Public Works Committee: Plympton International College Redevelopment Project

Ms HOOD (Adelaide) (11:11): I move:

That the 137^th report of the committee, entitled Plympton International College Redevelopment Project, be noted.

Located within the City of West Torrens, Plympton International College was established in 1998 through the amalgamation of Plympton High School, Netley Primary School and Camden Primary School. The college was one of the first schools in metropolitan Adelaide to offer a reception to year 12 education at a single site. In 2016, the college became the first Chinese bilingual school in South Australia, teaching half of the Australian curriculum in Mandarin and the other half in English. As of February this year, the school has 822 enrolments out of a current capacity of approximately 900 students. The proposed redevelopment is projected to increase this capacity to 1,200 students.

The project will replace ageing buildings with purpose-built modern facilities consisting of two adjacent single-storey structures that form an educational precinct, integrating both internal and external learning spaces that can support individuals, small groups, classes and combined classes in various configurations. The new building will contain contemporary teaching and learning areas, specialist teaching spaces, library resources, a canteen and amenities for staff and students.

The works will provide learning areas that support contemporary teaching and learning pedagogies, as well as a connected multidisciplinary learning environment that engages all learners with creative, flexible spaces that enhance student engagement and allow collaborative teaching. The works will also include the demolition of aged buildings and the creation of outdoor learning areas and related landscaping.

The redevelopment will be managed and delivered by the Department for Infrastructure and Transport and is expected to cost $14 million, funded through the Department for Education's 2023-24 capital works program. Any change in the recurrent costs of the school's operation will be funded from within the department's existing resources. Construction is anticipated to commence this September with the aim to be complete by September 2026.

The committee examined written and oral evidence in relation to the Plympton International College redevelopment project. Witnesses who appeared before the committee were Libby Sowry, Assistant Director, Capital Programs and Projects, Department for Education; Aislinn Morris, Portfolio Manager, Education Building Projects, Department for Infrastructure and Transport; and Gerald Matthews, Director, Matthews Architects. I thank the witnesses for their time. I would also like to thank the member for Badcoe, who presented to the committee concerning this project in her electorate, for her staunch advocacy for this school.

Based upon 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 proposed public work.

Ms STINSON (Badcoe) (11:14): It is a great pleasure to be able to rise to speak to this report and to voice my support for Plympton International College, which is an outstanding public school in my area.

I am particularly proud of the progress that this school has had over the time that I have been fortunate enough to be the member for Badcoe. At the time that I first stood as a candidate, way back now in 2017, unfortunately parents in the area were coming to me bemoaning that they were zoned for Plympton International College, a very sad thing. They were often requesting recommendation letters from me to get into other public schools and non-government schools. Sadly, when I walked through Plympton International College, the facilities were clearly below the expectations of many parents.

One thing that really stuck with me was the age of the classrooms. Many of them were identical to the style of classrooms that I attended way back in the 1980s. The other thing that struck me was the expanses of really hot concrete, which were not really inviting, especially if you were on a principal's tour and you were considering whether this might be the right place for your child or children. Although I knew, even at that point, that the standard of teaching, the child safety and the curriculum were much better than in decades past, the reputation of the school had not yet caught up with what it was providing and what it was to provide in the coming years.

As a product of the public schooling system myself and a person whose life trajectory has utterly changed through getting a good quality education, it is my firm belief that all families should be able to send their child to their local public school and be absolutely confident that they are getting the best start in life. Your education and chances in life should not depend on your family's bank balance. In the public schooling system in South Australia, we should be striving for all public schools to have excellent reputations and offerings, not just a few marquee schools.

While bricks and mortar are not everything, it has been my view that upgrading facilities, as well as a range of other strategies, has improved Plympton International College's standing and parents' belief and faith in the quality of the school. I have been pleased to see under Labor the delivery of a performing arts centre and a $4 million STEM centre—which I believe is the best in the state—as well as other classroom upgrades. Those were funded under the previous education minister, Susan Close, and we thank her for her early commitment to this school.

In around 2016-17, she was also the driver behind rebranding the school to be known as Plympton International College and making sure that it became South Australia's first Chinese bilingual school, where students learn half the Australian curriculum in Chinese and half in English. If you have not visited Plympton International and seen exactly what they are doing there, especially around languages, I would encourage you to do so. I would be happy to give you a tour myself.

