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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-03-24 Daily Xml
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Northern Adelaide Senior College

Mr ODENWALDER (Little Para) (15:21): I rise today to speak in praise of an outstanding and innovative school in my electorate, which has only recently arrived in my electorate, the Northern Adelaide Senior College. I had the pleasure of visiting it with minister Gago last Monday. I have visited it on several occasions before and also in its previous incarnation as the Para West Adult Campus. Every time I visit there it is a pleasure. It is an exceptional place and I am sure it will continue to thrive under the leadership of Colleen Abbott and her team, who have led it so far in the recent past.

I have followed, and been involved with, the evolution of the Para West Adult Campus, as it used to be called, for a number of years now. Although its original site, which was established in 1989 and grew out of the Elizabeth West High School, was well outside of my electorate (I think in the electorate of Napier), it is an asset to Elizabeth and to the northern suburbs generally and there are very few families out there that it would not have touched. Despite its success in the west, I was supportive from the beginning of its plans to move from Davoren Park to its current site.

In my previous employment with Nick Champion, we helped, in some small way, to facilitate that, but the important changes came in 2013. There were two important events: one, is that the state government announced that it supported the relocation of Para West to co-locate with TAFE at Elizabeth, which is something that Colleen and others have worked very hard towards. In the same year, Colleen herself was reappointed as principal until 2018, which allowed the project some continuity of leadership, and this has really paid off.

Now, of course, the Northern Adelaide Senior College shares a campus with Elizabeth TAFE, which did have some underutilised buildings. The benefits of this merger are, and always were, obvious. If you are a local, if you are a young mum or a retrenched worker, if you dropped out of high school early and now you want to get your SACE, or retrain, or get into university or TAFE, the Northern Adelaide Senior College is there to get people back into education and to, perhaps in some cases, pick up the pieces. That is why its proximity to TAFE is so important. Importantly, they share an admin area, so their counselling and enrolment staff are in very close proximity to each other and they can easily refer students to each other without them having to travel anywhere, whereas in the past it was two bus rides away. So, it allows students to easily combine TAFE and SACE subjects so they can tailor their education and plan their careers while they are completing school.

As well as this relationship with TAFE, the Northern Adelaide Senior College is forging new relationships all over the place. Its location close to the centre of the Elizabeth CBD allows it to easily do this. Probably the biggest example of this in recent times is the relationship it is building with Northern Sound System next door. Northern Sound System came to national prominence last year when the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and the Attorney-General visited Elizabeth. Northern Sound System put on quite a display with the Duke.

The school has developed a good working relationship with Northern Sound System. They have been separated by geography in the past, and although the school has used them for various music classes they really have not been able to take it to the next level. So they have come to an arrangement with the support of the state government and the council, which runs the Northern Sound System, for the ongoing delivery of the school's music programs on the site.

They have brokered a deal—and again principal Colleen Abbott's leadership was pivotal in this—whereby the school would contribute for a major refurbishment of the first floor of the facility in exchange for council granting a long-term lease over the upgraded space to allow the school exclusive use during school hours, with the space being made available for use by the community outside of school hours.

Previously, as I said, the school had a limited music and performing arts program and TAFE itself did not have the existing facilities to accommodate any expansion. So, it was a win-win result for everybody and it was a really good example of community capacity building in the Elizabeth CBD. I think that everyone involved—the school, TAFE, the state government and even the Playford council—rightly deserves recognition.

Under the agreement between the school and the council, the school will have exclusive use of the upper floor of the Northern Sound System, as I said. The council will have priority use on the weekends to give to community youth programs and a management committee, including reps from the council and the school, will be formed to oversee the operation of this upper level.

I cannot speak highly enough of the new facilities at the TAFE site, and I am sure minister Gago will agree. I am looking forward to the official opening very soon and hoping that I can get minister Close to come along to help cut some ribbons.

In the time available to me, I just want to touch on one thing they have: as well as having a state-of-the-art crèche there for enrolled students, they also have, as an example of innovation, a very good and ongoing relationship with the Lyell McEwin Hospital down the road, and an antenatal clinic is actually located on site and staffed by a senior registered midwife, who provides advice and education to new and expectant mums on campus.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Before I call the next member, can I just clarify: did you mean the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall or Cambridge?

Mr ODENWALDER: Did I say Cornwall?

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: You did. You meant Cambridge, did you not?

Mr ODENWALDER: I did get the Attorney-General's title right. Yes, I meant the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I just wanted to clarify that. Thank you very much. Member for Flinders.

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