Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was an absolute pleasure to be at John the Baptist Catholic Primary School late last month to celebrate the school's 30th anniversary. When the school opened in 1989, it had only 86 students and six staff. It was planned to be a two-stream—meaning two classes per year—group school, probably going up to year 4. However, over the last 30 years the population has expanded nearly tenfold. The school now hosts 800 students and 60 members of staff and is a complete four-stream school going from kindergarten to year 6.

I recognise the role the school is playing serving the growing Catholic community of Bonnyrigg Heights, Abbotsbury, Cecil Hills and Green Valley. The school community also includes families from many cultural backgrounds, with over 40 nationalities testament to the unifying power of education. I applaud John the Baptist primary school for the past 30 years of developing a superb learning environment for all their children and I look forward to everything that they can achieve in the next 30 years.