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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-11-01 Daily Xml
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Northern Sound System

Mr ODENWALDER (Little Para) (15:30): Last Friday, I was really pleased to be invited to the official opening of the redeveloped mezzanine of the Northern Sound System in Elizabeth (the Mezz, at it is known) with the Minister for Education (the member for Port Adelaide) and representatives of the City of Playford and the Northern Adelaide Senior College, which has begun a very fruitful relationship with the City of Playford and, in particular, with the Northern Sound System.

I will get to the event itself shortly, but I want to remark that it is testament to the leadership of the Northern Adelaide Senior College, under principal Colleen Abbott, that the event itself brought together many people from all over the north, all of whom have had a stake in the school's success or a direct hand in facilitating that success. Indeed, it was something of a reunion of various leadership figures in Elizabeth over the last several years.

As well as the minister, who I know has been a big supporter of the Northern Adelaide Senior College (as has the Premier, in fact), we were also joined by the members for Light and Napier and my former boss and predecessor, Lea Stevens, and her husband, Mike, were there. As well as being a previous member for Elizabeth and, of course, well known to most of us here, Lea is also, of course, a former principal and a very long-time supporter of the college and its previous incarnation as the Para West Adult Campus. She has played a role behind the scenes in the college's various successes in recent times, and I think her contribution should continue to be acknowledged.

Dr Bev O'Brien was also there. Bev has worked in leadership roles across the north. She is an active Rotarian. She now works for the City of Port Adelaide, I understand, but chaired for a long time the college's governing council and did so over the most transformational period in its history. The mayor was there, of course, as well as representatives of both Playford and Salisbury councils and the Department of Education and the Department of State Development, and there was a room full of local educators, students and former students as well as a representative of the local federal member, Nick Champion.

I have spoken several times in this place about the Northern Adelaide Senior College. It is no exaggeration to say that this is a school that has been transformed over the last five or six years. Under Colleen Abbott's leadership, the college saw a change of physical location from its tired site in Davoren Park, well outside the Elizabeth CBD, to a co-location with Elizabeth TAFE in what is now known at the City of Playford's youth and education precinct. This is important not just because it is a new, refurbished facility but because it is located close to the Elizabeth City Centre as well as to the train station, Playford International College, the TAFE (obviously), St Patrick's Technical College and, importantly, the City of Playford's Northern Sound System, with whom they have built an extremely productive relationship, culminating in the Mezz.

The Northern Sound System, as those of us in the north know all too well, is quite an amazing place. It has been an investment across all levels of government (local, state and federal) at different times and a commitment to local music development, with recording studios, tutelage and video and multimedia production. As an aside, I was at the Northern Sound System a few months ago, with the Premier and minister Maher announcing $100,000 of new funding to support local music in the north.

This co-location leads to obvious synergies, and it is a real model for community school partnerships. It is especially important in places like Elizabeth because it places a very heavy emphasis on early school leavers seeking to re-engage with learning and training. Indeed, the most rewarding part of the event itself was hearing from some of those students—from Josh, Sam, Emily and Leah. Each of these students had their own stories about their alienation from the traditional school system and the role the Northern Adelaide Senior College and its partnership with the Northern Sound System has played.

Each of them is achieving beyond their own expectations of just a few years ago, and each of them has gained skills and self-confidence which would have been difficult to gain in any other environment. The stand-out highlight for most of us (as I am sure the member for Light will attest) was Leah's acoustic cover of Michael Jackson's Billie Jean with her teacher and mentor, Dani. I have posted a video of this performance on my Facebook page. It is well worth a look.

Like Playford International College just down the road, the Northern Adelaide Senior College is an educational success story in Elizabeth, and it is testament to what can be achieved when progressive, driven school leaders reach out to the community and make sure that their schools become a real part of that community.

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