Question Time

Better Schools Funding

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (14:42): My question is to the Minister for Education and Child Development. Can the minister advise the house how the Better Schools funding is helping Wirreanda Secondary School support vulnerable students?

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Higher Education and Skills) (14:42): I thank the member for her question about a school that, of all the schools she likes in her electorate, I'm sure is very near the top. Wirreanda is an extraordinarily good school. I'm yet to visit the campus and I'm looking forward to doing that, but last year I was very impressed to attend an ANZAC Day celebration that they held here in Adelaide where they showed how the students had learned about the individual histories of people who had been associated with the school who had gone to Gallipoli 100 years earlier and, of course, many did not return. It was a very moving but also very impressive experience to be part of.

Of course, the member's question relates specifically to how Gonski or Better Schools funding is being used for the betterment of students at Wirreanda, as it is across the state, but of course, particularly targeted at schools that are managing and teaching children who come from an educationally disadvantaged background. Wirreanda is a category 3 school, unlike the Mark Oliphant school we spoke about yesterday, which is a category 1.

Category 3 is a little higher, but it is, nonetheless, a school that has a reasonable amount of disadvantage to counteract. There is a high proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in the school which is excellent and, of course, it has a significant proportion of socioeconomically disadvantaged groups. The school also has a disability unit, as the member would be aware, which caters for about 20 students and offers flexible learning options (FLO) for 144 of their 850 students.

When the Better Schools funding was made available, the principal went through a process of determining how that school could best spend that money and, similar to the Mark Oliphant school, determined that attendance and completion is crucial. So the funding that they have had, which is something like $300,000 over the past two years, was specifically targeted for attendance and SACE completion, and particularly to allow leadership of the school to work with—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Treasurer, the leader and the deputy leader will be silent. The minister's answer will be heard in silence. The minister is supplying the house with information.

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE: —students on completing their SACE, and also to provide enhanced education plans for Aboriginal students in order to specifically target the support that they need and deserve. The school has seen results already even though it is early days. Over the past year the school has seen a 5 per cent increase in their SACE completion rate which is not insignificant and, importantly, since the program has begun, there has been a 9 per cent increase in the attendance rate of ATSI students, which is absolutely testament to the effort that that school and those students have put in.

Principal Fishpool has said that the school is very pleased with these early results but, of course, it is just the start of ongoing investment. We have committed to years 5 and 6 in South Australia so they are at least confident of that funding but desperately need to know if the federal government is going to step up and continue to fund to need, as we all know is necessary.