Latest news with #Falkenberg
West Australian
13-05-2025
- General
- West Australian
‘Trending downwards': Shock as school attendance drops below pre-Covid levels
School attendance levels have dipped for another year, with the number of students attending classes falling below pre-Covid-19 levels. Across Australia, the attendance rate for students in primary schools and high schools was 88.3 per cent, a slight dip from the same period the year before. However, attendance levels – the percentage of students with attendance at or above 90 per cent – show a different story. According to the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority ( ACARA ), the 2024 attendance levels of students attending at least 90 per cent of their classes across government, Catholic and independent schools were 59.8 per cent – a sharp decline from the 74.9 per cent attendance levels in 2019. School attendance levels vary in each state, though attendance rates are generally higher in big cities compared with regional areas. There's also a significant gap with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students attending school compared with non-Indigenous students, though these figures have narrowed slightly by 0.7 percentage points. A Department of Education spokesman said the increase in students wagging classes was concerning, and 'every day of school missed is a day of learning lost'. 'Regular school attendance is critical to successful student outcomes and engagement,' they told NewsWire. While the pandemic had a role to play in this figure, they said the 'national school attendance rates have trended downwards over the past decade'. 'The Covid-19 pandemic further exacerbated this trend,' they said, adding 'while national student attendance rates have improved from the lows of the pandemic, they are yet to return to pre-Covid levels'. 'They are not at an all time low,' they said. There were several reasons for the sudden decline in attendance levels, including 'anxiety and worry', Australian Primary Principals Association president Angela Falkenberg told NewsWire. 'Schools look at each student and their family to understand the reasons for non-attendance,' she said, explaining schools will complete 'conversations' with kids and parents to explain their absences. While she said it was 'vital' for schools to work with parents and families to ensure children were in class, Ms Falkenberg admitted that this 'may not always be a reality'. 'Some (truancy) can be due to anxiety and worry which can result in poor sleep,' she said. Another reason why students may not be able to attend school comes down to issues at home, including 'family discord, poor mental health, food and housing insecurity and even transport to school'. 'Some might be due to children's friendship struggles,' they said. 'Schools can work with the child on managing conflict (or) joining in a game.' In April 2024, the Senate Education and Employment References Committee issued an inquiry into the national trend of school refusal and related matters. Following the inquiry, the Department of Education spokesman said the education ministers 'agreed that wellbeing for learning and engagement is one of the priority areas of the agreements, and reforms include initiatives which support student engagement in learning, for example through greater student participation, attendance, inclusion and/or enhanced school-family engagement'.
Forbes
25-03-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Mind The Gap: How Female Invest Is Changing The Narrative On Women And Wealth
Anna-Sophie Hartvigsen (center), Camilla Falkenberg (left), and Emma Due Bitz (right), co-founders ... More of Female Invest In the world of investing, the numbers tell a stark story: while women are just as competent with money as men, they invest significantly less. According to a recent study by Fidelity, only 33% of women see themselves as investors, compared to 67% of men. This disparity results in a gender wealth gap that compounds over time, leaving women with smaller retirement savings and less financial security. Anna-Sophie Hartvigsen, Camilla Falkenberg, and Emma Due Bitz, co-founders of Female Invest, are working to change that. In a recent discussion, they shared insights into why the gender investment gap continues and what can be done to address it. 'We had to learn the hard way that most of the financial advice out there doesn't apply to women,' Falkenberg explains. 'The game is just different for female entrepreneurs and investors because of unconscious bias and structural barriers.' One of the most common financial myths holding women back is that they should prioritize saving over investing. 'Women at every stage of their lives are more likely to be advised to save and be cautious, whereas men are encouraged to take risks and build wealth,' Hartvigsen adds. This risk aversion leads many women to leave their money sitting in low-yield savings accounts instead of putting it to work in the markets. The consequences of this investment gap are far-reaching. Women typically live longer than men, meaning they need even more savings to sustain retirement. However, because they invest less and often earn less due to the gender pay gap, they retire with significantly smaller nest eggs. So, what's the solution? Education, accessibility, and representation. Female Invest, a grassroots initiative, has grown into a global movement that provides financial education tailored specifically for women. Since its inception in 2019, Female Invest has educated over 500,000 women across 125 countries. Following a highly successful European expansion, they are now launching in the U.S., their biggest market yet. 