School Closures

Dr CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:19): Will the minister rule out closing Valley View High School and Findon High School?

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Minister for Education) (14:19): I can certainly say that I have no intention of doing so. Yes, I will rule it out. I can't see that happening in this term of government. I would be surprised if it happened in any future term of government. The fact is that Valley View is in an area where the school population is growing. Traditionally, a number of students in that area have gone to Roma Mitchell, but it's a growing school. Roma Mitchell is facing significant capacity pressures at the moment. I would anticipate that the Valley View school population will continue to grow. It's starting off at a significantly higher level.

When the shadow minister was the minister, she put similar expectations on Valley View and Findon as she did on Springbank at the time. But I have every expectation that those schools will meet those expectations that the shadow minister put on them when they were promised their funding commitments. That is not to say that there is not more work that we can do in every one of our schools. We are eager to see all of them improve and enhance the offerings to their students. They are assets in our community and we want our community to have confidence in those schools.

But this is a unique circumstance, and despite the confidence that we have in the teaching and learning at Springbank it is quite apparent that the local community does not share that same confidence. What we need in our public schooling system is a provision for all South Australians where they feel confident, proud and excited about their local public school. If they choose to go to a non-government school, for whatever reason, then that is a choice they are entitled to make, but it shouldn't be because they don't have confidence in their local public school.

Ms Stinson: You're the one who is diminishing the confidence in the school by telling everybody you're going to close it down.

The SPEAKER: The member for Badcoe can leave for 50 minutes under 137A because she has been on two warnings. I have given her a fair go. She keeps interjecting. Member for Morphett, do you have something to say about that? No? Good.

The honourable member for Badcoe having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: I make the point, as I did earlier, that for the entire time that I have been in the ministry for education I have taken every opportunity to talk up what's happening at Springbank. The shadow minister was with me when we launched the school's new name and when we spoke to some of the students about how much they are enjoying their experience. Throughout last year, I spent a lot of time in the media and at public events talking about the great offerings that were there. Not all members of parliament took the same view in their public pronouncements about Springbank.