I also had the pleasure to cut the ribbon more recently on the first part of my own 2022 election commitment at the school, along with the now education minister, Blair Boyer. This was a commitment of $3 million, and that $3 million has bought a lot. The school should be commended for the way that it has made that money stretch and the value they have managed to get out of that $3 million. I cut the ribbon on the kiss and drop. The school was rated in the top five most dangerous schools for road safety only a few years ago. I am really pleased that as a government we have now remedied that.

Out of that money they also managed to refurbish 16 classrooms at Plympton International College, and then the remaining money from that $3 million is about to be unveiled with a series of road safety measures around the school, which have been completed in partnership with West Torrens city council, who have been fantastic to work with. Those safety measures are the Errington Street koala crossing, the Myer Avenue footpath upgrades and the nearly completed raised intersection works at Errington and Gardner streets.

Now we are following up those investments with this $14 million upgrade to learning spaces, which I was pleased to present to the Public Works Committee earlier this week. What this money pays for is two new purpose-built buildings, accommodating an extra 250 students. We are talking about expanding the capacity of the school up to 1,200 students, and I will go into more detail about that later.

Those two new buildings include specialist food tech and multimedia spaces, a new library, a canteen and support areas, and outdoor learning spaces. Importantly, it also includes landscaped environments. As I mentioned before, this school has too much concrete, and what we really want to see these days is children having more of a connection with nature, having safe and comfortable, shaded places, especially in our hot summers, and areas where they can congregate that are not all hard surfaces.

The landscaped areas include a central green activity space with pathways and seating, where the old food tech block was; a learning street between the two new buildings, featuring a green corridor with tree arbors and seating platforms; and a specialised bush tucker and Chinese herb garden, which is just going to be amazing. The school has done some interesting things with its outdoor spaces, paying homage to their connection to China and particularly Jinan No. 5 School, including playgrounds, for example, that incorporate Chinese characters. The Chinese herb garden is really going to complement that and is also adjacent to the new food tech building, so perfectly placed.

The specialised bush tucker garden is obviously an opportunity for all students to learn more about our native vegetation, but particularly to learn about Aboriginal culture as well. There are thriving Aboriginal students at Plympton International College and it is lovely to see their culture celebrated as well. There is also a yarning circle for outdoor learning—once again, making sure Aboriginal students have their own spaces and spaces to invite others into—and outdoor seating and garden areas will be west of the new buildings.

The rationale for Plympton International College receiving this investment, aside from its obvious need for greater quality teaching spaces, is simple: the college is approaching capacity. Its capacity is 914 and it is very close to that now. This redevelopment will take a little time to build, but hopefully it will manage to be completed in time before capacity is hit and boost the school's capacity to 1,200 students to meet the growing enrolment needs in our area.

There has been extensive consultation with the school about these upgrades, and I congratulate the department on the work they have done on that front. That has included meeting with governing council several times—I have been really pleased to be there for part of those presentations—as well as, importantly, meeting with the students. The students have had a good hand in understanding what is being proposed and have offered their own suggestions to make sure that these are environments that are suitable for them and that they want to work and socialise in.

I have also conducted my own consultation on these upgrades on several occasions and I am pleased to report that the most recent online consultation that I did with my local community recorded 100 per cent support for the designs that have now been finalised. You do not get 100 per cent support for many things in politics, so it is lovely to see the school community really get behind these upgrades. Over time, we have managed to come up with some plans that everyone is on board with. Thank you very much to the school community for really getting involved in that work.

Without labouring the point, the Liberals did a sum total of absolutely nothing for this school during their time in office—absolutely not a dollar contributed to Plympton International College—and that was at a time when the school was actually even in a Liberal seat. So I am glad that it is now back in my seat of Badcoe, and that I have had the capacity to be able to push hard for election commitments and now for this $14 million investment in the expansion of the school.

I am delighted that Labor are back in and are investing in public schooling, particularly in schools like Plympton International College that really deserve public funding and are making great use of limited funds. Their principal, Amy Whyte, should be congratulated on the management of that and in the process changing the lives of the kids who need it the most in our community.

I would like to thank the school's leadership, particularly principal, Amy Whyte, and the governing council, as well as education ministers past and present, Susan Close and Blair Boyer, for their interest and commitment to Plympton International College. It is delivering results. There is more to achieve at Plympton International College, and I will continue to vehemently pursue the interests of its students, but we are making headway and I am absolutely thrilled to see the Public Works Committee now recommending that this $14 million investment is indeed worth it. I recommend the project to the house.

Motion carried.