Ascot Park Specialist Physical Education and Sport School

Ms DIGANCE (Elder) (15:13): Last Friday, I had the great pleasure to gather with an enthusiastic crowd at the Marion Leisure & Fitness Centre, home of Gymnastics SA. We were all there for the annual special gymnastics assembly performed by Ascot Park Specialist Physical Education and Sport School. The annual display comes to fruition due to the passion and collaborative hard work of Ascot Park Primary School staff and Gymnastics SA staff.

All assemblies are presented by the students of the focus class, with support from their fellow Ascot Park students. Ascot Park is a school of around 130 students situated in the south-western suburbs of Adelaide in the heart of my electorate of Elder. In 1988, there was a decision made to form a gymnastics focus school in a joint venture between the South Australian gymnastics association, the South Australian Sports Institute and the Department for Education, with Ascot Park Primary School selected for the joint venture. This makes the school unique in Australia and, I am told, almost anywhere else in the western world.

Given the need for a gymnastic talent to be developed at a relatively young age, Ascot Park allows primary aged children with special gymnastic talents the opportunity to have the talents nurtured from within the school. As a gymnastic-focused school, Ascot Park has developed a program that ensures that the benefits of this focus flow on to the entire school. The school facilitates what is know as Gym for All, a program supported by Gymnastics SA for all non gymnastic-focused students. In addition, the school facilitates regular Play Gym and Kindergym activities for our local community.

Many schoolchildren throughout Adelaide are screened to identify those special physical attributes that will allow them to achieve at the highest levels of the sport. A small percentage of these children will then be invited into a trial talent squad. This short-term program offers the children an opportunity to try this approach to gymnastics before making any major commitment with a view to eventually being included in the Gym-JETS program. The Gym-JETS program is the Gym Junior Elite Talent Squad.

Gymnasts at primary school age who are selected into the Gym-JETS then have the advantage of attending the Ascot Park Primary School, which supports their training needs via a modified curriculum and transportation support. A normal school day involves morning training, collection from the gym and transport directly to the school by school bus, a carefully structured school day, transport back to the gym and further afternoon training. All students at the school receive a minimum of three morning training sessions each week, with the specific gymnastic students receiving elite coaching of up to 36 hours per week.

Students in the specialist sports program have the opportunity to perform in interschool, state and national competitions as well as opening up pathways into higher sporting and education programs. Last Friday, at this annual assembly, Ascot Park Primary School students performed pirouettes and flipped and tumbled through a spectacle of gymnastics. The audience was taken on a journey of an unfolding story demonstrating how children develop gymnastic skills, perform routines and compete.

Every child of Ascot Park Primary School was involved in the assembly and, impressively, we witnessed the support and teamwork by all the children for each other as they performed, with cohesiveness of the elite class and the general student body very evident. Also, on the day, the audience was treated to displays from Jesse Moore. Currently in year 7 and Gym-JET, Jesse has attained first overall all-around in the national championships 2015.

Over the years, gymnasts training in the Gymnastics SA high performance program have produced outstanding results, and we have seen gymnasts such as: Rebecca Stoyel, who won a gold medal on bars, bronze on vault and was placed second all-round in the 1994 Commonwealth Games; Jacqui Dunn, the 2001 Australian champion; Sam Offord, who competed for Australia in the 2005 and 2006 world championships and successfully won a gold medal at the Delhi Commonwealth Games in 2010; and Nick Matthews, who achieved selection for the Australian gold medal team 2013 at the national championships and was second overall all-around in the 2014 national championships.

I thank the school for inviting me and I applaud their unique program. It is a special school in my area and their point of difference is one I support and will continue to champion to seek longevity of the program giving children of South Australia the opportunity they need to join the ranks of those representing our state in gymnastics.