It was difficult to walk away from the session, which included presentations from four of our top school leaders and officials, and not be impressed.

This was a morning sparked up by the passion, vision, wisdom and inspiration that wove its way through the public, private and tertiary sector of the broader education portfolio in a common thread with so much to offer.

Education is a significant industry in this city, blessed with a well-earned reputation for quality and employing thousands of professionals across a broad spectrum of fields. The education experience on offer here in Bendigo also provides our young people with a quality education as good as anywhere in Victoria.

The ever-increasing partnerships with industry and business that our schools are developing appear to be producing positive outcomes and as we teeter on the cusp of a major digital revolution, there’s a promise of a new ultranet age that would bring the very best curriculum and teaching ideas from across the planet into local classrooms as part of a program currently in development here in Victoria.

The spirit of co-operation and the willingness of schools to set aside whatever philosophical differences may exist for the sake of better educating their respective students was as refreshing as it was exciting, not just for education in Bendigo today, but especially for education in the future.

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