Parliamentary Committees

Public Works Committee: Adelaide High School Redevelopment

Mr CREGAN (Kavel) (11:01): I move:

That the 88^th report of the committee for the Fifty-Fourth Parliament, entitled Adelaide High School Redevelopment, be noted.

Capital works are required at Adelaide High School to support the transition of year 7 into high school as well as refurbish existing facilities on the school site. When complete, the Adelaide High School redevelopment project is expected to deliver a school enrolment capacity of 1,800 places by 2022. These improvements are also expected to cater for enrolment growth overall, including the transition of year 7 to high school in 2022.

In February 2019, Adelaide High School received $18 million to facilitate moving year 7 to high school, and in May 2020 a further $5 million was approved to bring the total project budget to $23 million. The proposed redevelopment at Adelaide High School includes construction of new works and refurbishment, as I mentioned, to existing facilities on the school site. Specifically, the project will be delivering the construction of new buildings to provide general learning areas, flexible specialist learning areas, teacher preparation areas, storage, amenities, a canteen, a cafe and outdoor learning areas.

The construction of a new storey to an existing building will also form part of the works. An upgraded student courtyard with landscaping and outdoor seating is planned, and general landscaping, including paving, will also be required. The redevelopment works at the Adelaide High School will be staged, with construction expected to be completed by October 2021.

The Public Works Committee has examined written and oral evidence in relation to the Adelaide High School redevelopment project and the committee has been assured by the Department for Education that acquittals have been received from the Department of Treasury and Finance, the Department of the Premier and Cabinet and the Crown Solicitor that works and procedures are lawful. The committee is satisfied that the proposal has been subject to the appropriate agency consultation and meets the criteria for the examination of projects as described in the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991.

Based on the evidence considered, and pursuant to section 12C of the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991, the Public Works Committee reports to parliament that it recommends the scope of the proposed public works.

The Hon. R. SANDERSON (Adelaide—Minister for Child Protection) (11:04): I rise in support of the Public Works Committee report. I welcome the $23 million investment for the expansion of Adelaide High School to allow the year 7s to attend high school. We know that as part of the national curriculum throughout Australia we are the last state to follow, to have year 7 going into high school.

Personally, as a young person born in Melbourne in Victoria, coming to South Australia in year 9 was a great disadvantage because in Victoria year 7 was already part of high school. In any of the subjects where the texts were in form 1, form 2, form 3, I was repeating when I came to South Australia, whereas the subjects that were taught in year levels—years 7, 8 or 9—were equivalent. It was very difficult.

We know that in Australia we have a transient population that does move from state to state. I welcome that for the first time we have net migration into South Australia, which is something to be celebrated. More people are moving to South Australia because of our wonderful handling of the COVID pandemic and the opportunities that exist in our state. However, it has been a long time coming that we should standardise our education system in line with the national curriculum, so that specialist teachers are available in the high school years from year 7, to teach maths and science in particular—but all the subjects are very important.

Adelaide High School is not only a very popular school but a very high performing school, and it is a very highly sought after school to gain access to. I also welcome our government's push—when in opposition as well—for the residents of Prospect to be part of the zone and to have a second high school, which we now have, and a shared zone. It is still incredibly popular, and there are a lot more families moving into the Adelaide electorate and the zones that make up both Botanic High and Adelaide High School.

This will be a wonderful addition. As we have just heard, there will be a new Hive building to provide general learning areas, flexible specialist learning areas, teacher preparation, storage, amenities, canteen, cafe and outdoor learning areas. It is something to be welcomed and applauded, and I am really pleased with this $23 million investment to expand Adelaide High School so that year 7 can start in 2022.

The Hon. D.G. PISONI (Unley—Minister for Innovation and Skills) (11:07): I, too, am very supportive of this report and the outcomes it will deliver for many of the people who live in the seat of Unley. Those who live in the west of the seat of Unley are also in the zone for Adelaide High School. The capacity of Adelaide High School has been a contentious issue for a very long time. When I first became the shadow minister for education (this was back in 2007) immediately my phone started to ring regularly about the capacity of Adelaide High School for people in the then Labor-held seat of Adelaide. Jane Lomax-Smith was the education minister at the time and she was the member for that seat.

The previous government's solution for the people of Prospect, of course, was to build a high school further north, and that was simply unacceptable for the people of Prospect. We went to the election in 2010 with a plan for a second city high school. That gave the people of Prospect an alternative, and it vindicated their concerns because they were able to voice that opinion at the ballot box. It was only then that we saw a shift, with the progress being made for more public education facilities within the CBD.

Adelaide High School, together with Botanic High, has a very wide reach around the inner suburbs, right through from Goodwood and parts of Unley, in my electorate, to the inner north-eastern suburbs. What is also exciting about this project from my point of view, as the Minister for Innovation and Skills, is that for the first time grade 7 will be in high school in South Australia, bringing us in line with the rest of the nation.

