SOUTH AUSTRALIAN CERTIFICATE OF EDUCATION MERIT AWARDS

Ms THOMPSON (Reynell) (15:40): My question is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. Will the minister inform the house about today's SACE Merit awards in recognition of our state's highest achieving students?

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI (Hartley—Minister for Education and Child Development) (15:40): I would like to acknowledge the outstanding commitment of the member for Reynell in ensuring that every young person and child in her community has the best start in life. Today I was very pleased to take part in the SACE Merit ceremony, graciously hosted by His Excellency the Governor of South Australia and Mrs Scarce.

The ceremony traditionally celebrates students who achieve outstanding results in their SACE, including the winner of the Tennyson Medal. That went to a delightful young woman by the name of Madeleine Jones, and we congratulate her. I also congratulate each and every one of the 12,311 students who completed the new SACE last year.

Today's ceremony also gives us an opportunity to focus on how we can as a community work towards ensuring that every child has the opportunity to achieve their full potential, just like our SACE Merit award recipients, to give every chance to every child. The new SACE, in my opinion, does this by offering students greater choice and flexibility to study within their areas of interest and chosen pathways.

The class of 2011 represents the highest ever proportion of students who started year 12 and went on to achieve their SACE. That includes an increase in the proportion of year 12 Aboriginal students completing the SACE. For our graduating class of 2011, we are seeing the culmination of a long journey of learning that we hope will continue throughout their lives, but what we must recognise is that in order to have a successful end to that journey it is so important that we focus and invest in a child's early years, because the research tells us that 90 per cent of a child's brain is formed within the first three years of life, and this has an enormous impact on a child's health, wellbeing and education.

The key message from research suggests that early intervention through an integrated response is the way forward. That is why we are firmly committed to our new agency of education and child development. It will give us greater possibilities to start early and bring services together around our children and families.