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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-09-24 Daily Xml
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Public Works Committee: Charles Campbell College Redevelopment

Mr CREGAN (Kavel) (11:14): I move:

That the 67th report of the committee for the Fifty-Fourth Parliament, entitled Charles Campbell College Redevelopment Project, be noted.

Charles Campbell College is a reception to year 12 school located in Paradise. The college was allocated funding of $11 million as part of the Department for Education's capital works program. Other members will appreciate that the key features of the redevelopment at Charles Campbell College included refurbishment to the school's performing arts building and refurbishment works to the junior school to create larger and more flexible learning spaces.

The project also involved a new build and refurbishment to the senior school, as well as the removal of aged infrastructure at the school site. When complete, the redevelopment project will provide a total school enrolment capacity of 1,600 places across two campuses on the school site by 2022. Construction is expected to be complete by October 2021.

The committee examined written evidence from the Department for Education in relation to the project and that evidence advised that the project proposal had been subject to the appropriate agency consultation. The committee is satisfied that the proposal 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 scope of the proposed public works.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services) (11:16): I rise to speak, albeit very briefly, in regard to the Charles Campbell College redevelopment project.

Firstly, I outline that I have been the local member for this area for a fair period of time. I have also been on the governing council of Charles Campbell College for some time now and it has been a very enjoyable role. I want to take this opportunity to thank the very hardworking staff at Charles Campbell College for the good work they do and also the students who, every time you go to the school, greet you in a very warm fashion. I have been the recipient of some very positive treatment there in my time as the member for Hartley.

I have been fortunate enough to have watched various performances, whether it be a play, a musical performance or a performing arts performance. What you have at Charles Campbell College is an excellent showcase in the performing arts area of the curriculum. They are also doing fantastic work not only in what was the old VET space but also in the sporting area. There are some exceptional academic results coming out of Charles Campbell College as well as superb co-curricula possibilities.

As we have heard, the college is located on Campbell Road, Paradise, in the Campbelltown City Council area, which currently is in my seat of Hartley. I note that the college was allocated about $11 million as part of the Department for Education's capital works program, which was announced in October 2017. The Minister for Education and I—I am sure the Minister for Education will allude to this—were recently fortunate enough to have a short tour of the project.

Part of stage 1 involved, I understand, demolition of building 15 and refurbishment of building 16; there will also be refurbishment of the performing arts building 3, including a new entry foyer; refurbishment of building 2, the ground floor, including a seismic upgrade; and also, as part of stage 2, refurbishment of building 2's first and second floors.

I am very proud of the school and of what it has been able to achieve with, you could say, certain aspects of the buildings that are probably due for an upgrade. They are getting that upgrade, so it is an exceptional facility, but it is going to be even further enhanced by these upgrades.

Specifically, the development project will include, as I said, upgrades to key areas. I am sure the Minister for Education will talk to this, but they will bring contemporary learning areas that support 21st century learning pedagogy into the school. They will also build on the creative and flexible learning spaces to enhance student engagement and allow collaborative teaching practices and new efficient facilities on the school site that will replace the ageing buildings.

We are hoping for these works to be completed in late 2021. I look forward to cutting the ribbon with the very hardworking Minister for Education. I thank the teachers, parents and students for making Charles Campbell College the great college it is.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Minister for Education) (11:20): I am really pleased to be able to talk about Charles Campbell College today. It is a very special learning institution and I commend the Public Works Committee for being able to so expeditiously pass through the consideration of this project so that work can get underway.

Recently, it was a great pleasure to visit Charles Campbell College with my colleague the member for Hartley and spend some time talking with the school leadership—Kevin O'Neil and his team, and Georgie Warren, representing the governing council—and some of the workers from Partek Construction, who are really enjoying being on that campus and improving the facilities.

Charles Campbell College has a proud and reasonably long history of educational achievement for students living in the eastern suburbs. It is zoned for parts of my electorate, including Athelstone and parts of Rostrevor, and a number of students from Highbury go to Charles Campbell College. I am sure that the member for Hartley's electorate, in which lies the other half of the school zone, are equally proud of the work that Charles Campbell has done over many years.

In the past decade, Charles Campbell merged with Campbelltown Primary School, which was the neighbouring primary school just across the road. There have been some development works as a result of that voluntary amalgamation during the past term of government. I place on the record my gratitude to the former government for the voluntary amalgamation program. It was a very good piece of public policy, encouraging those schools that have a complementary catchment the opportunity to increase the value of what they are able to deliver through the savings that the amalgamation proceeds.

