Page 1619 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 8 May 2018
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
but also in the way students smiled and greeted him around the school when we were on our tour.
Speaking of the wellbeing of students, Merici is a school that has a strong focus on this. Principal Loretta Wholley has a well-deserved reputation for pastoral care and the development of her girls into well-rounded young adults. Merici has a wide enrolment pool of 85 year 7 enrolments this year from 38 primary schools. That certainly takes some management to ensure a supported and seamless transition for all students. It is a reflection of today’s society that schools have to be so alert to the modern-day pressures students face, and Merici is fortunate to have a strong network of pastoral care staff.
We spoke at length about the need for better wraparound services in mental health, especially for our young Canberrans. I know that Ms Wholley will continue to work hard in this area to ensure that her students and, indeed, all young Australians are receiving the support they need.
Canberra grammar has enjoyed an expansion in numbers since the somewhat controversial decision to move to a fully co-educational campus in 2015. The school has enjoyed wonderful support from former student Terry Snow, whose generous endowment established the Snow Centre for Education in the Asian Century. The school is unique in that its students sit the New South Wales higher school certificate. However, it also has 46 per cent of its student cohort enrolled in the International Baccalaureate. Like other schools, it also has some serious traffic congestion issues, and I will be writing to the minister about these issues.
The visit to Canberra grammar was almost like a meeting of friends with my having many mutual friends as former students, which is so very Canberran. The familiarity and warmth displayed by the families who contribute so much to the school and the future of their children’s education is only matched by the warmth and leadership of principal Justin Garrick.
Canberra girls grammar is a similarly impressive school. Like Merici, it is an all-girls school but also provides boarding for a small number of students from near and far and overseas. They have students from 33 countries, from 109 embassy staff and a total cohort from early learning through to year 12 of 1,400 students.
The school also prides itself on having the only all-female symphony orchestra in Australia. I have put in a request to be on the invitation list. I hope that my next visit will be for what I have heard are professional-level concerts. The passionate principal, Dr Anne Coutts, is justifiably very proud of her school, especially its particularly impressive science wing that she was instrumental in the design of.
I thank principals Erik Hofsink of Emmaus, Steven Bowers of Burgmann Anglican, Loretta Wholley of Merici, Justin Garrick of Canberra grammar and Dr Anne Coutts of Canberra girls grammar for welcoming me to their schools and for the time they took out of their days to talk to me about what is important to them and the community.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video