CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS
Mr MONCRIEFF (Hughes) (10:33): We've been talking a lot in this place recently about how valuable the hard work that early educators do is. They're the hardworking people who give our young people the best start to life before school that they can possibly get. The people who gave me my start were the hardworking educators at Engadine Preschool Kindergarten, the doors of which I first toddled through in 1999, and where Eve Hawkes has now been the much loved director for 30 years.
Eve has been a cornerstone of the Sutherland shire community for generations of kids, giving them the highest quality education and an unquantifiable contribution to inspiring the joy of learning in our kids. In addition to being an excellent director of the preschool kindergarten, Eve has been chair of Community Early Learning Australia, the peak body for Australia's early and middle childhood education sector.
Eve has been an outspoken advocate for the social and academic benefits of early education and for families' ability to access that early childhood education. Eve will be retiring at the end of this year. I've had the pleasure of visiting Engadine Preschool Kindergarten several times over the last year, and it's been moving to see how much and how little has changed.
There may be new faces and a new generation of Engadine kids enjoying the opportunity to learn, to play and to grow. But Engadine Preschool Kindergarten's commitment to world-class early childhood education under Eve's stewardship has remained. Thank you, Eve Hawkes, for your tireless work that has been of enormous benefit to so many children and, now, many adults throughout our community.
Congratulations on a fantastic legacy, and I wish you all the very best in the next phase of your life journey. Five talented teams of the Bosco netball club scored a series of sensational victories in this season's grand finals. Grand finals day was 29 August, with an all-star team of players in under-11s, under-12s, under-13s, senior 1 and senior 2 duking it out on the courts.
Entering the finals in fourth, the D3s battled their way to the top, culminating in a legendary two-goal grand final win with my sister playing a critical second-quarter role in the victory. After holding the top spot all season, the D2s came away victorious in their grand final as well. The under-11s, after smashing the minor premiers, likewise walked away with a well-deserved grand final trophy.
Congratulations to all the competitors from Bosco netball club. I wish you well in your preparations to take on next season's trophies as well. I was honoured to attend the Menai Hawks Netball Club annual presentation to celebrate an outstanding season this week.
In a successful season for the Hawks, their 17 div 4s, 15 div 2s, 15 T1s and 17 T1s all came away with premiership trophies. Presentation day was a chance to celebrate all the Hawks teams who had worked so hard, shooting goals and climbing up the scoreboard throughout the year. Congratulations, Hawks netball teams, for all your success this season.
Menai Hawks Football Club also saw great success in the grand finals, with the W21B team coming away victorious with a terrific two to one win against the Caringbah Redbacks. The AWO5, AWO8 and O35A teams also played a series of hard-fought games and were— (Time expired)