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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-09-23 Daily Xml
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REYNELLA PRIMARY SCHOOL

Mr HANNA (Mitchell) (15:35): Parents who attended the Reynella Primary School AGM on 16 September this year received something of a shock. In very diplomatic language, it was conveyed that there was a proposal to withdraw the Instrumental Music Service (IMS) from that school. The Instrumental Music Service basically consists of specialist music teachers who go out and visit particular school sites. Their knowledge and experience goes far beyond what we could reasonably expect of our primary school teachers who are, of course, doing a brilliant job with a whole range of other curriculum activities.

Reynella Primary School has been named as a hub for the delivery of the IMS program. This means that students are invited from other primary schools in the area. In practice, 44 students attending currently at Reynella Primary School are students from the local school and one student is from another school, namely, Reynella South Primary. So, because there is a suggestion that the hub system is not working—I suspect because there is a concern about a lack of students going on to do music at Reynella East High School—a proposal has come from Reynella East Primary and Reynella East High School that the IMS be withdrawn from Reynella Primary and instituted at Reynella East Primary in conjunction with Reynella East High School.

One of the disturbing things about this proposal is the lack of consultation. The proposal has obviously been discussed by those at Reynella East, taken to the relevant managers in the department and worked upon, and only after there was quite a concrete proposal has Reynella Primary School been informed. The governing council at Reynella Primary School has not yet had time to fully react to this, but there is a lot of consternation about what is proposed.

Just to put this in perspective, there is first a question of whether the hub concept is the most appropriate one. I believe that it is possible to deliver the IMS into a range of different schools in an area without further expenditure so long as there is a critical mass. At Reynella Primary, if over 40 students are involved, obviously that warrants getting some specialist music teachers to come out and deliver the service. That should be the case in any primary school where you can get those sorts of numbers.

It is completely unrealistic to expect the primary school students to travel to another primary school in another suburb during the day for delivery of one of their lessons. The minimum travelling time would be 15 minutes—probably closer to half an hour each way. Reynella and Old Reynella are areas where there is a significantly high number of two parents working per family, and it is unrealistic for parents to be ferrying their children around during the day.

In terms of the justification offered for this proposed change—namely, wanting to have a greater number of students going on to study music at Reynella East High School—I point out that the high school is zoned. Indeed, only about 40 per cent of Reynella Primary School students go on to Reynella East High School. One of the reasons for this is that many Reynella Primary School students live outside the Reynella East High School zone anyway. So, even if the music program was relocated to Reynella East and if it was possible to transport students from other primary schools to that site, many of the students would not be eligible to go to Reynella East High School anyway.

It is said that we are just at a consultation stage, so I am voicing my view very strongly that the program must not be withdrawn from Reynella Primary School. If it is not working there, it is not going to work anywhere else. The transport issue is the same there as anywhere else. If there needs to be cooperation with the high school to assist students of the music program and their education there, that can be done without changing hub arrangements.

So, I will be talking to a lot of local parents about their passion for their children to study music, and I will do everything I can to ensure that the Reynella East proposal does not go ahead. I have spoken to the minister informally about it and will continue to do so.

Time expired.

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