Mossman High School will be the recipient of $600,000 to build new science and technology facilities for students transitioning to secondary school.

State Member for Cook announced the funding with Principal Deborah Katchell yesterday, and said the money was part of the Government's five-year $850 million State Schools of Tomorrow program.
 
“These new science labs will ensure students have modern facilities and equipment for their studies and will hopefully encourage more students to take up science," Mr O'Brien said.
 
“The new labs also mean that the school will be well equipped for the shift of Year 7 into high school, which takes place state wide in 2015."

Ms Katchell said there will be two new buildings constructed at the school and will accommodate the additional 80 to 90 students they expect in the first year of the transition.

"They are rooms in which Grade 8 students can get a taste of what science is like.

"I think the kids need exposure to a full lab science experience which they will get from the labs we currently have, but because we only have two, these labs will be set up in a very different way.

"While their exposure to science will increase to what they experienced at primary school, it's not going to be at that high end so it's really just an introduction."

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Mr O'Brien said the move to incorporate Year 7 students into secondary school will bring the State in line with the rest of the country.

"Why we're transitioning kids from primary school in Year 7 to secondary school in Year 7 is because we're finding the kids are getting bored, they're getting restless, and they're ready to move on and be exposed to a broader curriculum like science.

"There's going to be a whole heap of capital requirements to meet the transition.

"We see it as a necessary change to get Queensland kids up to the national average. At the moment what we're seeing is Queensland kids are not up to national standards, although here at Mossman they are, but generally across the board they're not."

Mr O'Brien said additional funding will be required to meet the growing needs of the school.