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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-10-14 Daily Xml
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LIGHT ELECTORATE, SCHOOLS

Mr PICCOLO (Light) (15:32): Today, I would like to talk about a couple of schools in my electorate but before I do that I would just like to echo the comments of the member for Bright in terms of her support for teachers and also celebrating World Teachers Day.

During my time in this place I have had the opportunity to bring to the house's attention the centenary of Gawler High School (my old high school) and also the centenary of Evanston Gardens Primary School. Today I would like to talk about two other schools in my electorate which have celebrated milestones this year, namely, Xavier College, the Catholic secondary school in my electorate, which celebrated its 15th year, and Trinity College, an Anglican school which celebrated its 25th year of service to the community in my electorate.

I need to say upfront that, in the time available to me, it is going to be very hard to do justice to the two schools so I do apologise for that. However, I think it is important to mention that Xavier College started as a result of some local Catholic community people expressing a desire to establish a school in the local area because secondary education for Catholic students was not available in the region and most students had to go to either Parafield Gardens or the city.

In August 1993, the report of a local working party was accepted by the Catholic education commission and the Gawler Regional Catholic College was approved and that is why Xavier Day—its birthday—is celebrated in August each year. Commonwealth government funding approval came in March 1994. The first principal of the new college was the late Father Dennis Handley, who he was appointed in 1994. The college opened on Monday 6 February 1995 and, on that day, 83 students made history by being the first year 8 students to attend Xavier College.

The official opening of the college took place on Sunday 28 May on what is now called the Bosco Lawn and at the end of that first year students, parents and staff all attended the very first presentation night at St Peter and St Paul's Catholic Church in honour of St Francis Xavier, after whom the college is named. At the conclusion of the mass, the students were presented with their academic awards and the very first student was awarded the Xavier Medal.

As with any new school, the following four years were full of firsts and new additions and the student population gradually increased to just over 600 by the time the first group of year 12 students graduated four years later. There were a number of highlights, one of which was when a temporary railway station, referred to as the Handley Station, was established near the college to take 800 students to the Jubilee celebration in the city.

The other school, Trinity College, the concept of a small, low-fee Anglican parish school, started as a glint in the eye, if you like, of Father John Kinsman, the then parish priest. After a range of public meetings in 1982, government applications were submitted and the college was opened on 6 February 1984 at St George's Parish Hall. The college moved to its current site at Evanston after one year with 189 students and its inaugural headmaster at that site, Mr Michael Hewitson.

The school has grown from humble beginnings to become one of the biggest schools in the country, and I understand it may be the biggest independent school in Australia. There are over five schools as a part of the group and they offer an R-12 inclusive program, including a preschool program through the Montessori school. Michael Hewitson retired in 2001 after 17 years, and at that stage there were 3,058 students at that school. In 2002, the current principal, Mr Luke Thomson, took over and the school has gone from strength to strength. In 2001 it also opened Starplex, which is the facility funded by the parents and the school community as a sports, arts and recreation centre.

These two schools are part of a number of schools in my electorate, and I must confess that my electorate is well served by education, whether it is primary, secondary, post-secondary, in terms of TAFE, including the tertiary sector.

Time expired.

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