Finished on time and within budget

NSW was the only education authority to complete Science and Language Centres for 21st Century Secondary Schools on time and within budget.

The NSW Government Science and Language Centres for 21st Century Secondary Schools component provided a $151 million investment in 118 NSW Government secondary schools.

It delivered new and improved science centres and language centres and involved an estimated average of 700 workers on site each day.

In NSW Government schools, the program delivered:

• 41 new language centres
• 1 refurbished language centre
• 25 new science centres
• 51 refurbished science centres

About the program

Science and Language Centres for 21st Century Secondary Schools (SLC) delivered newly constructed and refurbished science learning centres and language learning centres to eligible secondary schools across NSW.

On June 30 2009, the Australian Government announced $810 million of funding for the SLC program, including $151 million of funding for 118 NSW public schools.

The SLC program complemented the NSW Government’s Building Better Schools program, a $145 million program to upgrade 800 science laboratories by 2011.

How was funding determined?

SLC funding was determined through a nationally competitive assessment process. The BER Program Office prioritised project nominations in line with the following Australian Government guidelines:

• Demonstrated level of disadvantage
• Identified and demonstrated need for the specified building
• Capacity to build the facility within the specified timeframes
• Effective and efficient use of Australian Government funding
• Extent to which the project incorporates sustainable building principles.

NSW Public Schools were able to nominate for either a language centre or science centre – not both. Final funding decisions were made by the Australian Government. A list of schools that received funding is available on the Approved Funding page.

What types of projects were delivered?

The Science and Language Centres for 21st Century Secondary Schools program delivered both newly constructed and refurbished science centres and language centres to eligible secondary schools across NSW.

1. Science Centres

The design for the new science centres was based on research and input from experienced science teachers and curriculum experts, resulting in learning spaces that are more flexible than the traditional designs. Classrooms were designed with a distinct separation between the practical learning space and the general learning space, and could have been formatted within these parameters to suit a variety of teaching styles and curricula.

The new science centres utilise modern information and communications technologies, with Interactive Whiteboards, wireless networking facilities and fixed data points included in all designs, providing:

• access to interactive animations and simulations that model scientific concepts,
• access to videos, podcasts, Web casts, live chat sessions and email,
• access to virtual environments and museums,
• opportunities for collaboration in global online science projects

Science centre refurbishments were delivered as an extension to the NSW Government’s Building Better Schools (BBS) program. As with the BBS program, the number of refurbished science centres was determined by a school’s current and projected enrolments (whichever was the greatest).

2. Language Centres

Information and communication technologies were central to the design of the new language learning centres. Each classroom featured the Department of Education and Communities’s own Connected Classrooms standard facilities in the general learning space, plus a second Interactive Whiteboard in a separate seminar room.

The new language centres enable students to experience direct online collaboration with other connected classrooms across the state. Video conferencing facilities present opportunities to engage in virtual foreign language exchanges with other schools and teachers around the world, providing students with language learning experiences in real time or virtual environments.

These new facilities also present opportunities to enhance language learning by providing easy reconfiguration of furniture for a wider range of activities within the one learning space.

How were projects delivered?

A competitive tender process was undertaken to determine the contractors to deliver the newly constructed elements of the program. The successful contractors were:

The refurbished elements of the program were delivered by way of variations to the NSW Government’s existing Building Better Schools contracts. The successful contractors were:

More information

• Timeline
• Approved Funding
• Contacts