Daryl Melham (Banks, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Hannans Road Public School in Riverwood, Sydney, celebrated its 50th anniversary between 24 and 26 May this year. This proud public school has served its often disadvantaged community extremely well over the decades. From its first years, when its students mainly came from families living in a converted US army hospital behind the school, to today, when it serves a mainly low-income community, it has always strived to give its students the best possible teaching and learning in the best conditions possible.

While the first buildings had no lights or heaters, with teachers having to bring in their own radios so students could listen to music, today’s are air-conditioned and have excellent resources due to families over the years committing themselves to providing improvements to facilities and often fighting bureaucracy to achieve these goals. The school has been classed as a Priority Schools funded school for many years and has used the funds provided by the program to invest in staff development and resources that improve student learning.

The school won a New South Wales director-general’s award—a national literacy and numeracy award—in 2004 as a result of its ability to add value to student learning. The school has always had students from a variety of backgrounds and while the backgrounds have changed over the years the ability of students to relate to each other and appreciate the value of individuals has not. Over the three days of celebration at the school, many past students and staff joined its current community in reflecting on the achievements of the school. The motto of the school is ‘Serve and Grow’. This school has certainly served to grow many successful members of the Australian community. Congratulations, Hannans Road Public School, on the achievement of this milestone in your educational journey.

This did not happen without inspired leadership, and in recent years the principal, John Boland, has provided outstanding leadership to the school. He is quite rightly highly respected within the community and there is admiration for him. I had the pleasure of attending the school’s celebrations on Saturday 26 May and what I saw really pleased me. I saw the principal of the school in there getting his hands dirty. He was MC-ing the concert that was going on. He was getting around the community and showing by example leadership to his fellow teachers and to the students. And the students and teachers are proud of their school. I have witnessed it over the years that I have had the honour to represent that school in the federal parliament. For the next election, unfortunately, the school has been redistributed into the electorate of Watson, and Mr Burke will be very fortunate to have that community going into his electorate. That is what has happened throughout the history of the school: it has been in and out of the electorate of Banks because it is on the fringe of the electorate and so redistributions have affected it. But I am proud to have been associated with the school in the time that I have been a member.