LUCAS Heights Community School has a new outdoor feature that could could be "a first" in the state's public education system.
Early last year, four year 10 students asked principal Kevin Haydon if they could start a remote control car club and build a track in the school grounds.
Not only did Mr Haydon, a former industrial arts teacher, say "yes", he also helped them build a stand from which to operate their vehicles.
The track — an unused area of the school grounds, has four jumps and some challenging corners.
With some cars being capable of speeds of more than 100km/h, it provides plenty of scope for airborne stunts and spectacular crashes.
Mr Haydon said the track was "quite unique".
"I have never seen one at any other school," he said. "It's an example of how well you can get kids engaged."
Patrick Wilson, Lachlan Davis, Dean Lendvai and Connor Pascoe lead the club of 12 members.
Mr Haydon said Patrick and Lachlan approached him "as a consequence of me promoting interest groups within the school".
"They built the track by hand, with picks and shovels, just the four of them, with a little bit of help from both senior and junior students," he said.
Mr Haydon, who was appointed principal five years ago, said he was "a big believer of interest groups".
"To put it simply, it gives kids something they really want to come to school for, apart from learning," he said.
Mr Haydon said there were 42 interest groups, each with a teacher patron, including an environment club, senior and junior choirs and dance groups, an aeronautical society and an African drumming band.
The groups met before or after school, during recess and lunch breaks and at other times if responsible adults were present.
"My view is schools are under-used resources," he said.
"Getting responsible members of the community into the school outside of school hours — and sometimes inside school hours — fosters community ownership and reduces vandalism.
"We used to have a big vandalism problem, but it is dramatically down."
Mr Haydon said a soil improvement program undertaken by the environment club had enabled the creation of a new sports field.
LUNCHTIME FUN
Patrick Wilson said the remote control car track ‘‘gives people another reason to come to school, apart from just doing work’’. ‘‘We like to smash each other, but we are also aiming to introduce formal races in the near future,’’ he said.
Lachlan Davis said, ‘‘It’s essentially to have a bit of fun at lunchtime’’.
‘‘There’s a bit of competition, but it’s mainly having a laugh and trying to become a better driver.’’
