce the appointment of Laura Ramos as Primary Ethics’ new Chief Operating Officer. Laura will commence with us on 12 January 2026”, Mr Reidy said.

Laura brings a wealth of not-for-profit executive leadership experience to the organisation, Mr Reidy said. She impressed the Board as the standout person in a recruitment cycle that produced many talented candidates. “Laura will bring leadership, experience, business acumen and people management skills to build on our existing legacy and make our company even stronger,” Mr Reidy said.

“Primary Ethics is continuing to operate in a period of transition towards a potential merger with our parent body, The Ethics Centre”, he continued. Laura will report to the Primary Ethics Board for the foreseeable future, as has retiring CEO Evan Hannah.

Laura’s expertise includes executive roles at the NSW Department of Education, NSW Department of Family and Community Services and Services Australia. In addition, she has led strategy as CEO, Schools Industry Partnership (a youth-focused not-for-profit in Western Sydney) and as CMO at Achieve Australia (a large NDIS provider).

She has also worked in the startup sector developing innovative services to support older women and persons living with cognitive impairment.

Laura’s academic background includes a Master of Business Administration (Executive) from the Australian Graduate School of Management and PhD research in Human Computer Interaction at the University of Technology Sydney.

Originally from Puerto Rico, Laura has called Sydney home since the early 2000s. “My two daughters have positive and lasting memories of the ethics lessons they took in primary school, supported by the dedicated volunteers and exceptional curriculum from Primary Ethics”, Laura said.

Eco-ethics at an urban farm

Primary Ethics has collaborated with Pocket City Farm, in inner-urban Camperdown, to create a half day of education about the ethics of sustainability. The pilot has run on two days this month, with visits from Y3 and Y4 students from Campsie Public School in Sydney’s south.

Sessions for groups of children were run by Farm educators and Primary Ethics teachers. The children learnt about forests, feeding weeds to the chooks and how the web of life keeps us all connected. Then in specially written ethics lessons, they explored protecting their environment.

Both days were very hot but the students were highly engaged – especially in the chookyard!

Danya: Building strong foundations

Danya Webb, with an extensive background in marketing and sales, is the training operations manager for Primary Ethics. Her team delivers all the new teacher training sessions. They also create all the e-learning modules for new teacher/coordinator training, as well as the many short courses and handouts available to volunteers. And they run monthly information webinars and collaborate with Classroom Support colleagues on professional development workshops.

My own journey with Primary Ethics began as a volunteer ethics teacher in 2018 when my younger daughter started kindergarten (her older sister had already been in ethics for a few years). My involvement grew when I took on the additional role of volunteer ethics coordinator at my children’s new school in 2021 to launch their ethics program. We now have a team of 12 ethics teachers at this K-12 school, covering almost all the demand for ethics from K-8. My younger daughter is now in Year 7 and I still teach her Stage 4 ethics class!

The power of the program is personal to me. I’ve seen both my children’s critical thinking and empathetic reasoning skills develop over the years thanks to their involvement in ethics education.

Danya

As training manager, I work with a dedicated team to ensure our volunteer ethics teachers and coordinators are well-prepared for their roles. Our commitment to continuous improvement and a supportive learning environment is at the heart of everything we do.

Our team of 14 trainers deliver regular interactive new teacher training workshops face-to-face in Sydney and Wollongong and online via Zoom. The online option makes our training more accessible to regional volunteers, as well as those who prefer the convenience of training from home or in the evenings.

We train all sorts of people – barristers and psychologists, cleaners and librarians. Regardless of background, everyone is trained in the same way, equipping all with the skills to become capable ethics teachers or coordinators.

We also develop and manage digital learning resources, including:

E-learning modules for new teacher and new coordinator training.
Many short courses and handouts available in our Document Library.
Collaborative professional development.

Learning doesn’t stop after the initial training. We strongly believe that every ethics lesson offers a chance to hone technique. We collaborate closely with the Classroom Support team to offer ongoing professional development, including:

Engage-Reflect-Connect workshops for ethics teachers
Coordinator Essentials workshops for ethics coordinators
Information webinars about ethics for parents and the community.
Commitment to continuous improvement.

To ensure our program remains current and impactful, we also run an annual program review. This evaluation is vital, helping us modify our approach to address any gaps and drive quality improvement.

Our training methodology has evolved significantly over the years — we are now on Version 11 of our new teacher training manual! This is a testament to our focus on integrating feedback, keeping up with best practice in adult learning methodology and adapting to the needs of our volunteers and students.

Check out what we offer in training

The Primary Ethics Volunteer of the Year for 2026

Primary Ethics is delighted to announce our Volunteer of the Year for 2026. The winner is Mike Godfrey, who has been a dedicated volunteer in our classroom support team for 12 years.

