Series
State of Our Kids
In this series, The Age is focusing on the wellbeing of 1.69 million Victorians from birth to 24 two years after pandemic lockdowns ended.
The teens are in trouble: How Victorian children are faring after lockdowns
The Age explores what children and young people need to thrive in a post-pandemic world.
- Wendy Tuohy and Madeleine Heffernan
‘Unusual behaviour’: How Victoria’s lockdown babies are filling the gaps
Victorian preschoolers are still feeling some effects of the pandemic years, but experts say they are resilient, and their health, skills and knowledge are on track.
- Madeleine Heffernan
‘A work in progress’: The primary school year hit hardest by lockdowns
Children aged five to 12 are doing well academically, but two years after lockdowns, teachers and parents are helping them learn to interact, work together and be more confident.
- Madeleine Heffernan
Pandemic scramble: Some lockdown teens are still stuck, while others are thriving
Some secondary school students are finding a way ahead in the post-pandemic world, but experts say many teens still feel they’ve been robbed of direction, and are urging parents to engage.
- Wendy Tuohy
The pandemic upended their rite of passage. Now, students are reimagining what it means to be young
Despite mental health challenges since pandemic isolation, Victorians aged 18-24 remain hopeful and are finding new ways of studying and working.
- Wendy Tuohy
Other series
Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2026
This year’s laugh fest has kicked off, with more than 2000 performers stepping up to the mic. Here, our writers take a closer look
- 10 stories
Hate of origin: Inside football’s most intense rivalry
Essendon and Hawthorn have hated each other for more than 40 years, from some old-fashioned thuggery and a fake drug scandal in the mid-80s to last year’s failed bid by the Hawks to poach the Bombers’ captain.
- 5 stories