Golden Grove High School

Mrs PEARCE (King) (15:30): Last week, I had the pleasure of visiting Golden Grove High School with the Minister for Education. It was an opportunity to meet with students, parents, teachers and school leadership to hear about all the amazing things that are underway at the school. I would like to share just how blown away I was by the considerate and thoughtful feedback that was provided by the students. They are an amazing cohort of students, spanning across years 9 to 12, all with their own individual passions, be it sport, music, the arts, social justice, mental health and wellbeing, just to name a few.

What was great to see was that they all had a very keen focus on doing what they can to support greater learning outcomes and wellbeing, not only for themselves but for their peers as well. It was also great to see that whilst they think about this matter they have come up with different solutions and ideas to help be productive and practical in this space. It was great to see the school not only get behind them on this in implementing some of the suggestions that they have made but also investing time to build up these students in terms of the leadership skills that they have.

We often see school leaders within the community appointed by their peers most often, but to see the extra step being taken to then work with these students and build them up in these particular skill sets is incredibly valuable and commendable to the school community. I certainly look forward to catching up with them again very soon to continue discussions about what we can do together.

It was also great to hear about how well the specialised entry dance program is going at Golden Grove. This year actually marks 30 years of dance at Golden Grove High School, with 1994 seeing the first general and SACE dance classes. It also marks 20 years of their special entry dance intake. With that in mind, I would like to thank Ann Young for all her valuable work that she has undertaken in this space over the years. Ann has just retired after 49 years in public education, first starting out at Modbury South Primary School back in 1975.

She came to Golden Grove High School in 1993 and was the person responsible for starting the dance program. She is the one responsible for teaching and building up a phenomenal local talent in our community, across our state and nationally now as well. She is responsible for individuals such as Hanna Minchin, a dance teacher at Port Lincoln High School, and Maxwell Trengove, a professional dancer and choreographer, doing absolutely amazing things in the UK. Carter Rickard is a professional dancer and choreographer. He actually won the Minister for Arts Award when he was in year 10 and recently won a Green Room Award, which celebrates extraordinary talent, innovation and creativity and is often seen as a beacon for artistic endeavours both in Australia and beyond.

We also have Shenayde Wilkinson-Sarti, who runs the local dance studio, TIDC Performing Arts Studio. She is a professional dancer with the Adelaide Strikers and a choreographer as well and she has won some amazing awards, including Can Dance Australia's adjudicator's choice for 2023. Of course, there is also Miranda Miller, who is a professional dancer who had toured with the Edinburgh Tattoo. I would like to wish Ann all the very best for her next chapter. I am very confident that her legacy will continue to shine through the students that she has inspired over the years.

It would be very fitting now to share with you all that I would like to thank and welcome Alyssa Valentine, who has taken up the position at Golden Grove High School to replace Ann, but, more importantly, Alyssa is actually a graduate herself of the very first specialised class at Golden Grove High School. I am very confident that she will do amazing things and I look forward to visiting and seeing one of their amazing performances again soon.