The Grange P-12 college has officially opened their $9.5 million Sports Science Academy for student use.
Education minister Natalie Hutchins and Tarneit MP Sarah Connolly joined students and staff on Monday, July 18, for a ribbon cutting ceremony.
College principal David Smillie said the school used the funding to refurbish the gymnasium, develop a weights and condition room, cardio exercise testing lab and fully refurbished science spaces and breakout rooms.
“We have a lot of students who are really into sports, and really wanted to further develop that and create a program that was going to really engage them,” Mr Smillie said.
“[The Sports Science Academy] is a program to enhance kids sporting abilities, give them great opportunities to succeed and more importantly, our curriculum is matched around the health program, relates back to psychical fitness, [and] they have nutrition programs through food tech directly related around healthy diets.”
Assistant principal, sports science academy Kendall Clarke said the program would give students high level coaching and the opportunity to engage with sports that they wouldn’t normally engage with.
“The pathways opportunity into elite sporting competitions is really fantastic,” Ms Clarke said.
“We’ve got state championships all over the place in different sporting arenas, rugby, netball, vollyball, so they’re getting a lot of exposure to sport that they wouldn’t have gotten previously.
“There’s so much talent, it’s just brilliant, the kids are absolutely loving the knowledge and expertise that they get from this program.”
