Official Visit to Palmwoods State School

Mayor Jamieson; Councillor McKay; Principal Wilson; staff and students of Palmwoods State School. Thank you for welcoming Kaye and me so warmly today.

I also acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands around the Sunshine Coast, and extend respectful greetings to Elders and emerging leaders.

It is an exciting time to be a student, and it is a particularly exciting time to be a student here on the Sunshine Coast.

Kaye and I had the pleasure of visiting the world-class Sunshine Coast Submarine Cable Landing Station earlier this morning, and the opportunities this project will bring to the region – to you – are boundless.

There are so many exceptional opportunities at your doorstep waiting for you once you leave school.

But you don’t need to wait until then to immerse yourself in exceptional learning opportunities. You are surrounded by them at Palmwoods State School.

Your Enrichment Program for Years 3 to 6 is very exciting, and I am particularly interested in your ‘Maker space’ in the Resource Centre. So many jobs of the future will require qualifications in science, technology, engineering or mathematics: you, students, are off to a terrific start.

But it is now often proposed that to STEM should be added the arts, turning STEM into STEAM. Again, students, you are being beautifully equipped by your school to excel.

Congratulations on the success of your Arts Alive event last month, which showcased your choir, dance students – and I look forward to the dance performance today, instrumental band, strings group, class performances and class arts and crafts.

So whether your future lies in STEM or STEAM – science or the arts, or anywhere in between – you are being well prepared here at Palmwoods State School.

Today is the second day of fourth semester, which means that there are less than ten weeks until the school year comes to a close. That may seem like a lifetime to you, but trust me when I say that it will flash past.

That is particularly so for those of you in Year 6. Before you know it, you will have worn the Palmwoods State School uniform for the last time, and you will be ready to begin new adventures in high school.

Those of you in Year 5 will step up to become the leaders of the school, and those in Prep will no longer be the youngest in the school: you will be role models for the next lot of Preppies next year.

I wish every one of you every success throughout the term and beyond, and thank you again for your kind welcome.