Funding boost for school labs

Eight primary schools and one high school in the South West have been selected in the latest round of funding for science lab classroom conversions.

Adam Road, Boyanup, Bunbury, Capel, Clifton, Cooinda, Dardanup and Parkfield primary schools and Donnybrook District High School were among 100 education facilities in the State to receive money in the second round of funding.

Each school will also receive $25,000 to purchase laboratory equipment and resources such as 3D models of the solar system and human anatomy, digital microscopes, 3D printers, virtual reality headsets, robotics kits and renewable energy kits.

Donnybrook principal James Milne said he was thrilled his school was one of the 100 selected.

“Being a split-site school we have a science lab on our senior campus but we don’t have a science lab on our junior campus,” he said.

“So it is an opportunity for us to transition our kids to secondary really well with an opportunity to access a lab and be taught by a science specialist at the junior campus.

“Students need science in so many of the pathways they are going to be taking in the future so it is a crucial subject for our students.

“It is not just science but it is linking it to digital technologies and subjects like that.”

Collie-Preston MLA Mick Murray said schools were selected based on their plans to grow and improve science education.

“The McGowan Government is preparing WA kids for the jobs of the future,” he said.

“These new science labs in our local schools will get students excited to learn the skills they’ll need in the 21st century.

“WA’s next generation will be inspired and supported right here in our community.”