Great leap forward for science

School principal Alby Freijah said the $1.97 million science centre would encourage more middle-years students to study science.

It would also allow VCE students to do subjects beyond the traditional disciplines of physics, chemistry and psychology.

The school will invite primary schools to use the centre, which has been in use since the start of the school year.

Mr Freijah said the school’s vision for the centre was that Tallangatta and other high schools could use it for science practical work now done in Melbourne.

“It’s the largest infrastructure facility that we have had since the school was built in 1963,” he said.

“It’s significant because students are now engaged in state-of-the-art learning using state-of-the-art resources.”

The project came about through the federal government’s Building the Education Revolution $16.2 billion program.

Mr Freijah said the school had used a building template offered through the program rather than develop its own plan, and had already found the design worked perfectly.

Tallangatta, through its school council, had applied for the grant in 2009.

Mr Freijah said there was simply no other way the school could have achieved such an outstanding result.

He said extending or modifying existing buildings would have still left it far short of what it has today.

He said the school council had began to look seriously at possible funding about five years ago.

Another $230,000 from the federal program was used on other refurbishment at the school.

Victorian senator David Feeney opened the centre.

Senator Feeney said projects such as Tallangatta’s “are making a real difference by improving the learning environment for our children”.

“They change the way our students learn and give teachers and staff a more enjoyable place to work,” he said.

Mr Freijah said students greatly enjoyed using the centre.

“Our students don’t take things for granted,” he said.