General News
26 September, 2026
Ready to transform futures
WARRNAMBOOL’S new South West Tech School last week opened its doors to the general public for the first time.
The school, described as a ‘landmark asset’ that will connect students to their futures in a way never before seen in the region, was officially opened on Thursday by Member for Western Victoria Jacinta Ermacora.
Later in the afternoon, local residents were able to get their first look inside the new school during a special open night event.
The tech school, which is a separate entity located on the South West TAFE central Warrnambool campus, is already proving popular among local students and families.
Programs for students will start in term four and are already fully booked for the rest of the year, and heavily booked for term one, 2027.
The $8.8 million project brings world-class, immersive STEM experiences directly to local secondary students, providing hands-on learning experiences that help students explore emerging technologies, solve real-world challenges and discover future opportunities.
It complements what students are already learning in the classroom with hands-on access to robotics, drones, 3D printing and virtual reality.
South West Tech School is one of six new tech schools located in a TAFE or university, joining 10 previously announced.
It will provide free programs to more than 8000 students from 26 partner schools covering five local government regions in south-west Victoria.
Director Rohan Keert said South West Tech School was funded to have the type of equipment and expertise most schools cannot provide.
“Students will be met by one of our quadruped robots and brought inside the Tech School that has been designed to be inspiring,” Mr Keert said.
“There is a digital interactive floor screen, a floor to ceiling digital glass waterfall, and an e-sports arena we have named the Pixel Forge.”
The Tech School features three massive LED digital walls, a class set of gaming PCs, 3D printers, laser cutters and injection moulders for a Waste to Wonder plastics recycling program.
It also has different kinds of drones, including some to be used for water sampling in the Water Guardians program, while others will be used to explore precision agriculture in the Agri Futures program.
In a food innovation space, students will create bush food flavoured ice-cream and baked products.
“This has been an amazing refurbishment of an existing building that is inspiring, tech enabled, and future focused,” Mr Keert said.
“Now our job is to take the students from ‘wow’ to how’ through the programs they will experience at South West Tech School.”
South West TAFE CEO Mark Fidge said the tech school added an important piece to Warrnambool’s educational precinct.
Mr Fidge described the opening as a landmark moment for the region.
“It’s not like the old model of technical colleges or schools but something new and exciting to connect south-west students to their futures through emerging and in-demand opportunities,” he said.
“For young people in our region, this is the kind of hi-tech learning that was simply out of reach before now.”
The project was funded by the Department of Education.
