STEM Education

Ms DIGANCE (Elder) (15:31): It is with great pride and excitement that I speak today about the STEM program announcement in the budget this year. The STEM program, giving focus to a program of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, incorporating chemistry and physics, through offering contemporary facilities combined with cutting-edge teaching and learning approaches, will help prepare students for future jobs in a wide range of industries from health through to defence.

In the budget, we welcomed a spend of $250 million on building and/or upgrading 139 schools statewide which will give benefit to around 75,000 students. This is set to be one of the biggest investments in school infrastructure in our schools' history. I was particularly delighted when two schools in my electorate were included in this announcement: Forbes Primary School and Hamilton Secondary College. Forbes has received $1 million and Hamilton $2.5 million—a wonderful achievement, and a reward for their commitment to learning in this space and the relationship they are building between both schools, connecting primary and secondary school students.

Forbes Primary School, located on four hectares of land in South Plympton, has a long history, having opened in 1952. In the late fifties, at its peak, Forbes Primary School was the largest school of its kind in Australia with over 1,800 students. Today, the school has some students who are third-generation attendees with a school population of around nearly 300. They have various linguistic, socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds.

With the opening of the Forbes Children's Centre on the site in 2010, there is now an extensive facility that caters for preschool and out-of-school hours care as well as schooling from reception to year 7. The precinct is now a one-stop shop for quality care and education for children and students aged from three months through to 13 years. There are also on offer many high-quality parenting courses and groups.

The other school, Hamilton Secondary College, was established in 1958 as Mitchell Park Boys Technical High School, which became coeducational in 1972. It amalgamated with Glengowrie High School in 1991, and the school was renamed Hamilton Secondary College. The college is a dynamic hub of activity comprising a secondary campus from years 8 to 12 and an adult campus where adults can undertake a wide range of pre-SACE, SACE, certificate, pre-university and vocational courses. Students with disabilities are also catered for with individual programs within the purpose-built disability unit. Hamilton Secondary College participates in the International Space School program and soon will commence work on its Mars project, enabling students to experience life on Mars.

I was delighted, on the day post the budget announcement, to contact the principals of both schools to congratulate them on this wonderful milestone in the life of their schools. Since then, I have attended both schools on different occasions to present the principals with certificates to commemorate this significant event. The ceremony occurred at the schools' respective assemblies where students were excited and engaged by the prospect of what the school would soon have to offer by way of this type of learning with them in the driver's seat, enabling them to experiment, innovate and take risks in a safe learning environment.

In addition to these events was an extra exciting day when a couple of weeks ago the official statewide launch of the STEM program happened at Forbes Primary School, where we were joined by Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis and Minister for Education, Susan Close. After the press conference, the animated and engaging interaction occurred with the students, who were ready to meet with us and show us what they had achieved when they had been encouraged in STEM activities. We witnessed and discussed the activities of robotics, computational programs, research and board games. The children were very enthusiastic and explained and demonstrated what they had heard. They clearly were delighted in their learning—a wonderful achievement.

I know that Forbes Primary School is nominated in round 1, with Hamilton in the second round. Works have already begun at Forbes identifying the appropriate area within the school grounds, and I look forward to that particular precinct being opened in the near future. I congratulate both schools. I know this has been extremely welcome in the community and that there is a lot of anticipation and excitement in the local area as we look forward to the STEM program being developed locally and indeed statewide.