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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-11-24 Daily Xml
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KLEMZIG PRIMARY SCHOOL

Mrs GERAGHTY (Torrens) (17:11): I want to talk about a great pleasure I had recently. I attended the celebration of 50 years of education at the Klemzig Primary School. I have to say that the celebration was extremely well attended, even though the day was a bit rainy. We had not only current students and their parents attending but also past teachers, past students and a number of friends of the school.

Klemzig Primary School and the Centre for Hearing Impaired are totally integrated to provide a bilingual, bicultural program where hearing-impaired and deaf students and hearing students all learn Auslan (the Australian sign language) and English. The school also provides an Auslan early learning program, a preschool program for deaf and hearing-impaired children, as well as for children with deaf parents or siblings.

In 1970, the school's first time capsule was unveiled and buried by the then minister for education, the Hon. Hugh Hudson. Thirty years later, in 2000, the time capsule was opened and I had the pleasure of attending that, along with many past students. Quite a number of former teachers gathered with the local school community to share the memories that they had when they filled the time capsule and to share the sense of history the capsule ignited during the opening.

Throughout the seventies and eighties, enrolments gradually declined at Klemzig due to the ageing suburb, and in 2005 I think it had the lowest enrolments recorded, with 165 students at that time. During the past five years, a rapid growth in the school's population has occurred, mainly the result of the urban renewal in the Klemzig area but particularly, I think, due to the outstanding work undertaken by the school's current leadership team in promoting the school. I have to say that Tony Zed, who is the principal, is extremely active in promoting the school. The current enrolments now stand at 279, so I think that speaks for itself.

A new transportable was added in 2008 to accommodate rising student numbers, and it is reassuring to know that the state government's recent budget commitment of $7.1 million through the capital works program will now allow for further expansion, and we are extremely proud of that $7.1 million. The capital works program will provide the school with a purpose-built facility for the bilingual program, which will provide space for integrated deaf and hearing students and an area for the preschool's Auslan early learning program.

Auslan is taught across the whole school community. It is actually a great thing to see the language of the deaf shared by the whole school community. It is wonderful to see hearing and non-hearing children communicating out in the playground. I have a brother-in-law who has been deaf from birth, and I remember the struggles that he had in the early days, so seeing students with a hearing difficulty being able to communicate so ably and integrate with communities is a fantastic thing.

The capital works program will also allow for upgrades to the existing classrooms in the two-storey building, which will create four dual classrooms with space for small community work—so they can do that separately—and the refurbishment of all the boys' and girls' toilets on both floors of the two-storey building. On the issue of school toilets I have to say, if you go to schools a lot, some of them need a bit of attention. It might seem silly to be excited about that, but it is very important. The program will also allow for the provision of rainwater tanks and a solar generation package, which is very important.

At the 50-year commemoration I had the immense pleasure of taking part in the sealing of Klemzig Primary School's second time capsule. I placed the first shovel of cement on top. You can imagine what it will be like in 25 years' time—the excitement—which will be in 2035, if my arithmetic is any good. When the capsule that we had just sealed is unearthed, it will be extremely exciting.

The capsule has all sorts of memorabilia in it, including school uniforms, newsletters, copies of the school magazine and a DVD of each classroom in action. We had a debate about what kind of equipment they will have to be able to read a DVD down the track. I suppose they will be like us looking to play those old cassettes that we used to have. It will be really exciting. I just have to make very special mention of the performance of the junior primary signing choir. They sang to us in sign language. They did a performance. It was such a sweet and memorable performance of the Tutti Ta song. I had never seen—

The Hon. J.D. Hill: Go on, sing it!

Mrs GERAGHTY: Well, you have to act it out, and I am not sure I could do all the actions. It just had this huge assembled audience in fits of laughter, and it was just the most delightful thing. It brought tears to the eye. I thoroughly enjoyed it along with everyone else. I want to commend the primary school. I know that students who currently attend the school just love it. Klemzig will attract, through specialists programs and the new facilities it has, a huge number of students in the future. I want to congratulate everyone. It was a fantastic day, and I certainly hope I am around in the year 2035 when they open the next time capsule.

Ms Bedford interjecting:

Mrs GERAGHTY: My colleague the member for Florey is suggesting that perhaps that might not be the case. She may be right, doing the maths, she says. Well done to everyone; it was a fantastic day.

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