Page 908 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 16 March 2010

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fencing. St Monica’s school in Evatt has been able to refurbish school buildings and construct shade structure to protect children from the damaging effects of exposure to the sun. The Rosary school in Watson has also been able to refurbish classrooms. Other schools in north Canberra have similarly been able to make significant improvements to school facilities.

The Good Shepherd primary school in Amaroo has been funded for important refurbishment work, and St Francis Xavier school at Florey has been able to refurbish its fence and gymnasium. St Matthew school at Page, St Michael’s school at Kaleen and St Joseph’s school at O’Connor have been able to upgrade their facilities, including outdoor learning areas and playground equipment. St Matthew school has also been provided with funding for the construction of extensions to the library and an upgrade of the school hall. St Michael’s school has also received funding for library and classroom refurbishments. St Thomas Aquinas school in Charnwood, St Vincent school in Aranda and St John the Apostle school in Florey have also received significant levels of funding for the refurbishment of their school libraries or upgrades to classrooms and facilities.

When Mr Doszpot was speaking about the school at Charnwood, he mentioned the “charny carny”, which I look forward to every year. It is a collaboration between that school and the other community organisations in the area, including the Dunlop-Charnwood primary school. It is a pity that I will, due to committee work that is taking place in Brisbane for my planning committee, be unable to attend the “charny carny” this year.

These are just a few examples from the north of Canberra that show how this funding has supported Canberra Catholic primary schools to provide quality educational environments that meet the needs of students and teachers. I have enjoyed the opportunity to visit some of these schools during the planning stage of these improvements and have since seen some of the results of that work as it goes on.

Support for Catholic school students has been provided by the ACT government and links with our public school sector. There are significant and strong links between the ACT public school system and the Catholic systemic schools in the provision of support to students who have a disability. Catholic schools are part of the government’s review of special education. The review highlighted the opportunity to enhance services and maximisation of resources through strong links between all sectors of schooling in the ACT.

In response to this, a cross-sectoral disability educational group is being established to foster greater reliance between the three sectors. I would like to outline for members of the Assembly three key areas where collaboration is currently occurring and producing quality outcomes. The first area is in the provision of learning for staff and parents about autism. The Catholic Education Office and the ACT Department of Education and Training are jointly implementing the project positive partnerships: supporting school aged students on the autism spectrum.

This project delivers two components of the helping children with autism package being implemented by the commonwealth. The two components are: professional development for teachers and other school staff who are working with students with


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