We are Building Tasmania’s Future with significant improvements to the education system, and a centrepiece of our Plan is our high school extension program.
From 2018 Flinders Island High School will join the school extension program, which means students and their families can be confident that they will have access to year 11 and 12 close to home.
The school will receive additional staffing and funding to support the delivery of year 11/12 next year including a study support area. It will be a better model including teacher support available on the island and close collaboration with Newstead College.
Students have told me that instead of having to face the possible challenge and disruption of changing schools, or stop secondary education altogether, they are excited they can look forward to finishing their secondary studies closer to home, uninterrupted.
For regional places such as Flinders Island, this extension program can mean the difference between a student reaching their career goals, or not.
For the 30 Government Schools which have already extended, the program is working. We have a 57 per cent increase in enrolments at the first 12 schools to extend since 2014, and an improvement in our apparent retention rates now up to 73.4% per cent, up from a low 67 per cent under the previous Labor/Green Government.
And with an additional 8 schools extending from 2018, we have already exceeded our commitment to extend 21 regional high schools to Year 12 by 2018.
There is no better foundation stone to build Tasmania’s future than in education. By providing students with more choice about where to complete their senior secondary education, we are sending a clear message that school doesn’t end in Year 10.
With the Budget back in balance, we will continue to implement our long term Plan for education to ensure every Tasmanian student can look forward to a brighter future.
The school extension list can be found at http://bit.ly/TasSchoolExtList