Students to reap the benefits of new Science Centre

St Paul’s College was established in 1965 and is situated in the beautiful Macleay Valley in Kempsey, on the mid north coast of New South Wales.

As part of the Science and Language Centres for 21st Century Secondary Schools (SLC) element of the Building the Education Revolution (BER), St Paul’s College received just under $2 million to build a new science facility.

Like many rural communities at present, Kempsey, with a population of just over 27,000, is experiencing a higher than average level of unemployment. The College will be using their SLC funding to assist students to gain employment outside the school.

The College will build a new research facility for their unique project ‘Produce for Products for People’. The new facility has been designed to allow for practical experience and research in the fields of agriculture, horticulture, permaculture and food science.

The new building will also have many sustainable features including solar panels, water tanks and energy efficient lighting.

The project is in line with the current emphasis on sustainable agriculture, recycling and organic farming and students have the opportunity to gain practical experience as well as increasing the range of technical skills the school can offer.

Students will use technology to record their findings using spreadsheets, data base management, digital images, multimedia, desktop publishing and presentation software.

“The new facility will allow students to be close to the College farm, making the process of growing and studying plants that much easier. Without the SLC funding this project may not have been possible as the school’s existing food science facilities were inadequate and outdated for the schools needs,” Assistant Principal, Ms Maria Mowle, said.

“The SLC funding will enable the school to build a designated ‘wet’ laboratory learning space so students can carry out important experiments in appropriate conditions and therefore enhance the learning process,” explained Ms Mowle.

The school has met with architects to finalise the design and plan of the new facility and the building is scheduled to commence later in the year.

More In Focus articles