Mr BARRESI (10:38 PM) —I rise tonight to speak in praise of a school and an educationalist in my electorate. I refer to the Tintern Girls Grammar School in Ringwood, a school that is over 100 years old and runs both a primary and a secondary campus. It is one of the oldest, continuously operating girls schools in the state of Victoria, having moved to Ringwood from its previous site in Hawthorn. It is a pre-eminent school in Melbourne, highly regarded by the community, not only in Deakin but also the community in the wider geographic area of Melbourne's east and in fact Melbourne itself. It is one of the few remaining schools that has not gone down the path of coeducation.

One of the reasons Tintern Girls Grammar is highly regarded is its exceptional educational levels. Quite consistently, year after year, the students of Tintern achieve very high and remarkable grades in VCE; grades which would be the envy of most other schools within the state of Victoria. It is a school which has an international baccalaureate. It has a complement of teaching staff who are highly qualified, capable and highly respected within the wider community. They are led by people such as Elspeth Adamson and Lynne Henshaw. But, in particular, they are led by one individual, that is, the principal, Mrs Sylvia Walton, a lady with vision, a lady with leadership.

Sylvia Walton has the type of vision which modern-day educationalists should be trying to attain. As an example, the Tintern school had a literacy and numeracy program long before it became in vogue to talk about literacy and numeracy. Its program is the envy of other areas. It has long had a civics program. In the last 12 months the school has embraced a boys campus which will open in 1999, a boys campus separate to the Tintern school, because Tintern realises that the path to coeducation which a lot of other schools have taken has not always worked to the advantage of the school.

It is a credit to Sylvia Walton that this school has achieved such pre-eminent status. One of the reasons I want to talk about Tintern is that Sylvia Walton's vision and leadership has been recognised by the awarding of the Sir James Ralph Darling Medal. The award took place earlier this year.

To give some background, the Sir James Ralph Darling Medal is named after a former headmaster of Geelong Grammar School. Sir James Darling helped found and/or lead the Headmasters Conference, the Marcus Oldham Agricultural College, the Australian College of Education and, in other public service, he was Chairman of the ABC from 1961 to 1967. He was knighted in 1988 for his efforts.

The Victorian Chapter of the Australian College of Education established the Sir James Darling Medal in 1993 as the highest award it can bestow in honour of the founder of the college. One of the aims of bestowing this medal on an individual is to recognise outstanding contributions to education in Victoria at any level and in any field. The contribution may be singular and specific or wide ranging and multidimensional. It may be professional, academic or practical. The contribution may also be at any level of education from early childhood to tertiary. In commenting on the establishment of the medal in 1993, Sir James said:

Education has become so large an industry today that there has been a danger of teachers losing sight of the essence of their vocation.

The medal has been awarded to a number of recipients in the past: in 1993, to Sir Jeffrey Dunstan; in 1994, to Professor Kwong Lee Dow; in 1995, to Dr Francis Macnab; in 1996, to Dr Norman Curry; in 1997, to Mr Peter Kirby; and in 1998—it is with great pleasure that I say in this parliament—to Mrs Sylvia Walton, Principal of Tintern Girls Grammar and, next year, Southwood Boys Grammar School.

I have had a strong relationship with Tintern school in the last three years. In fact, last year I sat on a steering committee investigating the possibility of setting up Southwood Boys Grammar on the site previously occupied by a state primary school which was merged with another school. Mrs Walton, through her vision, realised that the pre-eminent status that Tintern Girls Grammar has in the community could not be compromised—as has happened with some other schools that went down a coeducational path. She felt that it was far better to use the credibility and the reputation that Tintern Girls Grammar School has developed over the years to establish a separate boys school. Under her leadership, Tintern has expanded its enrolments and facilities and introduced a number of innovative curricula developments for its students.

On the citation which was read out on the day she was awarded the medal—I think it is worth reading from the notes that were provided by the chairman of the Victorian chapter—it stated:

Mrs Walton has been very active and influential in the educational community at both state and national levels. She is currently Deputy Chancellor of La Trobe University and Chairman of that university's Equity Access and personal Welfare Committee. She was a member and Acting Chair of the Victorian Board of Studies 1993-97, as well as a member of the Board's predecessor, the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Board 1986-95. She has been a member of the Board of the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria since 1994, and active on several of its committees.

There are so many committees that it is difficult for me to go through them all tonight. As a mark of the type of person that is Sylvia Walton, in her acceptance speech, the first thought was to acknowledge and to accept the award on behalf of teachers throughout the state, especially her colleagues at Tintern. Sylvia stated in her speech, and she has certainly mentioned to me on a number of occasions, that there is no greater calling in life than being a teacher. That is a noble sentiment. I do not know whether there would be too many teachers who would share it.

We all go into our professions with various aims, objectives and reasons, but with Sylvia Walton you can tell that those sentiments come from the heart. Those sentiments not only are stated but also have lived through her work at Tintern. She mentioned that governments have a role to play in making sure that education continues to be relevant. In her speech Sylvia said:

. . . the central purpose of our school is student learning and all the values that can be added to this as a young person moves through the primary and secondary area . . . I have often thought it would be extremely helpful and beneficial if our governments, of whatever persuasion, could come to an agreement about the development of primary and secondary schools and so in some sort of bi-partisan way assist us to continue this great task without too much politicising of curriculum, structures or development. . . . Some sort of joint philosophy related to schools would certainly go a long way . . .

She went on to talk about how the amount of social capital that a community continues to set aside and use for development of young people and education is important. She continued:

Society has no other real resource than the skill, intelligence and goodwill of its population. This can only develop when young hearts and minds and souls are captured and trained in positive and productive ways.

Mrs Walton has certainly done all those things. It is important that as governments and as members of various parliamentary jurisdictions we respond in a very positive way. (Time expired) .