Page 4717 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 10 November 2009
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Three new early childhood schools also began operations at the start of the year in Isabella Plains, Narrabundah and Scullin. These new centres are nation leaders, offering quality education and early childhood development for kids from birth to eight years of age. They also support families, providing one-stop access to services in health, counselling, parenting skills and many other areas. Again, a commitment made and a commitment delivered.
The work of building up new school communities continues. Last week the chair of the Urambi school board and I turned the first sod marking the start of construction for a $55 million school for the Tuggeranong community. When I talk about building up new school communities I mean more than bricks and mortar. Community building means listening to people as well. This new school is the school the Tuggeranong community told us they wanted. They told us that in 2006 when we were reforming our education system for the benefit of every student. They told us that this year during the extensive public consultation process that has just recently been completed. So we have listened. Commitment made, commitment delivered.
Still more school communities are being built up by this government. At Harrison, enrolments are so strong that we are bringing forward the opening of the new high school to 2012. Indeed, the 2009-10 budget contained $43.5 million for the construction of Harrison high school to serve the growing communities of Harrison, Franklin, Forde and Gungahlin. Locals and visitors to Gungahlin see site works for the new college moving apace. It is exciting, and I can say that I cannot wait to put on yet another hard hat and hi-vis vest so I can go and turn yet another sod to start construction on yet another great Canberra school. This government is committed to upgrading every ACT public school and to building new schools where they are needed most. Commitment made, commitment delivered.
In education, the old public versus private debate is over. Every school matters, because we want everyone to learn. So in October last year, we committed to providing $2.1 million in new support for every parent group in the ACT—in government schools, Catholic schools and independent schools—delivering $15,000 for school P&Cs and P&Fs and $1,500 for preschool parent associations. We also committed $4 million to provide additional funding for non-government schools to assist students with special needs. The budget saw this money delivered, and the benefits are being felt by children in Catholic and independent schools across the territory. Another commitment made, another commitment delivered.
Last year we committed to helping kids struggling to read, write or do maths by providing specialist teachers. For these alone, Labor provided more than $34 million in the budget. We went to the people in 2008 with a commitment to reduce class sizes to an average of 21 in primary and high schools and to an average of 19 in colleges. To achieve this, we are recruiting 70 extra teachers, and class sizes will start coming down from the first day of school next year. Commitment made, commitment delivered.
Teacher quality is the magic ingredient in education, so we have worked hard to make real progress in the last 12 months. We have seen an enterprise bargaining agreement
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