I am very proud of the wonderful schools we have in Hornsby and I look forward every year to hosting student leaders to a once in a lifetime look at NSW Parliament.
This year 88 students all who hold leadership positions at their school had a tour of the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council. Both houses were in session and the students were treated to some lively debates.
Following the tour Premier Gladys Berejiklian was able to pop in and spend some time answering questions. She was very impressed with the calibre of questions that came from many of the students. One student, possibly a future politician, did try and convince the Premier she needed to ban homework!
The students also heard from Rugby League legend Brad Fittler and also Waratah Coach and player Pat McCutcheon who spoke about how to be a good leader. I particularly liked what Pat told the kids about developing your leadership skills.
“No one is ever the best leader and leadership is something that’s progressive, you’re always learning and you’re always developing,” Mr McCutcheon said.
This event is an opportunity to congratulate these students and encourage them to continue to develop their leadership skills. I hope they will one day consider using those skills to serve our community.
Primary schools in Hornsby will also be benefiting from over $1 million in funding for teacher education. The funding is being delivered through the Quality Teaching, Successful Students initiative which ensures teachers are able to continue to improve their craft. Investing in teachers means we will be able to provide the best education possible for our children.
Schools will be able to determine how this funding is best spent to address an area of most need, for example, more effective literacy and numeracy skills or better classroom management. It can be used for things such as mentoring and coaching, achieving higher levels of accreditation and collaborative lesson planning and unit development.
Thornleigh West Public School will be benefiting from an increase to over $100,000 in funding which is the equivalent to one full time teacher. Mrs Chantal Mamo the Principal will use the funding to employ 5 casuals on one day to allow a whole team of teachers to be able to work together with the Assistant Principals to build teacher capacity.
Other local schools Pennant Hills and Normanhurst West Public will receive $94,000. While Hornsby North and Hornsby South Public Schools will receive over $100,000. Principals for each school will be able to make decisions and allocate the funding individually so they can best meet the needs of their students.
Education Minister Rob Stokes has confirmed the Government will be spending $88 million will be dispersed under the initiative in 2017, up from $38 million last year and $10 million in 2015.
The teachers of New South Wales public schools are creating the future and empowering a new generation of young people to make the most of their talents. I believe this funding will better equip them for their job of teaching the future generation.
