Time travel may not be scientific fact, but when your retro 1980s classrooms morph into shiny new laboratories and kitchens you know the force is with you.

Feeling the full force of a $6 million upgrade are Batemans Bay High School’s young scientists and food technology students.

The upgrade is being delivered under the ground-breaking Inspire program which is rolling out high potential and gifted education (HPGE) in every public school.

At Batemans Bay High School that commitment is being supported through new facilities that are allowing a range of new programs, such as enrichment streams, extension opportunities and STEM programs.

As a result students such as Gracie-May Webb, Gabrielle Woodham, Jorja Eade, Taeg Gentner and Memphis Retallick are already cooking up career opportunities to service the region’s vital tourism and hospitality needs. 

A new commercial cookery room will soon allow the school to deliver a Certificate II program.

Year 11 Hospitality student Gracie-May Webb wants a career in hospitality, is inspired by the new food tech rooms and can’t wait for the room to open.

“It gives me the proper motivation to start working and will really help us,” Gracie-May said.

Classmate Gabrielle plans to become a Technological and Applied Studies (TAS) teacher.

“It makes me excited to go to class,” she said of the upgrade.

“I'm interested in being a TAS teacher so I can teach kids how to cook, learn new dishes and cook for themselves when they're out of high school.”

Jorja, a talented Year 10 STEM student, works in a restaurant and hopes to use her food tech studies to secure employment while at university and when travelling.

“It is very motivating; everything's accessible and easier to use,” Jorja said.

Taeg Gentner, who also works in a local restaurant and wants to sharpen his skills to become a teppanyaki chef, welcomed the upgrade.

“It is more spread out and a safer environment,” Taeg said.

Classmate Memphis Retallick works in a commercial kitchen and is enjoying the school’s new equipment.

“It feels very good to know you've got a very spacious kitchen with lots of utensils and supplies,” Memphis said.

Technological and Applied Studies head teacher Darlene Dallas said the field of food technology had advanced since the previous facilities were installed in the 1980s.

“As a teacher, I find it very motivating, because it's a once-in-career upgrade,” she said.

“This has been really exciting.”

She looks forward to the imminent opening of the commercial cooking room for VET students.

“Knowing that we've got such brilliant facilities coming is really empowering for the kids, especially in a region that has a lot of hospitality work.

“Upskilling the kids just gives them confidence and skills to get better paid jobs and a higher standard of work, with better qualifications.

“When they were created in the late 80s, they were for a different course. The courses the students study now are much more about industry and about getting jobs, so the new rooms reflect that.”

Students agreed the new facilities reflected “real-world kitchens and shows what it would be like cooking in the industry”.

Future scientists and technicians will also learn in five upgraded laboratories, and students such as Tyler Little are taking full advantage.

He loves the new laboratories and wants to excel.

“It feels way better to work in,” he said of his new classroom, complete with fume hood, an adjustable experiment bench and walls painted in Batemans Bay High School’s signature red and black.

“I love everything about the field. I like physicists, biologists, geologists. I like finding out new and surprising things.”

Science, Agriculture and Biology teacher Rebecca Davey is “super excited” to be teaching in the new laboratories.

“We can really extend students,” Ms Davey said.

“We have a fume hood in every laboratory now, which is great for experiments that produce smoke or flames.

“Often, we have experiments that require the use of chemicals or materials that can have a higher risk, and the hood offers more protection; the fumes are carried out through filters.”

“We can do more experiments, particularly for senior students.

“They walk in and are in awe at how beautiful it looks and they were all vying to be in here,” Ms Davey said.

“They are so keen to do practical experiments.”

Principal Paula Brennan says wheelchair-accessible laboratory benches, which can be raised or lowered, thanks to a flexible hose to the sink, meant equity was “not an afterthought”.

Ms Brennan said the new cooking facilities meant students could work in teams and prepare for jobs in the industry.

“Students have the correct equipment to work in industry, gain good results and increase their love of learning,” she said.

Bateman’s Bay High School is one of 33 NSW public schools benefitting from a $100 million statewide investment in science and technology laboratories, kitchens, libraries, creative arts spaces, sporting facilities and design workshops.