Page 2243 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 3 August 2016
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There have also been commitments to improve facilities across Canberra—in Tuggeranong and Woden, as well as the inner suburbs—so that our kids have access to great schools regardless of whether they are in growth areas for schools in demand or in an area where the demand is ebbing. This is the way that our schools should be. Schools are important hubs in our community that provide facilities and a focal point for the community.
In my own portfolio responsibilities I also see how important they are. As sports minister I have been working with the Minister for Education to open them up to sports clubs. Recently Minister Rattenbury and I went out to Alfred Deakin and announced the relationship between Alfred Deakin School and the Weston Creek Woden Dodgers Basketball Club, which had been displaced following the closure of their Woden basketball stadium.
In the multicultural affairs portfolio I am pursuing similar goals to make our existing spaces available to our diverse community to meet and to share their culture. As minister for community services I also see how important schools integration is for referral pathways and community projects. The Kingsford Smith School in Holt is working with community organisations and businesses in the area to improve outcomes for their students through work and cultural experiences.
This community use in schools reflects what I know as a parent: a school is much more than just a building. This is why the ACT government is investing in the important work that goes on inside the classrooms and buildings that we are refurbishing. This includes the $21.5 million to strengthen the capacity of schools to support students with complex needs and their families in response to the recommendations made in the schools for all report.
An amount of $300,000 has been allocated to strengthen Ngunnawal culture and history in schools by encouraging schools and students to engage with traditional owners, improve access to Ngunnawal culture and resources and increase cultural awareness. Also, an amount of $300,000 has been provided over three years for teacher scholarships to support post-graduate learning and additional teacher expertise in science, technology, engineering and maths.
In his original motion, Mr Doszpot identifies that the way schools were planned and managed in the early years in the ACT made it necessary to undertake closures that were disruptive to the strong communities that form around local schools. In my community in west Belconnen I still run into former parents and students who have a strong historical connection to the schools that were closed. Many of them have become amazing advocates for building community spaces and organisations on those sites.
Today we have a responsibility for Canberra’s current school students and to the communities around them to ensure that we are planning new funding and facilities in a way that creates spaces that are flexible to the inevitable fluctuations in demand over time. Having taken the time to look at the information provided by the minister in the previous sitting, it is clear that we have demand areas across Canberra. The new
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