Official Visit to Toolooa State High School

Mr Mayor; Principal, Mr Harrison; members of the Toolooa State High School community. Kaye and I are delighted to be with you this morning as part of our second official visit to Gladstone. I especially thank your two Vice-Captains, Hannah Ryan and Hannah Gorton, for officially welcoming us on behalf of the whole school. It is always very pleasing and encouraging to see the extent to which schools today involve students in events such as this.

I at once acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands around Gladstone, and extend respectful greetings to Elders and emerging leaders.

Toolooa State High recognises that your ten or twelve years of formal schooling are not a discrete, separate experience, but part of your life’s journey, a time when you can prepare to join and contribute to the wider community and the world of work.

That same rationale sits behind the commitment your Principal and teachers have made to helping you develop social and emotional wellbeing as well as positive and caring relationships.

These are vital skills for life beyond school, and work alongside knowledge obtained from a highly appropriate and diverse curriculum here at Toolooa – in the arts, STEM, technology and sport.

Equally, the excellent work experience, apprenticeship and mentoring programs developed here in collaboration with local industry, as well as the relationship with Central Queensland University, all recognise that the School is an integral part of the community of Gladstone and that a smooth transition to work or further education and training is critical to your future success.

Toolooa High acknowledges and supports your individual strengths and understands your vulnerabilities, but it has also embraced, as its motto, three important values: respect, achievement and responsibility.

Those values lie at the very core of the school’s vision of a future shaped by equity and excellence. Kaye and I both hope that you will continue to live by these values when you leave this school and become part of this resilient and positive community.

Thank you again for making us feel so welcome today.

We look forward to speaking with your junior and senior leaders and to visiting some of you in your classrooms, and wish you all well for the remainder of the School year and for your future.