This award brings public recognition and appreciation for the often-unsung efforts of our wonderful volunteers, as well as substantial prize money to go to the recipient’s chosen school or schools.

The award honours a volunteer who has:

made a significant contribution to our mission to deliver ethics education to children so that they develop skills in ethical reasoning, critical thinking and respectful discussion
conducted themselves in a manner true to our values of respect, integrity, independence, excellence and teamwork.

With the award we acknowledge team players, good communicators, those who are supportive of other volunteers, reliable and committed to our program of ethics education.

Mike epitomises those qualities.

Mike is an invaluable member of the classroom support team. Across 12 years he has helped countless volunteers improve their skills. He also helps train new classroom support volunteers and is often called on for advice by the manager and members of the team alike.

Mike is always willing to call or visit teachers in need no matter where in Sydney they are located. With his warm, engaging style and depth of knowledge, he creates a supportive environment for teachers to discuss their challenges.

Mike was shortlisted for Volunteer of the Year in 2023 and 2024.

Volunteer feedback received after they had a discussion with Mike: ‘Dear Mike, I am pleased to say that by implementing the tips we discussed my next lesson was a hit … Needless to say I am so happy with how things went and would like to thank you for your kind support.’

A former CST manager says: “Mike has to be recognised for his high-quality service and care to ethics teachers over a significant length of time. He is the sort of person who always went the extra step to ensure teachers were supported and performing in accordance with Primary Ethics standards. Mike has also continued to provide this service with the many changes to curriculum, procedures and leadership of the team. He has played a key role as a senior CST member on many occasions, mentoring new members, living our company values and providing support wherever he was able. It is volunteers like Mike Godfrey who make us what we are at Primary Ethics.”

Congratulations Mike Godfrey!

@Home bulletin Term 4 2025

Welcome to @Home bulletin for Term 4 2025, where we let families know what your children, from kindergarten into secondary school, are exploring in their ethics lessons this term.

Subscribe here to receive our @Home email bulletin once a term.

The topics we show below are based on classes which begin at the beginning of the year. If your child tells you they are discussing a topic you don’t see in this bulletin, you can also look at the Curriculum section of our website.

We hope the students talk about ethics with you at home – ask them questions about it!

Term 4 curriculum selections

Kindergarten: Does telling the truth matter? Children often face tricky moments where honesty and kindness pull in different directions. This term, they’ll hear stories about friends who tell small untruths to spare feelings or avoid trouble and discuss whether it’s ever okay to make something up. They’ll explore why truth-telling matters, how lies can affect friendships and trust and whether it’s possible to be both kind and truthful at the same time.

Stage 1 – Years 1 & 2: Being kind Our Stage 1 students will explore what it really means to be kind. Through stories about Oli and her missing pet bird Tiwi – and other children trying to help in different ways – they’ll reflect on why people act kindly, what it means to understand how others feel and whether helping still counts as kindness if it’s done for the wrong reasons or only because someone told you to.

Stage 2 – Years 3 & 4: Cheating Fair play and honesty take centre stage this term. Students will unpack what it means to cheat – and whether it’s ever acceptable – across settings like backyard games, card matches and online competitions. They’ll consider why people bend the rules, when cheating seems less wrong and whether it’s possible to cheat yourself in a solo game.

Stage 3 – Years 5 & 6: Why should we trust science? Stage 3 students will explore how we decide what to believe and why science deserves our trust. They’ll learn about scientific ideas that changed the way people saw the world – like Galileo’s discovery that the Earth moves around the Sun – and discuss what makes a good scientific explanation. Along the way, they’ll consider how our beliefs about the world can shape our choices and actions.

Stage 4 – Years 7 & 8: The cost of a human life Our high schools will tackle one of the most challenging ethical questions of all – how to weigh the value of a human life when making decisions. They’ll explore why governments sometimes assign a dollar value to life, how those figures influence policies and what happened when these ideas were debated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Students will discuss fairness, dignity and whether every life should be valued equally, while considering whether it’s ever right to reduce human life to numbers.

Each term brings new ideas and questions, we hope these topics spark interesting conversations at home as well!

Find out more about ethics classes

A webinar for Global Ethics Day 2025 – Misinformation & fake news

We celebrated Global Ethics Day 2025, 15 October, with a webinar featuring an ethics class composed of adults (also including one current high school student of ethics) discussing one of our high school lessons – on misinformation and fake news. You can watch the video of the class and discussion below.

The webinar was hosted by journalist Sarah Macdonald. Primary Ethics philosopher-in-residence and curriculum author Kelby Mason facilitated the lesson – an edited version of a lesson that is currently taught in secondary schools by Primary Ethics volunteer teachers. A Q&A followed the lesson.

