Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to share with the parliament the experience of a recent visit that I undertook to Roma Mitchell Secondary College, a school in the inner northern part of Adelaide which is doing a remarkable job educating many of the students from my electorate. Earlier this year, I had the chance to visit with Bill Shorten as well as with the member for Makin, Tony Zappia, and see what incredible results this school was returning in just its fourth year since it opened. We know that this school has incredibly excellent facilities, three at campuses—a co-ed campus, a girl's campus and a campus for students with disabilities. But we also know that since it opened in 2011, the team of dedicated leaders at the school, of passionate teachers at the school and the broader school community have been able to bring about some hugely impressive improvements. For example, in 2013, the SACE completion at the co-ed and the girls' campuses of Roma Mitchell Secondary College was 91.48 per cent. To put this into context, this is an improvement of 34.3 per cent over just three years, something which I would imagine would be unrivalled by schools around Australia.

In 2013, 12 of the students received an ATAR score in the 90s, and over 80 students received offers to university and TAFE. They offer specialist sport programs in cycling, in hockey and in soccer, an Aboriginal sports training academy, a gifted and talented program, international programs, vocational education and training programs and a range of other specialist services.

Last year the a made our three year 8 and four year 9 students from the gifted and talented classes won the Tournament of the Minds engineering challenge that was held at Flinders University. They were the first public school students to win this challenge since 1994, something they should be absolutely congratulated for. We also know that this year they started to deliver the International Baccalaureate middle-years program to the year 8s. Within the next three years, all students in years 8 to 10 will be studying this program. This is a result of incredibly dedicated teachers and the school community.

I would like to thank principal, Sandy Richardson, and deputy principal, Karen Fitzpatrick, for hosting Bill Shorten, myself and Tony Zappia. I note the added challenges I gave them by having a freshly broken leg at the time and hobbling around on crutches and I thank them for their kindness. But more so, I thank them for the incredible job that they are doing educating the students of our Adelaide community. These results speak of their dedication and their passion. They should be congratulated, and I wish them all the very best for continued success into the future.