At this week's meeting the guest speaker was Charles Gauci - Principal, Cowra High School.

This was his second talk to Rotary, the first being around five years ago when he had been principal at the school for only a few months.

He thanked members for an opportunity to speak again at a Rotary meeting. When he first spoke to Rotary he spoke then about his vision for the school and he made the statement that change is now constant. They were trying to prepare students for a world and careers that were not yet present.

It is now almost five years since the speech and where is Cowra High now?

Charles believes that change is still constant in education but also outside it. At the local level Cowra High has not stopped trying to provide students with the maximum educational opportunities available.

The need is to not only to equip the students with the skill levels needed today but the skills they will need tomorrow.

So what have been the main changes for Cowra High School in the last five years? Many have only occurred recently. Many of these changes have been based on an understanding of Cowra and the Cowra community. In 2014 a major change was made to the curriculum. This change enabled students to choose elective subject in years nine to ten from a list of twenty-one.

With this structure students are able to experience up to five different electives over two years. These include subjects such as music, dance, metalwork, woodwork, computer studies, Japanese, commerce, and starting in 2016 engineering and electronics designed to extend the science and mathematics students.

This structure provides three very important advantages for the students. Number one is the variety of subjects experienced through year's nine and ten. The second, the opportunity to sample more subjects that they might be thinking of studying for HSC before actually commencing them. And the final advantage is the opportunity to get key foundation skills in these subjects before they start their senior studies. In the last five years the level of technology in our schools has grown greatly. Now each faculty has a self-contained trolley of approximately 20 computers each. That is between 150 and 180 computers available for the exclusive use of the students during lessons. Almost all classrooms are now equipped with interactive whiteboards, of various varieties.

The school now has its first 3D printer. This opens up another level of technology for our students.

The arts continue their phenomenal growth over the few years; the school band is growing in strength with students from year seven to ten involved. Dance at Cowra high is already at an exceptional level. Each year there are students selected for the state dance festival and schools spectacular.

Charles expressed his gratitude to Rotary for their generous support of their senior science students such as Brody Hannan and Virginia Wells.

This year has seen the introduction of the Cowra High Improvement Program. This program is specifically targeting literacy and numeracy. Most of the programs are one on one or one on two and are already producing outstanding results. Aside from the progress that is being seen from the students has been seen an enthusiasm for learning that is driving the school forward.

Another program is the Positive Behaviour for Learning program.

The school is striving to install their two core values being respect and responsibility in everything.

What's in the pipeline for the future of Cowra high? The big change in 2016 will be with what they are doing for brighter students.

After Charles had finished there was lively question and answer session which indicated the interest he had generated in the audience.