Light Electorate Schools

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (15:34): While parliament was not sitting last week, I had the opportunity to visit some schools in my electorate and to catch up with school leaderships and with students to gauge how they are going and to hear about the plans and ambitions of the students at those schools.

The first school I visited was Mark Oliphant College where I met with students from the junior primary and senior years. I spoke to the senior students about their ambitions and what they propose to do next year following their graduation, and I asked them how school was going. I received very positive feedback from the school, and I must confess that the students from Mark Oliphant College looked rather splendid in their school uniform.

I put on the record that I fully support the school leadership, the schoolteachers and the governing council to have a school dress code in place. I think it is important, and I fully support it. Whilst I am not in a position to say what is the right dress code, I do think dress code is important for the area. It is important for schools, and schools are about having pride in your school, pride in yourself and pride in your community. So, I fully support the actions of the governing council and the school leadership team at the school, and I know that the teachers support it as well.

When I was a student some decades ago in the mid-1970s, the school dress code went out of fashion for a period of time, but I was not one of those people who thought it was a great idea. I thought there were a lot of practical reasons why dress code was very good for students, for the school and also for the families. As I said, students at Mark Oliphant had a really positive attitude towards their school and also towards the community at large.

The other school I visited was the Adelaide North Special School, which is adjacent to Mark Oliphant. I would like to put on record my thanks to the school leadership and the governing council at that school who do an enormous job in providing learning and pastoral opportunities for students who are living with a disability. Special schools are for those students who, for whatever reason, cannot attend a mainstream school or even a special education unit in a school. These are students who require additional support, and I really would like to commend the teaching staff and the leadership team for treating these students with great dignity and giving them opportunities to learn with dignity.

I had the opportunity to visit Trinity College, and I met the head of the college, Nick Hately, and the college captains and prefects. I was taken on a tour of the new school pavilion, but I was unable to attend the official opening. Trinity College offers a whole range of programs to students and families in the area and provides wonderful educational opportunities for students who choose to attend that college, including sport, arts, academic and cultural opportunities. The school offers a very broad program to its students, including vocational education, and they do a wonderful job in developing wonderful young graduates.

I also visited the Gawler District College, an R-12 school, and met students in the junior primary and senior years. I also had a discussion about the special focus on STEM subjects at the college, and the school is doing a wonderful job. Since it integrated the preschool, primary school and high school, it has gone gangbusters and now is full to the brim. The school is doing really well in terms of providing public education to students and their families in the area.

I was also fortunate to be invited to the official opening of Playford College, which is just outside my electorate. Some families from within my area would go there. I met the chair of the governing council of this new college and the principal, Rainer Mayer. I must confess that it is a bold and wonderful journey that this new college is undertaking. It is a college in the Muslim faith, in the Shia tradition. What impresses me about this particular school is the lengths it is going to make sure that it is integrating with the local community. At the opening, it was very clear that while it has a Shia tradition (no different from the Catholic tradition or other traditions), it is very keen to make sure it becomes part of the community at large and welcomes students from other faiths as well. I also attended Munno Para school governing council, which I will talk about next time.

Time expired.