Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Friday I attended St Mary's Catholic school at Gateshead—it is a year 7 to 10 school—for the launch of National Science Week. The thing that is so overwhelming about it is that the main part of the festival is concentrating on STEM and what students at St Mary's have achieved in that area. The CSIRO were present, as were Rotary, the University of Newcastle and, of course, the school's teachers and students.

St Mary's is a pretty special school. There is a science and engineering challenge that has been conducted for many years and St Mary's is one of the outstanding performers in that competition. They have a real commitment to science and technology, just as they have a real commitment to STEM. It was interesting seeing how students had programmed certain activities, and how these programs work. In addition to that, they were working from apps on their phones that they had purchased. The day before they had been involved in a battery technologically powered bicycle race where one of the students recorded the fastest lap. I congratulate St Mary's High School.