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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-05-14 Daily Xml
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Parliamentary Committees

Public Works Committee: Salisbury High School Redevelopment

Mr CREGAN (Kavel) (11:01): I move:

That the 54th report of the committee for the Fifty-Fourth Parliament, entitled Salisbury High School Redevelopment, be noted.

Witnesses presented to the Public Works Committee at a hearing on 20 February 2020 regarding the proposed Salisbury High School redevelopment and the scope of works that were contemplated for this project. Mr Speaker, you will know that Salisbury High School is located on Farley Grove at Salisbury North in the district council of Salisbury. The high school was allocated funding of $10 million as part of the Department for Education's capital works program. Those funds have been provided and, by way of this report, those works are proceeding.

With the transition of year 7 students to high school in 2022, the Public Works Committee was advised that there will be an initial projected increase in enrolment numbers at the school. The proposed redevelopment is expected to provide sufficient capacity to accommodate 1,200 students in order to cater for the future transition of that year 7 cohort into the high school in 2022. The redevelopment will consist of a scope of works including the demolition of some existing buildings, new works and the refurbishment of existing facilities.

The department has advised the committee that the key drivers for this project are to provide additional accommodation for that transition, to refurbish existing spaces to support contemporary teaching and learning, to remove ageing infrastructure and to improve street presence and connectivity to the wider school community. Once completed, the redevelopment will provide modern educational teaching spaces and will also importantly meet legislative compliance requirements and deliver the benchmark required accommodation standard for students in a secondary school. The estimated total cost of the redevelopment, as I earlier mentioned, is $10 million. Construction is expected to be completed by October 2021.

The committee examined written and oral evidence in relation to this project and received assurances by the Department for Education and DPTI officials that the appropriate consultation in relation to the project had been undertaken. The committee is satisfied that the proposal has been subject to the appropriate agency consultation and meets the criteria for the examination of projects as described in the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991. Based on the evidence considered and pursuant to section 12C of the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991, the Public Works Committee reports to parliament that it recommends the proposed public works.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON (Ramsay) (11:04): It is with delight that I stand today to support this project. Salisbury High School, located on Farley Grove in Salisbury North, was allocated funding of $10 million under the Building Better Schools program announced in 2017 by the Weatherill Labor government. I spoke to the school about this announcement and they were delighted to be awarded the support for this development.

This announcement was a further investment in the school's development that has been underway over the past 20 years. Today is the final barrier for that project to go ahead. The reason for this project, and why it was identified, had to do with the capacity issues that Salisbury High School is facing. It was focused on the school's priorities, looking at larger school infrastructure that was needed and the spend numbers and need of that school.

Of course, we have had a change of government since that time and this unfunded commitment of transition of year 7s into high school has actually impacted on this project. My concern about this is that it had to be adjusted since that time. We know that the transition of year 7s into high school is by 2022. That has impacted the focus on building better schools. This school is already quite large, with 900 students.

During the transition phase, we expect to see enrolments increase by another 200 students in 2022. In fact, for the first time, Salisbury High School has a waiting list. Last time I spoke, there were at least 70 students waiting to go into Salisbury High School. As the local member, my focus will continue to be on the capacity of Salisbury High School and the need for further investment in the future.

Over the last few years, we have seen a massive increase in population growth in Salisbury and the surrounding areas. We will see that growth continue and the pressure will increase. The redevelopment works at Salisbury High School will aim to provide a flexible and contemporary learning space, with a focus on art, home economics and languages. It includes the refurbishment of building 4 to create a dedicated performing arts studio, two visual arts rooms, two kitchens and two English learning spaces.

Following this, the intention of the school is to construct a new gymnasium with associated physical education laboratories and an adjacent home economics lab, as well as improving the landscaping to various outdoor spaces. With the learning areas being improved to suit a wider capacity of students comes improved learning outcomes. What is noted particularly in Salisbury High School is the very diverse backgrounds of the students. I take the opportunity to note the focus of this school on numeracy and literacy.

They see it as fundamental in years 8 and 9 at the moment and, of course, with the year 7s coming in, to focus very heavily on those students in those years in order for them to achieve their potential. It has been a great focus in the last few years and we have seen some fantastic outcomes. My understanding was that this project was going to be completed in April 2021. It appears that that time line was a bit ambitious and that we will not see this project completed until at least October, as advised by the committee.

When we consider this investment of $10 million, it is an opportunity for us to look at what other investments have been made in the school over the years: the completion of the design technology centre in 2008; the completion of the Performing Arts Centre with dance, drama and musical spaces in a central performance theatre in 2009; and, of course, the $2.5 million redevelopment of additional science labs, outdoor learning spaces and classrooms in 2018, under the former government's STEM investment program. It was a great joy for me to open that STEM facility in 2018.

Salisbury High School's reputation is going from strength to strength. In the last seven years we have achieved 100 per cent SACE completion. Each year, the number of students attaining ATAR scores above 90 is growing, and around 50 per cent of students are accepted into tertiary studies; the remaining are accepted into TAFE, apprenticeships, further learning and employment.

What always impresses me about Salisbury is their incredible focus on supporting the individual learning pathways of students and following those students as they leave school to support them further as they look to the post-secondary careers that they take on. They find that that is a way for them to share understanding about what worked and how they can build confidence in our students as they go out into the future.

As I mentioned, Salisbury High School is the epicentre of a vast, culturally diverse and growing community, and it has endeavoured to not just simply accommodate this diversity but draw strength from it. The school's crest recites 'Always Aspire' and their programs and projects are underpinned by the school motto, 'Pathways to Success'.

It would be remiss of me not to mention some of the other issues that the high school has raised with me and some challenges for the future. Last year, the governing council raised a number of outstanding concerns, including the issue of how much of this $10 million funding was absorbed by fees and the need to replace outdated infrastructure. Rather than building on a greenfield site that enabled them to incorporate all the $10 million, quite a substantial amount of that money—because it was a brownfield site—was put towards cleaning up the facility and making it ready to be built on. That was a concern for the school. It is a 60-year-old school and it needs more upkeep and assistance than some of the newer schools, and they want that attention paid.

Last year, we had a little bit of a run in the media regarding the toilets at Salisbury High School. They remain a top priority, and this has not been facilitated by the funding. I take the opportunity to speak to the Minister for Education (I am sure he is listening) to say: 'Please remember Salisbury and please consider this. I understand that there is development and support now, some money that you are putting out there, and Salisbury still needs the upgrade of those toilets.' Even though they were told that they were getting this upgrade in 2017, Salisbury is concerned that, since this government has come in, there have been two other rounds of funding allocated and Salisbury has not received anything in that time. They are very concerned about the lack of equity in those funding rounds under the Marshall Liberal government.

I welcome the approval of the expenditure by the Public Works Committee, and I would like to put on the record, on behalf of my school community, that still more needs to be done. I was particularly impressed by the presentation given by the principal, Sylvia Groves. She came prepared with a wonderful PowerPoint, as you may recall, Chair. She is very organised, very dedicated and very committed to Salisbury High School. Let me also note Jason Price, who is the capital works project manager. I recognise that this is an exciting time for Salisbury High School. I look forward to being there when this brand-new facility opens up for my electorate.

Mr CREGAN (Kavel) (11:13): I thank the member for Ramsay for her contribution and also her evidence to the committee. I also wish to acknowledge Sylvia Groves, the principal of Salisbury High School, who is a passionate and committed educator; her evidence was also compelling and useful. I recommend the report to the house.

Motion carried.

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