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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-11-09 Daily Xml
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WILSON, MR P.

Ms THOMPSON (Reynell) (15:23): I rise today to pay tribute to Paul Wilson, the former principal of Christies Beach High School who has now moved on and to thank him for the contribution he has made to so many young people and families in the south over the 12 years during which he was the principal of Christies Beach High School.

Christies Beach High has the motto 'Education For All'. That means that it has to meet many challenges in ensuring that all students at Christies Beach High have the opportunity to succeed and to complete their education through to year 12. This is quite a challenge in the area because, during the mid 1990s, when the school retention rate plummeted dramatically under the time of the Brown-Olsen governments, Christies Beach High was very badly affected.

The tradition of completing year 12 was very rapidly lost. Students were given the message—through the media led by Messrs Brown and Olsen—that there was no future for anyone but the brightest and most elite of students in South Australia; that the average person could not really look forward to a job. So, students responded to that by being very dispirited and there was a huge drop out of students in years 11 and 12. It is very hard to get the figures accurately, but it seems that only about 50 per cent of students who completed year 8 went through to year 12. The member for Bragg seems to think that this is entertaining or amusing in some way, and certainly her predecessor did nothing to—

Ms CHAPMAN: I rise on a point of order. Not only is the member totally in breach of her new leader's edict about courtesy and not taking cheap shots against other members, but I had not raised any interjection to her speech, in fact I was not even listening to her it was so dull. So, I would ask you to rule that she apologise for that statement.

The SPEAKER: That was not a point of order, member for Bragg. You really need to make a personal explanation in a situation like that. I would ask the member for Reynell to be a little careful in her response to—

Ms THOMPSON: I am perfectly willing to apologise if I misinterpreted the member's loud laughter for derision of the comments I was making about the needs of students at the Christies Beach High School.

Ms CHAPMAN: Point of order. Again, the member is attempting to deride and reflect on another member in relation to a statement attributing my laughter to something that she said. It was completely irrelevant to you.

The SPEAKER: I think we will leave it at that. I actually did not agree with what you said, member for Bragg, about what she responded to, but I understand that you have some concerns. We will leave it at that, and I would ask the member to please complete her comments.

Ms THOMPSON: I certainly will, Madam Speaker. I am not sure what was happening there. The issue is that Paul Wilson had a very large task at Christies Beach High School in building up school retention. Under his leadership, the school has done that in a variety of ways by establishing a range of programs that enable students with different abilities, different interests and different backgrounds to participate in school.

For instance, there are three separate programs that allow for girls who have experienced parenthood fairly early in life to continue their education and have their children cared for as part of the program that is undertaken with a range of community organisations. There is one program that focuses particularly on developing the parenting skills of these young people. There is the Trade Schools for the Future and the Apprenticeship Brokers, which assist young people to prepare for a life in the trades.

There are programs that have outreach to Flinders University which assist students to prepare for life at university. Very few of these students have parents or, indeed, any relatives who have been to university and can see that as a rather daunting challenge. By linking with Flinders University, Christies Beach High School is allowing students to make the most of their abilities and the community to make the most of the skills that these young people bring.

Two notable features that are used by the community are the Yunggullungalla Garden, which is an indigenous medicinal garden. It is a sustainable indigenous garden set in the grounds of Christies Beach High School. The garden features 70 species of native plants significant for their application by Indigenous people for medicinal and cultural purposes.

The community in general is invited to sit back and relax with a picnic, or wander among the trees and shrubs which are a haven for native bird life. They are also invited to have a guided tour by an Indigenous student and learn about the local Indigenous people's culture, beliefs, medicines and foods. This means that the students themselves are learning more about their traditions and also about how to transmit those to members of the community.

The latest stunning development at Christies Beach High School is the Environmental Learning Centre, which was formally opened just recently.

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