Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to recognise outgoing Richard Johnson Anglican School principal, Paul Cockrem, for his contribution to education in the Chifley electorate. Paul helped established the school as its founding principal, with Richard Johnson Anglican School officially opening in 1997 with 26 kindergarten to year 4 students. From very humble beginnings, of which the school is rightly proud, it began with a demountable for one teacher and then it grew, under Paul's leadership, to cater for almost 1,000 kindergarten to year 12 students. Paul has been a fixture of the school for almost a quarter of a century, but, importantly, he was the architect of its future expansion. Richard Johnson school opened its second campus in 2016, catering for 176 primary school students, with scope to accommodate for the ever-growing north-west corridor. Speaking of his retirement, Richard Johnson school's assistant principal, Jenny Clay, said something that stuck in my mind. She said that he refused to believe that students in western Sydney could not achieve at the highest level and change the lives and aspirations of countless numbers of people in our community, and there is no better foundation stone than belief. This can power so much to be achieved within that one school, and Paul had that in spades. I've had great opportunities to get to know him and respect his work. I wish him all the very best and thank him enormously for his contribution.