IMS – World Teacher’s Day

31 Oct 2013 4:28 PMMichael Hart

World Teacher’s Day

Mr HART (Burleigh—LNP) (10.42 pm): Last Friday, 25 October, it was my great pleasure to welcome the Minister for Education, the Hon. John-Paul Langbroek, to Miami State School to celebrate World Teacher’s Day—and didn’t we have a great day! We went to see the year 7 coordinator Jackie Farrugia in her classroom and we handed out badges that the Miami State School had made especially for that day for their students to give to their teachers, and we also handed out icy poles to the teachers. It was a little bit unfortunate that the students had to stand there and watch their teachers eat icy poles, but they thought it was a great thing to do for their teachers. We also went to the grade 5, grade 2 and prep classes. Some of the students sang us songs and read books. It was a fantastic day. Following that, we had morning tea with the staff and the P&C from that great school. We were welcomed by the principal, Kate Bentley, and the deputy principal, Greg Stanley.

On that day my staff prepared little boxes full of cakes and treats for all the schools in my electorate, and I would just like to mention those schools. At Burleigh Heads State School we have Principal Peter Tong and his wonderful staff. At Caningeraba State School we have Principal Ray McConnell and again a great bunch of staff. At Marymount Catholic College we have Principal Chris Noonan. I have just been there to celebrate their academic achievement night and it was a wonderful night. At the Marymount Primary School we have Principal Greg Casey and his wonderful team. At Miami State High School we have the well-renowned Jim Baker as the principal there, and he has a great team as well. At Palm Beach State School we have Principal Ed Marconi. At St Andrew’s Lutheran College we have Principal Tim Kotzur, and at Varsity College, which has just been made an independent public school, we have Principal Jeff Davis. That is a school that I share with the Leader of the House. He has the college and I have the junior school. They are on separate campuses.

My daughter is a teacher. I have very high regard for the teachers in this state. They are doing a wonderful job of bringing up our children. We will be debating issues about discipline in our schools, and I have mentioned quite a few times that it is at school where children start to get discipline. They do not get it from their parents; they definitely get it from their teachers. I would like to really praise the teachers in my electorate and the teachers in Queensland—in fact, the teachers worldwide.

You can view the footage here