'With nearly 150,000 sign-ups for our first U.S. webinar, the message is clear: American women are ready to take the reins on their financial future,' says Falkenberg. Their platform aims to equip women with the confidence and knowledge to take control of their financial futures. Their approach? Breaking down financial concepts in an engaging way and leveraging social media to make investing feel more accessible. 'We combine education with humor and inspiring role models,' Hartvigsen says. 'It's about making women feel like investing is for them.' They also stress the importance of resilience, particularly for women entrepreneurs seeking funding. 'We stopped counting rejections after 107 'no's,' Falkenberg recalls about their fundraising journey. 'It's tough, but you only need one investor to say yes.' Their persistence has paid off. In July 2024, Female Invest secured $10.2 million in a Series A round led by venture capital funds Educapital and Rubio. Around the same time, they launched a crowdfunding campaign that raised an additional $1 million in just four minutes, breaking records for the fastest fundraising campaign and the highest number of female investors involved (94%). To date, Female Invest has raised a total of $23 million. For women looking to raise funds, the founders offer key advice: understand that the rules are different, build resilience, and seek out investors who align with your mission. 'The only way to be truly free is to be financially independent,' says Due Bitz. 'Women are done being told what to do with their money—we're here to change the narrative.' As Female Invest expands into the U.S. market, its mission remains clear: empower more women to invest and close the financial gender gap. Their message to women? Start now. 'Investing isn't just for the wealthy or the finance-savvy—it's for everyone,' Anna says. 'And the sooner you start, the bigger impact it will have.' The gender investment gap isn't just a women's issue; it's an economic issue. When women invest, they build wealth, gain independence, and create a more balanced financial future for all. And thanks to platforms like Female Invest, more women are taking charge of their financial destinies than ever before. Female Invest has built the world's largest financial education platform targeting women. With paying members in 125 countries, the company is on a mission to close the financial gender gap by educating women on personal finance and investing. Since its inception in 2019, Female Invest has educated 500,000+ women, raised $23 million in funding and written the global bestseller 'Girls Just Wanna Have Funds'. The company has collaborated with women like Deborah Meaden and Sara Davies who have both hosted educational webinars as well as Emma Watson who has praised Female Invest as 'the best source of financial knowledge out there' on her Instagram.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Inside the Secretive World of Elite Private Security
A London billionaire industrialist recently convened a dinner at his mansion. The president of an oil-rich nation was invited, but the biggest surprise the host got was the intrusion into his tony abode of a most unexpected guest: a taster. A taster is the member of a VIP's advance team who is tasked with going into well-appointed kitchens with a chemical kit to detect the presence of poison. The billionaire was somewhat taken aback by the cameo, but he was mortified by what happened next. 'The meal was all Indian dishes, and the live cultures in the yogurt sauces set off the kit's detector for biological agents. The whole banquet had to be scrapped and done over from scratch at the last minute, when everyone was already seated at the table,' said a stunned guest who witnessed the faux pas. 'It's getting Game of Thrones out there.' That's the state of affairs these days among the Gulfstream gentry. In the aftermath of the killing of a titan of industry, Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, no security precaution is too extreme. Christopher Falkenberg, an attorney and former Secret Service special agent who founded Insite Risk Management in 2002, chuckles when he hears the anecdote about the taster. 'Unfortunately, the security industry is somewhat in the fear business,' he says. 'There's a guy named Bruce Schneier who coined the term 'security theater.' It means finding things to do to give the client the impression that they're doing something.' And there's always something to do. Real life attacks on the ruling class—including Donald Trump's campaign season assassination attempts—as well as hit television series such as Black Doves (about high-class killers who look like Keira Knightley) and The Day of the Jackal (which follows an elite assassin who has an Elon Musk–like figure in his crosshairs), have thrown a spotlight on the niche world of executive protection, or EP. But it was Thompson's murder on a busy Manhattan sidewalk in December that swept the chessboard clean. Since then corporate America has been reevaluating security in an era notable for both vast income inequality and an armed populace primed to blame those at the top. 'The development of communications technology has made the threats worse,' Falkenberg says. 'There are social media apps that exacerbate people's sense of grievance and have greatly increased the number of people who are worrisome. But it has also provided us a more routinized and predictable way of identifying those people. So we know they're getting worse, but we also know where they are and can keep an eye on them more efficiently than in the past.' Falkenberg's approach is to identify potential threats before they reach his clients. Part of that work is monitoring online chatter from what he calls 'professional agitators who enjoy collecting injustices on platforms from social media to the dark web.' Healthcare suits are not alone in their C-suite anxiety. Other high-risk fields include residential real estate ('where you're evicting renters'), finance ('where you're foreclosing on people'), commercial real estate ('where you're causing people to file for bankruptcy'), and even the blameless saints of journalism. 