Page 1848 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 2 May 2012
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so big at St Thomas the Apostle that one celebration is never enough.” Hear, hear! Well done to St Thomas the Apostle school in Kambah which continues to do a great job.
I turn to St Edmund’s college in Griffith. We know that a group of staff and students will be leaving soon for a Japanese cultural exchange. Leading the group to Japan will be Mrs Thuy Coombs. This tour will bring to a close Thuy’s teaching at St Edmund’s. The school has noted that Thuy has been a vital member of the languages staff for 10 years and she has made an outstanding contribution in the classroom and as a tutor throughout that time.
Merici college in Braddon is keeping alive a tradition that goes back to 1998. Sixteen Merici girls took part in this year’s Anzac Day service in a chilly but sunny Queanbeyan. The list goes on. St Peter and Paul primary school, where my children attended, celebrated ANZAC Day over the holidays. Stage 3 children attended the annual ANZAC Day ceremony at Eddison Park run by the Woden branch of the RSL. The children showed due reverence and respect for those who have fought and died for us. Part of the ANZAC ceremony is an essay competition run throughout the local primary schools. This year Daniel G from 5/6S came second, so congratulations to him.
St Francis of Assisi primary school in Calwell, which Mr Doszpot and I visited very recently, had a walkathon on 13 April to raise money towards the purchase of more laptops to be used by students at the school. For every $5 raised, students had a chance to win lots of fabulous prizes, including an iPad, bike, books, games, gift vouchers and more. I would like to thank Dave Austin, the principal at St Francis, for the very warm welcome we received from him recently and from a number of the teachers and students who welcomed us to the school.
St Clare of Assisi primary school in Conder will be having their walkathon on 25 May to raise funds for worthwhile projects. Past fundraisers have been used to purchase senior play equipment, purchase iPods for student use, buy extra readers and books and buy new sports equipment. Principal Greg Walker, I think, does a great job at St Clare of Assisi primary school in Conder.
In the short time I have left I could go on and on about the various schools. They are part of the overall education system in Canberra. We have some wonderful government schools. We have some wonderful Catholic and independent schools. We believe that all of those sectors should be supported. We believe that the Catholic and independent sector has been let down. We do not just tolerate them like other parties. We embrace them. We think they make a major contribution to our education system, and may it long continue. (Time expired.)
DR BOURKE (Ginninderra—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Corrections) (4.14): I would like to turn to the point of misrepresentation by Mr Doszpot. To be absolutely crystal clear about this, about the Canberra Times article of 16 April on school census figures, he claimed that I said the growth in student numbers in public schools was a win. Nowhere in the recorded interview I gave to the journalist did I refer to a win. It is not part of my language.
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