World Teachers' Day

The Hon. S.J.R. PATTERSON (Morphett—Member of the Executive Council, Minister for Trade and Investment) (15:29):

Here in parliament today, I take the opportunity to speak about World Teachers' Day and the fantastic work that some of our educational institutions do not only in South Australia but in my electorate of Morphett. World Teachers' Day was held on Friday 30 October, and it is widely recognised as a day throughout all of Australia when we acknowledge the hard work that teachers do to teach our future generations. In Morphett, I took the opportunity to visit some of our schools and thank them in person.

It has really been a very challenging year for teachers, with COVID impacting heavily on the way we go about life and also the way we go about teaching these students. In March, when COVID hit South Australia, one of the schools in my electorate, Sacred Heart, was the first school in South Australia to have a student affected by COVID. Immediately and with great diligence, they were able to cauterise this. Any children who could have come into contact were sent home, and not only did it close down the middle school in Morphett but also, importantly, it made them think about how they offered a curriculum where students were having to learn from home.

Not only were teachers having to devise a curriculum in person for during the school day but at the same time and in parallel they were having to come up with an online curriculum, fielding questions from parents who were at home looking after their students. It was interesting to hear some parents even commenting to their teachers that they saw them in such a new light and with more respect, even saying that they did not realise that year 6 maths could be so hard.

I commend those teachers. Of course, they were nervous times, but we are thankful here in this state that we were able to keep our students in the classroom; they came back in term 2. I think that has really had a great impact not only on the students' learning, so we thank the teachers for that, but also on the parents, so the parents could be productively employed at their business and again, as I said, not having to help their children with their maths homework.

In Morphett, there are over 15 preschools, primary schools and high schools just within a 15 square kilometre radius. Many of them really are fantastic and I love visiting all of them. One of those schools, St Mary's Memorial in Glenelg, is one of the oldest schools in my electorate. It is over 150 years old, having had its 150^th birthday only last year. They are a growing school, and you often see the children going for beautiful beach walks along Glenelg beach, especially when it is sunny, and passers-by always comment on how well behaved they are.

As I said, the school is 150 years old, and just recently it has increased: it used to be a reception to year 5 school; it has now become a reception to year 6 school to cater for year 7s moving into high school. That has meant that its student body has grown to over 370 students, and that has necessitated an upgrade, so it was fantastic that, coinciding with World Teachers' Day, I was asked to go along to open their new three-storey extension, the St Thomas Aquinas building.

The children certainly love it. The year 6s led the service there, and I should mention Sadie, Gus and Angus. The year 6 choir sang both verses of the Australian national anthem and did so with gusto. I should certainly commend the year 6 teachers, Ms Trimboli and Ms Patterson, who were fantastic. It was also fantastic to see all the teachers, and I think the school really understood the gravity of this day. It was a $5 million upgrade, and I am thankful to say that the state government contributed $1 million to Catholic Education, which in turn saw fit to choose this upgrade of St Mary's.

I commend their principal, Mr Nat Izzo, who has been there since 2005. He has seen this school flourish and grow. It has not only just had the extension of the St Thomas Aquinas building just opened, as I said, on World Teachers' Day, but only a few years ago it saw another extension. Their old Rosary Cottage, which was around from the early days of the school, was upgraded to the staff admin centre and then further student classrooms were put in place.

It was fantastic to be there for their great day. I acknowledge all the teachers for how they went about it. As I said, they all dressed accordingly. I should mention Mr Luke Slattery, who was dressed in his finery. I commend St Mary’s for its fantastic school environment, as we commend all teachers in Morphett and South Australia.