What is even more exciting is that it is this year that students will be introduced to options for career pathways, whether that be a pathway through the emerging system or whether that be a pathway that has been ignored for so long under the previous government, and that is pathways through apprenticeships and traineeships through vocational education. Having an early introduction to pathway options for students will help guide them with their education and deliver students in the later part of their high school education the ability to make decisions about which career pathways they would like to take and to be guided by industry input and those who are supporting them in the system as to where the biggest opportunities are.

How often do you meet a year 11 or 12 student who, when you ask them what they are going to be doing after they finish year 12, still has not made a decision? They still do not know what all the options are. They still have not had the chance to seriously consider them. That process will be brought forward now under the scheme that the education minister has pulled together with our pathways program in our high schools.

I am very pleased that the Department for Innovation and Skills has been working very closely with the education minister to ensure that what students are experiencing in school will actually prepare them for the workforce. I am very excited about the growth we have had in school-based apprenticeships since Minister Gardner made changes and reforms in that space and, again, that was listening to industry: what is it that you need to engage in the vocational education sector?

The Department for Education was able to remove some barriers for employers that prevented them from participating. That has seen a dramatic increase—the largest increase in Australia—of school-based apprenticeships. As a matter of fact, in many states, school-based apprenticeships have gone backwards, while ours have been going forward. This is good news for South Australia because we are finally here. We are in the transforming economy.

For about a decade, I can remember Premier Rann and Premier Weatherill telling South Australians that the economy was transforming. Well, it is here now. There are new jobs. There are new skills that are needed, and having a strong vocational education sector that starts with the introduction of opportunities and pathways to students from schools, in which Adelaide High School will play a very strong role as it is such a big school, is very exciting for employers and it is very exciting for parents who have strong aspirations for their children.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Minister for Education) (11:13): I am really pleased to have the opportunity to reflect on the outstanding work that is being done at Adelaide High School. I will not repeat the outstanding contributions of the Chair of the Public Works Committee, the member for Kavel, and the local members for the school, the member for Adelaide and the member for Unley, who undoubtedly through their comments today have reflected their passion for this development and the outstanding work that is able to be done at Adelaide High School.

We know that it is a school with a very strong reputation and a very high level of desirability for students to attend there. Its current enrolments are at 1,464, and we are increasing the capacity of this school to 1,800, alongside the increased capacity that Adelaide Botanic High School has provided in the last couple of years. Those students entered at the beginning of 2019 with years 8 and 9. Last year, it included year 10 and this year 11s as well, and next year will be the first class of year 12s from Adelaide Botanic High School. That reflects the outstanding confidence that people in this area have in their local public high schools. BADGE Constructions is doing very good work to complete a design that was put forward by JPE Design Studio, and I commend them for that.

The $23 million program is about not just increasing capacity but ensuring the school has the relevant specialist learning areas and general learning areas that a school deserves and that the students at this school deserve. I commend the school leadership—Cez Green is a great principal and is very well regarded throughout the system—and the governing council, which of course includes the member for Adelaide, for the work that they have done too, not just as part of this program but throughout the other opportunities they have seized.

The recent redesign and delivery of an absolutely world-class performing arts space for a very modest budget, which the school has been able to fund out of its own resources, was spectacular. It was wonderful to see the engagement from so many people around the Adelaide High School community, and indeed old scholars who have gone on to great things around the world, sending in their good regards to the students at Adelaide High today who are now accessing those facilities. Indeed, we know the STEM programs, the language programs and the VET programs across Adelaide High are outstanding.

Since July 2019, Adelaide High has benefited from the swift internet rollout the government has delivered, taking internet speeds in our schools in South Australia from the slowest on the mainland to the fastest in Australia. That is a very positive outcome for the school as well, which Adelaide High School uses to its fullest capacity in the way they deliver their curriculum.

I commend the school for the work they have done in supervising and managing this project. This project was announced in early 2019 and is fully funded by this government, and we look forward to its delivery before the beginning of term 1 next year. I cannot wait to see the impact it is going to have on the school, making sure these students at Adelaide High get the world-class education facility they deserve.

Mr CREGAN (Kavel) (11:16): I recognise at the outset the member for Adelaide, the minister, for her extraordinary contribution to seeing this project through. She is a powerful advocate for her community and works closely with the school community and the school governing council. It is a significant investment, as I have outlined and the member for Unley has also outlined. Can I emphasise how significant it is that the Minister for Education has carried not only this project through to near completion but also an extraordinary capital works program across our whole state. It is a very significant achievement of this government and I know it is very welcome not just in Adelaide but elsewhere.

Motion carried.