Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for the supplementary question. It allows me to point out in some detail the 36 schools in the electorate of Fowler that are benefiting from the additional investment this Labor government has provided to schools in the Smarter Schools National Partnerships. One of these schools, Bonnyrigg Public School, has had a $740,000 investment under the partnership. And now what do we see? We see smaller class sizes so that each child has the opportunity to be a successful learner—the shadow minister should take note—and we see the school implementing targeted policies such as engaging curriculum and assessment specialists, literacy and numeracy consultants, an English as a second language coordinator, strengthening individual learning plans and purchasing resources for literacy and numeracy. Of course it makes a difference.

So at Bonnyrigg Public School they have increased attendance rates, increased student engagement, increased the proportion of students achieving the national minimum standard across all year groups. And in year 3 we have 12 per cent more students reaching the minimum standards in literacy. The proportion of students who achieve the top two bands have increased in year 3 reading by 12 per cent. These are significant improvements for the Bonnyrigg Public School, and they have come about because we have a Labor government that recognises how important investing in education is. It makes a difference to every student and we will continue to make every school a great school.

See this speech in context