1983 School Magazine

assistance is assessed against the cost of educating a child in a state school and at present represents approximately 3890 of our income. T'his still leaves a considerable arnount to be contributed from private resources. Not a day goes by that we are not confronted by attacks on the rights of governrnents to give funding to independent schools and yet in practically every other area of life we are able to exercise our freedom of choice without criticism. For example, we can choose whether to travel by public or private transport, to use public or private health schemes and so on. It is only in the area of schooling that strong sectional interests try to deny us our rights. trn Australian society there presently exists a large group of people who do not like the so-called independent "system" and are using the State Aid Issue to cause division in the community. Demonstrations such as occurred in Melbourne last week in the Right-To-Work Demonstrations, and the Associated Stock Exchange and Melbourne Club incidents, are sad indications of this situation. It is no accident that the State Aid Issue is becoming as hot as it was in the early 70's. There are very powerful pressure groups that are ensuring that it becomes a hot issue again. tr believe that as parents you need to be interested and informed about such issues, so that you can answer, with correct information, the opponents of our basic rights. .Ail parents, irrespective of income, should be entitled to exercise freedom of choice in relation to their childrens' education, and it is because of that belief that present funding policies were originally developed by the government. These funding policies allowed fees to be kept low in under-privileged areas so that access to independent schools could remain a reality, and so that equality of educational opportunity also might become possible' The fact that this is working is indicated by the increase in students attending independent schools and by the increasing number of smaller independent schools that are now opening. I believe it is time that we support moves to provide all students with a base rate from the Commonwealth Government for educating children' Parents are tax payers who contribute to the educational purse and therefore are entitled to such a basic grant and are just as entitled as anybody else to basic educational funding. Couple this Basic Grant with an Appropriate Needs Grant, and the heat would go out of the debate. Differing schools have differing needs and they should have these needs recognised by a scale of relevant financial support. At present it is the Commonwealth Government which gives the greater part of funding to independent schools and although a change to this policy would require State Governments to re-assess what they are doing, it would still appear to be fairer. It is no longer sufficient to say that many of the parents in independent schools suffer considerable hardship to exercise their freedom of choice because the immediate retort from opponents of the system is that they do not have to make that choice. You have shown by exercising your democratic rights that you are prepared to contribute to the development of education. We rely on you for the support that allows injection of large sums from private income into our

Outdoor education is now firmly established in the school with Year 9 and 10 benefiting from the activities organised by Miss McAdam and support staff. {f nothing else, these camps allow students to develop a greater tolerance for each other and to help them to learn how to stand on their own feet. nn all we do we try always to encourage students to seek excellence and. not to be content with the mediocre. I would like to think that girls leaving the school today will carry this goal with them into the future. {t has been a pleasure to work with the seniors this year and to know that the majority have not only taken advantage of all the school has to offer, but have also given much back to the school for future generations. Elizabeth and Janet have been leaders with high ideals and have helped to set standards, not only for girls in their own year group, but also for those in more junior years. We are grateful for their contribution and wish them well in the luture. I would like to address my final remarks to the parents gathered here today. I-ast year I reminded you that freedom of choice exists in Australian education because of the existence of independent schools, but to exercise that freedom of choice costs money' Government