SUPER SCHOOLS

Mr RAU (Enfield) (14:58): My question is to the Minister for Education.

The Hon. I.F. Evans: Are you a member of the Law Society?

Mr RAU: Yes, I certainly am. Can the minister update the house on the progress of the six new schools for northern and western Adelaide?

The Hon. J.D. LOMAX-SMITH (Adelaide—Minister for Education, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (14:59): I thank the member for Enfield for his question. He has certainly shown a keen interest in the new education facilities in his electorate, which will be one of the main beneficiaries of the new work. Last Wednesday, I was delighted to attend one of the schools which is the site of the new development, Blair Athol Primary School.

I have to say this birth to year 7 school will be an astounding development, and really one that is well received by the local community in that it will offer a one-stop shop for young children. The earth-removing works are now well underway, with activity on our sites. It is great to see that the $323 million investment in these schools over the next 30 years is now commencing.

The work is beginning and we will see the first two schools at Playford North and Regency Park set to open in October 2010. This delivers on our commitment to open two schools in 2010, with the remaining four schools in 2011. This 30-year investment is part of a public-private partnership, with our partner being the Pinnacle Education group, which not only will build the facilities but also manage and maintain them over this period, allowing principals and governing councils to focus on education rather than maintenance of buildings. When this period ends the ownership will revert to the government.

The Department of Education and Children's Services, of course, will staff and operate the six schools. This is undoubtedly the most significant building program delivering new schools in the last three decades. We will replace 20 existing schools and preschools with these entirely new developments (being six) across the northern and north-western suburbs. In fact, it is almost three years since this project was announced and discussions begun with those communities to involve them in both the development and the decision about the locations of the schools, as well as the focus on the sorts of educational programs that were important to those school communities.

In those three years the school communities have assembled collectively. They have worked together, they have decided on the sorts of school facilities that will be required and they are only just now working through those other perhaps more complicated issues for some communities, such as the naming of the schools, the uniforms and the details about how they will operate when they begin working.

The need for these new schools was essentially one where the demographics had changed in those areas, with many schools being built for more children than were currently attending schools, and the small number of students meant that it was difficult to provide enough curriculum choices.

These new schools are very exciting—exciting not only for the parents and the children involved but also exciting for the educational input within them. I think that SSOs, teachers, curriculum development and the whole area of the education department involved in their design is innovated and excited by this because we know that this is the future. I commend these schools to members where they are in their electorates, and I hope that we can attend the sites more often to see the progressing works.