Page 1745 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 4 May 2011
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are working closely to achieve targets articulated in our national partnerships together. We are ensuring that our schools remain safe together. We want to continue to work together to ensure the smooth rollout of a number of new Australian government initiatives and to build on the success recent Australian government initiatives, such as the building the education revolution program. I can confidently say that we have a strong cross-sectoral relationship and collaboration between public, Catholic and independent schools.
It is worth noting—and I acknowledge that Mr Doszpot did in his speech—that ACT students across all sectors, are high performers. The recent 2010 national NAPLAN report has confirmed this, showing that mean scores for ACT students across all years and all areas tested were above the national mean. ACT students excelled in reading, performing significantly ahead of the national mean. There was a marked improvement in writing. Year 3 scores were significantly higher than other jurisdictions, and results for years 5, 7 and 9 were the equal highest in the country. The percentage of students in the top two band levels of achievement was higher in the ACT than the national average. These are, indeed, excellent results and testament to the quality teachers working in our schools and the continued focus on school improvement and teacher development across all school sectors.
I am sure you and other members of the Assembly are acutely aware of this government’s active and interested participation in the development of the My School website. For the first time, the most recent edition of this valuable resource provided information that lets parents and the community know how their school has progressed in NAPLAN testing over time. It is this information, combined with the demographic and the newly incorporated school finance information, that enables parents and interested observers to actively participate in driving improvement in their school in partnership with their school.
This data is disaggregated into state and territory and commonwealth funding and is provided at a level that enables parents to see both the quantum of funding provided at a school and a student level. In responding to Mr Doszpot’s motion, I would encourage him to examine the My School website, as for each school across our country, not just in the ACT, we are now able to see financial information relating to the individual school of interest.
The ACT community is rightly proud of the quality of our public, Catholic and independent schools, and the ACT government shares that pride. Schools in the ACT provide parents with a rich choice when it comes to education. All of our school sectors are strong performers—strong in student numbers, strong in student academic success and strong in collaboration. The government will continue to be a strong supporter of them all.
I would encourage in this week the Assembly to reflect upon and celebrate Catholic schools. I am certainly looking forward to attending the opening of the Merici college garden on Friday morning. I would also ask members of the Assembly to make a moment to celebrate the achievements of all schools in all sectors in the ACT on each day.
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