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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 10 Hansard (Wednesday, 25 August 2004) . . Page.. 4120 ..

data and working mathematically. Optional activities will also suggest cross-curricular extensions into areas such as financial literacy and studies of society and environment. This activity was a highlight for many last year and one that many schools in the ACT are looking forward to.

This year marks the introduction of a new addition to the National Literacy and Numeracy Week activities—the Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards. This national poetry competition for school students, conducted from Gunnedah in north-west New South Wales, was initiated in honour of Dorothea Mackellar and her famous poem, My Country. The Dorothea Mackellar awards will be announced during National Literacy and Numeracy Week and presented at an award ceremony on 10 September.

I would also add that, as I alluded to before, this week will also coincide with Book Week, and I am sure that that is more than just a coincidence. These fun and exciting activities help get our youth excited about literacy and numeracy, raising awareness about the importance of developing strong literacy and numerous skills. Providing funding for innovative initiatives such as those previously highlighted further strengthens these skills in our community. These vital skills will pave the way to successful futures for Canberra’s children.

Mr Speaker, I commend the motion to the Assembly.

MR PRATT (11.24): Mr Speaker, I support Ms MacDonald’s motion. Firstly, I would like to commend Ms MacDonald for finding a subject for a motion that is meaningful to the Canberra community and that goes to the core of good governance, or at least the question of good governance.

Let me also congratulate Canberra students and teachers on the results of the 2003 ACT assessment program, which reports on student performances in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 against national benchmarks in literacy and numeracy. Let me congratulate families, too, who under the pressures of modernity have to encourage their children at home to further develop and retain those skills. However, while years 3 and 5 students performed considerable well in reading, results in numeracy were down on 2002. The results for years 7 and 9 were mixed, indicating that there is always room for improvement across all school grades. Governments of all persuasions should always be aiming to improve results in the core areas of reading, writing and numeracy.

Many new and innovative teaching practices are being developed on a daily basis, and I hear about them from teachers when I am out talking to residents in my electorate. I was very impressed a couple of weeks ago to see the teaching styles at Hawker Primary School. I was also impressed with the imaginative teaching and student mentoring approaches that I observed on a recent visit to Erindale College and the imaginative team teaching concept practised at Saints Peter and Paul Primary School at Garran.

These are just three examples of what is being done at three schools that I have been fortunate enough to observe up close. It is very clear that the students at these schools are quietly attentive and I understand that the results are good. You can feel the calm and attentive learning environments and the teachers look to be professional and dedicated. If only the department could pick up the lessons to be learnt from schools like these and apply the standards that have been achieved right across the schooling spectrum. Literacy

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