Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Following on from the member for Fowler's comments, I want to record my deep sympathy to the family of Paula Keyes. Paula was an outstanding individual. An educator, she was someone who was passionate about education. She held multiple degrees and was held in very high esteem for the assistance she provided to children and adults alike in their learning. I was honoured to give one of the speeches at her funeral last week, which was a very fitting send-off for someone who left us far too early.

In that vein, I want to mention some of the outstanding schools in my electorate, which I had the pleasure to visit during the recess. In late July we had Education Week in New South Wales, the theme of which was 'Celebrating local heroes'. I thought that was particularly apt for our local school communities in Greenway. I had the privilege of attending a number of events. Vardy's Road Public School, a great local school, held an assembly, which is always a delight. There was a family there who live in the street that I grew up in. Their children were attending a private school in the local area and they decided to move their children into the public system. They moved them to Vardy's Road Public School. I was surprised to see them there, but they said they could not be happier with the quality of education that their children were receiving at Vardy's Road, which was a great testament to that school.

At Toongabbie Public School I had the privilege of handing over a plaque and a shrub for their Anzac Centenary Garden, courtesy of Blacktown RSL and the Centenary of Anzac grant process in Greenway. There is amazing teacher-parent engagement going on at Toongabbie. We had a film of a class showing new methods of teaching to parents who were in attendance on this particular morning that I was there. It was an absolute tribute to that school. The assembly was also really interesting. I asked some of the children if they wanted to name who their local heroes were and just about every child put up their hand and named their individual class teachers, which I think was just lovely.

It was a pleasure to visit Caddies Creek Public School in my electorate of Greenway and also the William Rose School, excellence in sensory and special education. They had their fun run, and I want to commend Blacktown Local Area Command for the care and dedication they took in participating. Lastly, just outside my electorate is the Chifley College Shalvey Campus. It hosted a special guest speaker, Michael Chaaya, who is the most inspirational person I know. He also happens to be my husband! He is a graduate of Shalvey high school. He has gone from student to partner at law, and he continues to inspire to this day.