That amalgamation process has gone very well over the past five or six years. I remember talking to the first group of year 12s who were under the new Charles Campbell College banner. I remember talking to the first group of year 12s who had gone through the whole senior school at Charles Campbell College. It is a proud tradition that is now being developed in the next stage of Charles Campbell College as it goes through that R-12 process.

As part of that, it is one of the schools in South Australia that already has year 7s in high school. Those students are part of the senior school campus and are doing tremendously well. Part of the build reflected in this Public Works Committee report is in the old Campbelltown Primary School site, the R-6 part of the school. The collaborative learning areas and open spaces that are being created in some of those old buildings will dramatically improve the amenity of that site and enable the flexible learning spaces to be deployed very effectively for students in the primary school part of Charles Campbell College.

The most dramatic transformation, however, in Charles Campbell College will be on the senior school site. The other improvements to the senior school site in recent years included the improved administration facilities, particularly in that main building, which occurred at the time of the amalgamation with Campbelltown Primary School. There is also a trade training centre and the work that is done there is outstanding.

Students from right around the eastern suburbs, including from the private school system, the Catholic school system and other public schools, come to Charles Campbell College to work in their auto workshop or their other trade training centre operations. TAFE SA runs courses in the construction field and operates out of Charles Campbell College, and it is available for students across the eastern suburbs. This means students can access these pathways that will give them strong skilled and technical certificate qualifications that will lead into real jobs in areas of need in the years ahead.

I commend Charles Campbell College for that work. As the member for Hartley alluded to, one of the areas in which Charles Campbell College has a particular level of pride is in the performing arts. When I first became a member of parliament and had a bit more time on my hands, I would appreciate every opportunity to go to performing arts performed by Charles Campbell College. Their drama, their performances, their musicals and their dance performances are points of great pride, and the new facilities will enable those to be delivered on an even greater level.

I was really pleased to see one of the members of The Fishbowl Boys, a barbershop quartet from Charles Campbell College that made the finals of Australia's Got Talent, who graduated about 10 years ago. At least one of their performers is now working in the public school system. I met him at Nuriootpa High School, where he is in the music department and doing a terrific job. Charles Campbell College can be very proud of their outcomes in performing arts.

Science, technologies and maths areas are critical for all schools. They are areas where we need every student in every one of our schools who has an aptitude for those areas to be given the best possible opportunities to take up that learning opportunity for whatever pathway that is available ahead. The space sector, the defence sector, engineering—there are a range of areas where we are going to have significant numbers of jobs where we need highly qualified young people in those science and technology areas with great aptitude for doing those jobs in the years ahead. Part of the new build at Charles Campbell College will see new labs, new flexible areas and new areas designed for technology created for those students.

It is really pleasing to see the work that is underway there by Kevin O'Neil and his team and Georgie Warren and the governing council. Kevin, Georgie, the member for Hartley and I were extremely pleased with the development of the work. I believe that it is going to be on schedule. It is certainly on or even under budget, which is great news, and we cannot wait to see the final outcome of this building work.

The children at Charles Campbell who are in their primary years at the moment are going to have a great new learning area. The young men and women of Charles Campbell who are in the secondary years are going to have great new learning areas, and the teaching and learning, which are already strong, will be backed up by fantastic new facilities for years ahead. As the local member for half of the school zone and as the Minister for Education, I could not be prouder of the work being done on this Charles Campbell College build.

Mr CREGAN (Kavel) (11:26): I acknowledge the contributions made by both the Minister for Police and Emergency Services and the member for Hartley and of course the Minister for Education, who is also the member for Morialta. They are both closely familiar with the life of the school, the nature of this project and the benefits it will bring.

I was interested to hear and to learn more from the member for Hartley about the artistic and cultural program at the school, the significance of that program and the fact that it is a point of pride, as the Minister for Education subsequently remarked. I also place on record our gratitude for the work of Kevin O'Neil and Georgie Warren, as the representative of the governing council, and of course for the work of all governing council members. As the member for Hartley reminded us, he had been one and in the course of that contribution was equally familiar with the work of the school. In fact, he may even continue to serve in that role but, in any case, is ever present in his community, absorbs every detail, acts on it and is famous for it, and we are grateful for his contribution.

We are also particularly grateful for the contribution of the Minister for Education, who has had a very significant workload. It is right to say that much of the scope of the work that the Public Works Committee has examined has been a very substantial education build program, which has been overseen by the minister, his department and departmental officials, and though I will not name them, because it is an important convention, we are grateful for agency staff who have been present to give excellent evidence to the committee. Their workload has equally been significant, but it has not impacted on the quality of their advice to us, which we have appreciated and in this and other instances acted on.

Motion carried.

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