Schools, Year 7 Reform

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (14:55): My question is to the Minister for Education. Can the minister update the house on the Marshall Liberal government's commitment to transition year 7 into high school?

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Minister for Education) (14:55): It is a terrific question from the member for MacKillop, as it gives me an opportunity to talk about the way that the Marshall Liberal government is delivering for the people of South Australia, delivering on our election commitments and actually, most importantly, delivering already a better opportunity for young children in our schooling system, particularly at the three pilot schools, which have now for the last month had year 7s in that high school environment for the first time.

As the member for MacKillop knows, and indeed many members around the house would know, particularly in regional and rural areas, probably just about every member has a school in their electorate where year 7s have potentially for a long time been operating very happily in that high school environment, as indeed the Curriculum is designed—the Australian Curriculum that we signed up to with that year 7-8 high school curriculum.

There are area schools in the member for MacKillop's electorate that we visited quite recently at Meningie and Tintinara where we were able to meet with staff and students. I have met with staff and students at schools around South Australia with many of the members in the house, where year 7s have for many years been operating perfectly well, indeed better than they were in the primary school environment, as well as our area schools, our R-12 schools, the Catholic education system and the majority of our independent schools where this is an available option. It is going well.

What I am even more happy to update the house about is that the three pilot sites are for the first time this year offering year 7. At John Pirie Secondary School, Mitcham Girls High School and Wirreanda Secondary School things are going very well indeed. We know that when the opportunity was made available last year to enrol children in year 7 in these schools for 2020, they were subscribed to capacity.

We have 159 students at Mitcham Girls High School and a cap of 86 students at Wirreanda Secondary School negotiated with the local primary schools. Indeed, what started at a lower number at John Pirie Secondary School I am informed as of this morning by the principal is up to 109 year 7 students at John Pirie Secondary School, because what is happening is that the buzz in the community, and the positive feedback in the community, is so strong that parents are asking the schools whether they can move their students out of primary schools and into the secondary pilot now.

Six students in the first term already have moved from local primary schools to the John Pirie Secondary School, and they are integrating really well. At Wirreanda, it is so popular, and I know that the member for Hurtle Vale will be interested to know, as she is a good supporter of that school. At Wirreanda, there is such confidence in the community that more than 50 families have already registered their current year 6 students to be in the year 7 program at Wirreanda next year. A month into the school year we are already getting those sorts of results, that sort of feedback.

Talking to the principals, they report very high levels of enthusiasm, indeed in some of the things that they weren't even seeing as the drivers behind the move—for example, the enthusiasm with which the school community has received the year 7s, and the positive ways in which the year 7s coming into the school have improved the school cultures in these high schools, and indeed the new ideas, the focus on the middle schooling pedagogian philosophy, or junior secondary, I should say, I think is the terminology we are now using. Having some of those teachers coming into the system has been very positive.

All the schools have had a significant level of interest from local primary teachers and other teachers to come into these new positions. Local primary teachers have done well over the first month in these new roles. Some of them have had new training, new professional development opportunities, certainly earlier inductions in term 4 last year, and they are thriving in this secondary environment, as are the students.

The system will move in 2022 and it will be to the benefit of our students. It would have been better if we had done this years ago, but those opposite refused to do it. We are getting the job done because it is going to help our students be the best they can be for South Australia's future.