Mark Oliphant College

Mr GEE (Napier) (14:57): My question is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. Can the minister advise the house how the Better Schools funding is supporting students at Mark Oliphant College?

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Higher Education and Skills) (14:57): Yes, I am delighted to talk about this. The Gonski funding, as it is colloquially known—it is also known as the Better Schools funding—is about providing the additional funding to make sure that student need is being responded to, and it is why we have committed to the full six years. We are hoping that we might see some shift at the federal level to also commit to years five and six at some stage.

Mark Oliphant College is one of the schools that I think were labelled super schools when they were first built. It caters to about 1,600 students in the northern suburbs of Adelaide. It is a category 1 school, which means that it is the lowest SES category and therefore is responding to amongst the most socioeconomically disadvantaged kids in our state. What we know is that it is absolutely crucial that all kids—category 1 or category 7; all kids—attend school and complete school.

Mark Oliphant has made the decision to spend some of their additional money through the Better Schools funding to employ extra school counsellors to work with students on making sure that they stick at school, that they turn up and that they stay all the way through. So there are additional school counsellors and additional school support officers in order to provide some one-on-one help. They have also been able to use a cap on class sizes from reception to year 9 in order to make sure that attention is being focused on the kids who need the most assistance.

The counsellors work not only with the vulnerable students but also with their families to get them into school and to also help regulate behaviour once they are there. The results that the school is starting to see are that students are showing up to class, but also they are engaged, they are more motivated and they therefore have a higher capacity to learn.

The SSOs that have been employed are providing individualised and targeted support to the students who need it most in the areas of literacy and numeracy, which, as we know, are foundational skills and absolutely essential. I have a quote here from principal Frank Mittiga, who said:

The programs the counsellors and leaders deliver also help senior students stay focused on achieving their SACE or gaining the vocational qualifications which will equip them for jobs or further study.

What he has been able to see in the time this has been running (which is only from 2014) is that, in 2015, Mark Oliphant College achieved a 100 per cent SACE completion rate. That is an extraordinary statistic and an absolute tribute not just to the Better Schools funding that has assisted that but actually to the school and the school community. It is extremely impressive.

The money that is being spent through education is an investment in our next generation, and targeting it to where students have higher needs means that we are going to be much more likely to remedy the social disadvantage and educational disadvantage that exist in some parts of our state and give every kid a fair chance.

The SPEAKER: The member for Elder.

Mr Gardner: Sir, six in a row.

Ms DIGANCE: Thank you, Mr Speaker.

The SPEAKER: The member for Elder will be seated. The opposition received a full half hour of continuous questions on the matter of the royal commission, on the trot, and in response to a small number of Dorothys—government questions, I am very sorry—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: —there were four supplementaries asked by the opposition on those government questions. The member for Elder.