Tuesday, 26 November 2024

 Kathleen MATTHEWS-WARD (Broadmeadows) (13:12): I love hearing the ideas of young people, and recently I had the pleasure of hearing from students from Glenroy College, John Fawkner College, Coburg High and Pascoe Vale Girls at the magnificent STEM Centre of Excellence at the Science Gallery at Melbourne University. The kids had a ball, made new friends and showcased their ideas from the inaugural Merri-bek interschool innovators program, with a focus on clean energy. As one group said, when everyone is working together we all benefit. Never a truer word was spoken.

The program is a great example of the opportunities being offered through the Merri-bek North Education Plan. It was great to have the Deputy Premier out to Glenroy College to officially launch the plan and announce $50,000 in funding, building on the previous $9.2 million upgrade and the recent works updating the oval. The plan has a focus on excellence, wellbeing and improving subject choice, opportunities and facilities. The strong partnerships with universities are already evident, and the soon-to-be built Broadmeadows tech school will broaden opportunities for skills development in local high-growth industries, such as renewable energy, advanced manufacturing, logistics, robotics and IT.

Schools are sharing both resources and expertise, and having had the pleasure of opening the incredible new $1.9 million arts and technology centre at Pascoe Vale Girls College with the member for Pascoe Vale, this is fabulous news – first-class facilities that all local kids can benefit from. The new $14.5 million science and visual arts building and new food technology hub under construction at John Fawkner College will also help deliver on the education plan. I am looking forward to being back at the Melbourne Uni STEM Centre of Excellence with the Deputy Premier next week to celebrate another successful year at John Fawkner College.