Fisher Electorate Schools

Ms COOK (Fisher) (15:34): Today, I would like to speak about the excellent schools in and around my electorate and thank them for the fantastic role they play in our broader community. I recently hosted principals, educators and members of school governing councils to a morning tea to celebrate World Teachers Day when we reflected on and thanked the motivated passionate teachers in our area and shared our ideas about how the education of our children can be improved and enhanced. I would like to thank those who made it on the day. I am always inspired by your tireless advocacy for the young people of our community.

I recently also attended the Nova and Bendigo Bank Teacher of the Year Awards, which recognise teachers from around the state in a number of categories. Again, it is hard to come away uninspired, as these teachers put their heart and soul into their work. Congratulations to all the winners and the nominees on the night. Last week, it was a pleasure to attend the Woodcroft College valedictory day. I was more than impressed by the speeches of the two school captains, Lachlan and Samantha, which gave great insight into the journey that year 12s have been through to get themselves to that point.

The music on the day was outstanding, as always, and under the direction of Ms Renee McCarthy, or Ms Mac, who has been nominated as a finalist for the inaugural ARIA Music Teacher of the Year Award, it was very special. On hearing about Ms Mac's nomination, I revisited the school to give my congratulations, and I was completely overwhelmed but not surprised by the respect and the appreciation shown to Ms Mac. She is the only South Australian teacher nominated. Please hit up ariamusicteacheraward.com.au to vote for her.

I would like to take this opportunity also to congratulate Woodcroft principal of 25 years, Mr Mark Porter. He is retiring at the end of this year. He has been a dedicated member of the community and shown fantastic leadership since the school was established. Whether it is the Nova and Bendigo Bank Teacher of the Year Awards, the ARIA Music Teacher Awards or just the heartfelt speeches of students, teachers really do an amazing job in our community.

The opportunity for our young people to excel academically runs parallel with the quality of the education they are provided. Developments in technology and the ever-increasing globalisation of industry mean that our children will have to be creative problem solvers as well as knowledgeable in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, otherwise known as STEM. I am proud to be part of a state government that recognises this and is investing in our teachers and our schools.

The investment that this government has made in the area of STEM has been groundbreaking. Schools across the state, including some very lucky schools in my electorate, have benefited from the $250 million investment providing 139 schools with modern STEM facilities to boost the learning potential of our students in these areas. I know that it is not just the actual schools receiving these grants that are going to benefit; it is also schools located adjacent to these other schools that will invite students from around the area to participate in programs within the newly updated schools.

The government acknowledgement of what our kids will face in the future does not stop there. We understand that our students need strategies to become globally competitive in a world where we do not even know what the careers of the future will be. That is why we are investing in opportunities for our public school students to access language learning across all school levels and increase the number of qualified language teachers in our public schools. Language encourages creativity. Our public schools will also benefit from a $3.8 million internationalisation strategy, which helps teachers develop their curriculum and prepare students for an intercultural and international-aware future.

Teachers also need to be looked after. Teachers work extremely hard, and sometimes they are the last people to take time out, a little like some of my friends, the nurses, I think. Last week, the government committed nearly $20 million to teach development and wellbeing programs. I look forward to seeing the results of this. Of course, the government's ongoing commitment to continuously improve the capacity for our kids to flourish has been shown in the groundbreaking Building Better Schools program, which sees $690 million being spent improving and refurbishing 91 public schools around the state.

This brings the total infrastructure investment that the state government has made in education over the past four years to more than $1 billion, and it is because of these investments I am really excited for the future of our students. The other afternoon, I think I high-fived about 200 families about these grants; they are very excited. On that note, good luck all year 12s. Use your swot vac wisely. All the best for your exams and the final weeks of high school. Thank you to the teachers and school communities for the support throughout their education.