Thursday, 15 May 2025

 Natalie HUTCHINS (Sydenham – Minister for Government Services, Minister for Treaty and First Peoples, Minister for Prevention of Family Violence, Minister for Women) (10:01): Last week I visited Copperfield secondary college, Sydenham campus, and what a great experience I had seeing the maturity and changes in the school leaders there as we did a quick tour of the school and popped into a few classrooms. I got to see the humanities teachers in action with their new democracy in action program that they are running with the children. I also listened to the views of year 9 students, who talked about their current projects and expressed a desire for more performing arts spaces. Can I thank the humanities teachers Paul Singh and Ms Taylor Van Orsouw on supporting students in teaching that program. I also want to thank the Delahey senior principal Michael Gruis, who is doing a great job in the leadership there, and it is good to see that the female student leaders have recently participated in a program called Be Bold Be Heard, a program that they are partnering on with Geelong schools, which is aimed at empowering teenage girls to set goals and providing them with a platform to become future leaders. This was awesome to see in action and to see the change the girls are already making in improving the participation rates in sports for girls.