Students aspire for excellence on iPads

The first day of school will be particularly memorable for these Year 8s who are among the first students at Byford Secondary College.

The $35 million school opened yesterday with more than 170 students, including four sets of twins. By 2019 it is expected to grow to about 1400 students from Years 7 to 12.

Principal Trevor Hunter said the school would offer a range of subjects to cater for every student, whether they aspired to be a plumber or a neurosurgeon.

He hopes the community will embrace the college, which has adopted the motto "aspire to excellence".

Mr Hunter said students would not have to lug around heavy bags full of textbooks because parents had agreed to buy iPads, with all books provided by the school in electronic form.

"In this school there won't be any hard-copy textbooks, except for a few reference copies in the library," Mr Hunter said.

Education Minister Peter Collier said the college was a good example of how schools were changing to meet the demands of the modern world.

Byford was one of seven new public schools which had opened in response to population growth in outer suburbs.

The students said they were looking forward to being the foundation pupils who would help set the school's culture.

Bethany Hiatt