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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-12-03 Daily Xml
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Salisbury High School

Mrs VLAHOS (Taylor) (15:24): I would like to speak today about two events I recently attended near my electorate. I have spoken before about how my electorate does not have a public high school, so I often attend events in neighbouring electorates. I recently attended two events at Salisbury High School in Salisbury North: the opening of the Confucius classroom on Wednesday 26 November and speech day last Friday. Both events highlight the positive futures that this school is creating for its nearly 800 enrolled students in our local area. I would like to thank Ann Prime, the principal, for her ongoing exemplary leadership, the secretary, Cheryl Birmingham, and the team at Salisbury High School, and the governing council for their excellent leadership.

The opening of the Confucius classroom was a dynamic morning. The member for Little Para and I first became aware of the opportunity to have a Confucius classroom in the north when we were on a study tour in Beijing, China, in 2010. This was coordinated with the University of Adelaide. As I am a Confucius Institute ambassador, it was appropriate that I visit Hanban in Beijing and advocate for Salisbury High School at that time. It was wonderful to see the classroom actually being developed and the student's language capacity being broadened so that they could interact with other cultures, both locally and globally, and have a competitive advantage in today's global import and export-driven markets for employment as northern suburbs adults moving forward from their schooling.

The master of ceremonies on the afternoon I was there was year 10 student Thomas Kong, who also won some academic awards at Friday's presentation. There was a lion dance and drumming, which was fantastically performed and very dynamic. It was almost gymnastic-like, with lions jumping on tables and eating lettuces and doing wonderful, spectacular things in outfits. There was also a presentation by Alex Knoop, Thomas Kong and Miguel Santos, who did some magic on the day in speaking Mandarin. It was a fantastic day. There was also food provided to the guests afterwards and Chinese songs were sung: 'The Jasmine Flower' and 'Sorry, my Chinese is not good' by Teagan Akeroyd, Kyle Finey and Thomas Kong. Finally, a dance group got into a sort of karaoke mood, with Bing Yuan Piao Yi Wu and some year 8, 9 and 10 students leading the Chinese dance.

Friday's presentation is something I have been to a number of times, but I was very pleased to present my Leesa Vlahos Encouragement Award, which I have presented for a number of years to students in the local area. This year it went to Meggan Howell. Also, I presented the stage one and stage two Academic Excellence awards, awarding $25 vouchers to students, which helps them pursue their studies in the forthcoming year. There were many students to whom I presented those awards, but I would just like to read out some names of the exemplary students at Salisbury High School who received an award: biology, for example, went to Britany Hobbs. Child studies went to Louise Marshall; design studies, Nick Farantouris; digital publishing, Nick Couzner; outdoor education, Jae Bain; psychology, Daniel O'Brien; Power Cup, Wayne Milera; and special education—Salisbury High always has a fantastic contribution in this area, with Peter Phan receiving that award this year.

Daniel Clark-Mudge received the English, geography, history and photography prize. Chemistry and physics went to Kate Dalton, and food and hospitality and mathematics went to the magician I spoke of before, Miguel Santos. It was also wonderful to see the stage two students. Particular mention goes to another Kong brother, Albert, who won for chemistry, mathematical studies, physics and specialist mathematics. All praise to the whole team at Salisbury High School. I think you do a wonderful job and I am very proud to see the work that you do in our area.

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