Our special guest students included Allegra Spender MP (Member for Wentworth), Ed Coper (strategic communications specialist and author of Facts and Other Lies), Primary Ethics volunteer teachers Alexa Stuart (Bob Brown Young Environmentalist of the Year 2024), Winnie Tang (aeronautical engineer), Jean-Paul Leung (ethics team coordinator) and Kevin Farmer (corporate social responsibility consultant), plus current Year 7 ethics student Abby Webb.

Global Ethics Day 2025 webinar

Set aside some time to watch it here – well worth it!

Global Ethics Day 2025 – Spotlight on volunteer Alokita

During this week surrounding Global Ethics Day 2025 (Wednesday 15 October), we are turning the spotlight onto our volunteers to hear about the impact of ethics education in their own lives.

This global celebration highlights ethics as a process for finding solutions in the collaborative and respectful manner often missing in today’s world. It’s about how we learn to live together, respect our differences and together face our major global challenges.

Alokita Shankhar, ethics volunteer northern Sydney for seven years

I started teaching ethics when my daughter began Kindergarten at our local public school at Hornsby. At the time there weren’t enough volunteers, so I decided to train as an ethics teacher and taught my first Year 1 class. Since then, I’ve had the joy of teaching Kindergarten, Year 1, and Year 2 and yes, even the special experience of teaching both my children along the way.

Teaching ethics opens up a window into how children think about the world which is both humbling and enlightening. Hearing their perspectives reminds me to stay curious, patient and open-minded. It has given me so much. In addition to being a weekly circuit breaker to my job, it has helped me grow as a parent and member of the community, reinforcing the importance of listening to understand, not just to respond. And I can also say, there have been many funny and heart-warming moments with the children along the way too, which I also cherish!

Some people say Kindergarten is too early to start ethics, but I have seen firsthand that it’s never too early to nurture curiosity and respectful discussion. At our school, teachers can choose to move up with their cohort and I’ve done that for three years; from Kindergarten through to Year 2. Watching the children develop not only in confidence but also in their ability to listen, question,and consider others’ viewpoints is a benefit of the program.

Ethical decision-making is more important now than ever. The world is changing rapidly and that includes socially, environmentally and technologically, with developments like AI reshaping how we live and work. As technology moves faster than we can sometimes process, helping children develop curiosity, empathy and critical-thinking skills becomes essential. Through ethics, they learn that there is no right answer but that they can get to a good answer by asking thoughtful questions and weighing consequences and then make decisions that consider different perspectives.

Discover the three ethics volunteering options

Global Ethics Day 2025 – Volunteer spotlight on Rita

During this week surrounding Global Ethics Day 2025 (Wednesday 15 October), we are turning the spotlight onto our volunteers to hear about the impact of ethics education in their own lives.

Rita Kusevskis-Hayes, Ethics volunteer beachside Sydney for three years

My first contact with the ethics program was when my son was in primary where they were running the initial trial. I was impressed and hopeful it would be taken up across NSW schools – which it has been!

I have always been the sort of person who thrives on a challenge and I love engaging with people especially in my local community. I have over 30 years in the education and equity sector, have a deep passion for people and innovation and a fascination with how opportunities or problems can be solved creatively – bringing together people, process and technology.

During the past couple of years I’ve been doing contract work so had time available for volunteering. I read a delightful piece on social media calling on volunteers to teach ethics at Maroubra Junction Public School. As the time required each week is not onerous, it has fitted in well with my other commitments. For many years I’ve been involved with higher education and now am thoroughly enjoying working in primary education at my local school.

More about ethics volunteering

I have been teaching Stages 2 and 3 for three years now. I work with an incredible school co-ordinator and amazing students. I have been so impressed with the program that I wanted to share my teaching experience and knowledge further. So two years ago I began volunteering with the dedicated Classroom Support Team, reaching out to support ethics volunteers across NSW as well as running workshops.

Every lesson brings new insights and completely different perspectives from the students. It is exciting as an adult and long term teacher to hear fresh views and reflections from primary children as they develop their views on the world. The structure is perfect for safe discussions, exploring issues with respect whilst building on each other’s ideas. Over the course of the year, and teaching across stages, I’ve observed the students work on their communication skills, especially in evaluating the shared ideas, forming deeper opinions based on evidence.

I strongly value the opportunity to spend time with these enquiring students each week, talking, listening, doing role plays, think-pair-shares and activities. Sometimes they come up with ideas I would never have thought of and often say the funniest, smartest things.

Teaching ethics has reminded me to take time in a busy life to reflect and to listen. Everyone should definitely volunteer to teach ethics at some point, no matter what your background, whether you’re a parent, grandparent, carer or just wanting to give back to your local area, like me.

Am loving the ethics program!