'Clients who are in businesses that have a significant negative impact on consumers, those people are really concerned right now,' Falkenberg says. Historically, political figures like presidents, popes, and kings have been seen as the prime targets for kidnapping and assassination. But crimes targeting the families of business executives and other public figures emerged in the West a century ago. That can be attributed both to the shift in power and wealth from state and church entities to the private sector, and also to the arrival of mass media, which literally started printing the names and photos of the new Masters of the Universe, as well as their addresses. The biggest news story of 1932, for example, was the Lindbergh Baby, which followed the kidnapping and murder of the infant son of Charles Lindbergh, the famous aviator, from his home in East Amwell Township, New Jersey. In 1969 criminals abducted and killed a woman who they believed was the wife of Rupert Murdoch. They got the wrong person by mistake, and her remains were never found. And the world was riveted by the 1973 kidnapping in Italy of John Paul Getty III, the 16-year-old grandson of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty. The grisly nature of his abduction—kidnappers sliced off his ear and mailed it to a newspaper—and Grandpa's perceived miserliness over paying the ransom (he would offer only the amount that was tax deductible) turned the five-month ordeal into an international soap opera. With the rise of celebrity culture, entertainers became targets for the first time. In New York, John Lennon's 1980 murder outside the Dakota apartment building on Central Park West became a generation-defining event. And in Los Angeles, 21-year-old television actress Rebecca Schaeffer was fatally shot at her door by a demented fan in 1989. That crime supercharged the private security industry in Hollywood, propelling West Coast protection experts like Gavin de Becker to national prominence. In recent years de Becker has served as head of security for Jeff Bezos, who famously doesn't scrimp on protection. Star Trek Beyond star Chris Pine told reporters that when Bezos shot a cameo in the 2016 film, he arrived with 'like, nine bodyguards and three limos. It was really intense.' Today the mix of high-net-worth clients for a top-tier executive protection firm might include business leaders, families with inherited fortunes, and high-profile entertainment figures. William Wilson Jr., who retired from law enforcement in 2013 as chief of police at the Southampton Town and Southampton Village police departments, runs one such firm, Wilson & Associates Security Consulting, with offices in New York and Florida. 'We live in a world now where there is a definitive need for proactive security measures,' he says. 'Threats can come from anywhere, from corporate espionage to mentally unstable individuals who take up a gun and start looking to do somebody harm.' Buyer, beware: Clients who want premium security can expect a price tag to match. 'I've worked with families that will spend $250,000 a year on protection, and companies that spend $15 million a year,' Wilson says. 'A lot of it has to do with what the CEOs and their families are comfortable with. I know corporate executives who don't go anywhere without an armed protective detail and security drivers, right up to having armored SUVs.' Mogul anxiety may have spiked since Thompson's murder, but it's difficult to pinpoint statistically whether violence targeting executives is on the rise overall, since the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting database doesn't break out high-net-worth America from the rest of the numbers. One thing security experts agree on, however, is that there's no rest for the wicked. 'Twenty years ago you had to spend $7 to buy a copy of Forbes to find out who the richest people are. Today there are many places publishing that information. And many people are intentionally generating animus against powerful, rich people, among those who are not influential and feel as though they've been disempowered,' Falkenberg says. So, what of the rich? Should American oligarchs consider adding tasters to their entourages of lackeys, security chiefs, bodyguards, and armored vehicle drivers? 'If I were bringing a client to the home of a billionaire for dinner,' Falkenberg says, 'I'd be more focused on making sure the staff is washing their hands.' White Glove Protective Services Only $88.49! — When you don't want to die but you're on a budget, Raleigh's ChemSee makes 'the only detection kits for poisons in food validated by the Department of Defense.' Starts at $20,000 — Canada's Garrison Bespoke is the sassy, assassin-proof menswear brand du jour, known for its stylish yet secure bulletproof suits 'comprised of carbon nanotubes.' About $700K — Miami Armored says its 'Rolls-Royce Cullinan is the world's most opulent and secure high-end SUV.' This ride can withstand attacks from 'two DM51 hand grenades' as well as a 308 assault rifle. This story appears in the March 2025 issue of Town & Country, with the headline 'Where's My Bodyguard?.' SUBSCRIBE NOW You Might Also Like 12 Weekend Getaway Spas For Every Type of Occasion 13 Beauty Tools to Up Your At-Home Facial Game
