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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-05-04 Daily Xml
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School Infrastructure Projects, Kavel Electorate

Mr CREGAN (Kavel) (15:58): My question is to the Minister for Education. Can the minister update the house on how the Marshall government is supporting schools across South Australia but particularly in my community?

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Minister for Education) (15:58): It's a great privilege to be able to share with the house some of the information about the important work underway in supporting school communities in the member for Kavel's electorate, in the Adelaide Hills more broadly and across South Australia as part of a $1.3 billion investment in public school infrastructure—a record investment indeed.

That's alongside investments that this government has made in the non-government sector as well and in the member for Kavel's own electorate. We were there last week as King's Baptist were able to turn the sod on their first movement of soil in the development they are doing in Mount Barker to provide further choice in that community as well. Particularly in the public schooling system, the students, young people and children in Mount Barker and the broader Kavel area in the Adelaide Hills are going to be very much the recipients and beneficiaries of some of the work that's going on.

The member for Kavel and I were greatly appreciative of the principal, Warren Symonds, and his team at Mount Barker High School, who took the time to share with us last week some of the extraordinary growth that is anticipated at that school in the coming years—not just as a result of year 7 coming into high school, but also the population growth as we are seeing in many schools across metropolitan and regional South Australia. We will see growth in the need for public schooling. Currently, the 700 or 800 students at Mount Barker High School will grow to 1,200 students in the next couple of years.

Indeed, the investments of $6 million to start with and then a further $1½ million at Mount Barker High, in addition to their other infrastructure project to also expand the special options offering, is going very well. Construction on the major project is due to be completed by August. A complete renovation of the upstairs and most significant building there, and the realisation of that space for modern learning facilities, 21st century facilities, will rapidly enhance the learning that is able to be done. Teaching can be done in the style to which the curriculum is now supposed to be delivered.

It was also a pleasure with the member for Kavel to see some of the areas that have already been completed and are already in use. Indeed, right around South Australia dozens of the programs within schools, the subprograms—the separable portions, if you like, of programs within schools that are underway—have been completed and are already being enjoyed by those students. The flexible classrooms that were created particularly with an eye to being available for performing arts as part of that program at Mount Barker High really add quite a lot to the built environment at Mount Barker High School and enable the students to achieve that benefit, as well as catering for the expanded capacity that is going to be needed in the future. But there is more.

At Mount Barker Primary School, there is an $11 million project. At Oakbank Area School, we had two grants last year of nearly $700,000 for the bitumen replacement and the roof replacement, alongside a $100,000 grant that came to the school as part of the government's commitment to give every single public school and preschool in this state a maintenance grant last year that they could spend on their local priority projects. So Oakbank Area School did very well out of that. Nairne School and Woodside Primary School also had longstanding maintenance requests, so the bitumen court replacement at Nairne and the gym floor replacement at Woodside were able to benefit.

The member for Kavel will be pleased that the Hahndorf preschool and preschools in Littlehampton, Mount Barker, Nairne, Oakbank, Willow Close and Woodside, alongside the schools of Hahndorf Primary, Littlehampton Primary, Mount Barker High, Mount Barker Primary and Mount Barker South Primary, Nairne School, Oakbank Area School and Woodside Primary School have each and every one received grants between $20,000 and $100,000 last year to support those urgent projects.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Tradies, small businesses, suppliers, small businesses right across Kavel will be the beneficiaries—jobs now and a legacy of improved facilities for the future.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the member for Hurtle Vale, I warn the member for West Torrens for a second time and I call to order the member for Hammond and the member for Kavel.

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