Meridan State College students celebrate opening of first stages

Students at Meridan State College, at Caloundra, today celebrated the official opening of their state-of-the-art Stage One junior school and Stage Two middle school.

Education and Training Minister Rod Welford said the school had grown rapidly since it opened to 278 Prep-Year 6 students in 2006.

“Since last year, with the addition of Years 7 and 8, the student population has grown to 930,” Mr Welford said.

“An additional year level will be added each year until Year 12 is offered in 2012.”

Mr Welford said the Bligh Government’s Smart State strategy was focused on the future and on innovation.

“We want students to learn to think and work creatively,” he said.

“Meridan has state-of-the-art facilities which include the ICT centre which houses a ‘blue room’ and editing suite, a junior/middle performing arts centre, a research and discovery centre and a creative design technology centre which will help the college achieve its ambition to become a school of excellence in creative industries.

“Creativity now unlocks doors in every area of our knowledge economy and it will be even more so in the future.

“Employers want people who can work at speed, solve complex problems and generate creative solutions – this ‘creative capital’ is predicted to be the most valuable asset of the 21^st century.

“With its high-quality facilities and staff, Meridan State College will help develop students who think and work creatively.”

Mr Welford said Stage One which consisted of 19 classrooms, an administration building and a resource centre was built with State Government funding of $15.046 million.

Stage Two, which consisted of 28 classrooms, was built with State funding of $9.6 million and $9.5 million of Federal Government funding.

In this year’s State Budget, $4 million was allocated to build additional primary school facilities and $2 million was committed to start planning for Stage 3, the senior school.

Media contact: Marnie Stitz or Emma Clarey on 3237 1000