Ms Rachel O'Connor:

I will take over. Senator O'Reilly is dead right: it is more about education. When we look at the sociology of education, we are also talking about schooling. The amount of schooling that takes place while students are with us on a day-to-day basis is beyond recognition. It is not just about the delivery of a curriculum. To go back to the restorative practice piece again, as educators we cannot take for granted that the teenagers in front of us know how to have a two-way conversation and know how to give and receive feedback. The Senator hit the nail on the head with her point about resilience, because now they are taking responsibility for their actions, they can acknowledge where they went wrong, and they are coming to the conversation focused on a solution. There is a really important piece there in terms of life skills when they leave school with something in their back pockets, even if that is to have a two-way conversation, which is really powerful. At times, they have to learn how to be number two.

It is not all about winning.

In terms of good nutrition, I absolutely agree. I have been in post for eight years and I have seen kids and met students for whom school is the only place where they get fed during the day. That is the stark reality of it. We are a DEIS school, so we have school meals provision. Everyone is entitled to a free breakfast and lunch. The students who are involved in after-school activities also get fed. According to Maslow before Bloom, our kids need to feel safe, they need to be fed and to have a warm and secure place before they can start learning. Schools play that vital role. That is often overlooked, not by the committee but by society at large. It overlooks the role schools play in terms of providing the basics day to day basis so that students can engage in the curriculum.