Schools, Year 7 Reform

Dr HARVEY (Newland) (15:05): My question is to the Minister for Education. Can the minister provide an update on how the Marshall Liberal government is building in preparation for year 7 students moving into high school?

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Minister for Education) (15:05): I am very pleased to have this question from the member for Newland and it is a great opportunity to outline how, in the education portfolio, we are building what matters to the people of South Australia.

That means a substantial generational upgrade to more than a hundred schools around South Australia; new schools being built in Aldinga, Angle Vale, Whyalla and, indeed, the regeneration of an old school into a new public high school in the town of Goolwa; a range of upgrades to ageing or dated infrastructure or infrastructure that is no longer fit for purpose and appropriate; and a series of investments to improve the capacity of particular schools, those experiencing population growth and those where capacity is needed for the provision of year 7s to move into high school.

There is a range of schools across South Australia that are benefiting—more than a hundred in the public school system, as I said. It is really important that we think about how year 7 to high school is providing this opportunity. There is an investment of well in advance of $100 million that was particularly announced at the beginning of 2019. That was to support the move of year 7 into high school and address a range of capacity issues that were identified through the planning process for year 7 being moved into high school.

One of the things we discovered was that there was very little demographic advice feeding into school infrastructure builds in South Australia and a need for us to create 20,000 extra places in the high school system in South Australia. I think a touch over half those 20,000 places was specifically in relation to year 7, but about half of it was in relation to population growth and enrolment trends. We have made those necessary investments. It is all part of a $1.3 billion program of investment in our school infrastructure across South Australia and it is going to be seen and welcomed by many communities.

Part of the reason that we are so excited about it now is that it means thousands of jobs, thousands of jobs on building projects that are currently underway. The three new schools that we identified have shovels in the ground, cement being laid and South Australian steel being erected. There is some outstanding work that is proceeding. I was passing the Aldinga school in the member for Mawson's electorate recently and the extraordinary development just in the three or four weeks since the Premier and I last visited was outstanding to see.

It is also going to have massive, lasting implications for our education system in terms of the benefits that come from the year 7s being in high school. This is an instructive note to say that we are the last jurisdiction and the last system even in South Australia to be making the move. That is not the reason we are moving year 7s into high school, as we were often accused of by the opposition when we put forward the policy, but it is instructive that we have made this decision, as has every other jurisdiction and as has every other system in South Australia, because of the benefits it unlocks for our students: that they be able to receive the curriculum in the way that it was designed to be delivered, with special subject teachers and specialist learning environments for the provision of these subjects.

One of the things about the building program is that it is schools like Roma Mitchell College, for example, in the member for Port Adelaide's own electorate, where there is a $15 million build going on. That is not just to create new classrooms for students to fit them there rather than at a primary school down the road: that is to create environments where year 7 students will be able to receive the curriculum in the way it is designed to be taught. That is to deliver specialist learning areas as well as general learning areas—modern facilities, facilities that are designed for these students to get the benefit from the teaching and learning available to them.

At a school like Roma Mitchell College, which is taking leaps and bounds forward, they have just got accreditation to deliver the IB Diploma a year earlier than expected, for example. This new investment of $15 million at Roma Mitchell, $1.3 billion around the state, will unlock that potential. When Roma Mitchell is finished, like so many other schools, at the end of next year for the 2022 school year, I know those students and those families are going to be very excited.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The time for the minister's answer has expired.