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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-07-03 Daily Xml
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HAMPSTEAD PRESCHOOL

Mrs GERAGHTY (Torrens) (15:35): Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the opening of Hampstead Primary School's preschool. The establishment of the preschool is a tribute to the persistence and dedication of the school community and, in particular, the school's principal, Angela Falkenberg, who is a truly enthusiastic and dedicated educationalist.

The school council approached me quite early last year, if not before, to enlist my support for a preschool at Hampstead Gardens. Clearly, there was a great need within the Hampstead Gardens/Greenacres community for a centre because of their lack of preschool services and the fact that, over the past three years, 50 per cent of Hampstead primary's reception students had not attended a preschool.

We know that this has serious implications for school readiness in the very young student and can create problems with regular school attendance, reduce the opportunity for access to early intervention programs and often lead to socialisation and self-confidence issues upon transition to school. The high level of students who had not attended a preschool created the need for teachers at Hampstead primary to introduce a curriculum more along the lines of a preschool in order to assist these children to develop the skills required for the beginning of literacy and numeracy learning.

In the past two years, Hampstead primary has been active in seeking to redress this issue within the school community. With no external funding, sadly, the school began a playgroup in 2005, which had an average of 10 children in attendance each week. A target group has been Aboriginal families living within the area, with three families regularly attending. It has been the school's intention to promote preschool education through the playgroup and to connect families with local preschool services; this has had quite some success.

Partnerships were established with the community and government agencies, and such partnerships have included the support of Adelaide Community Health, through a nurse attending the playgroup once each month, and assistance from Family Day Care, through help with the planning of playgroup activities and the identification of resources to support its operation.

The school has funded a school support officer for 2.5 hours per week to provide support for families attending the playgroup. Support has been given by the school chaplain, with information about community services and resources, and an Aboriginal education worker has been provided to connect with indigenous families and promote services. Students from Windsor Gardens Vocational College, who are enrolled in the Community Services pathways, also attend the playgroup. The school also provides resources and leads activities with children, and a parenting nurse from Child and Youth Health's Parenting Centre ran a workshop for families.

These strategies have provided a range of opportunities for local families for the specific needs of the Hampstead community. Hampstead primary covers an area with great socioeconomic disparities, and this is reflected in the number of very young students coming to the school with no prior engagement with the education system.

Hampstead primary has a broad demographic and provides services to many families from Aboriginal, migrant and refugee backgrounds, and these numbers are growing within the school community. The preschool will contribute greatly to the school's ability to service the local community. Hampstead Primary School is an important hub for the local community, and the commitment of its principal, Angela Falkenberg, to the establishment of the preschool has strong community support.

It would be remiss of me not also to thank our DECS Regional Director, Richard Costi, and his team for their support for the centre. I also thank the Minister for Education and Children's Services (Hon. Jane Lomax-Smith) for her support. Whilst the establishment of the centre is on a 12-month trial basis, with 30 enrolments already I have no doubt that the trial is a mere formality.

At the opening of the preschool many people and parents commented on what a wonderful facility it is. On the day the principal said that the effort of establishing a preschool in Hampstead Primary School was a tribute to persistence. Indeed, I think that is the case and I congratulate the whole school community.

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