Central West Adaptive Skills Hub
In February 2025 the LEEP team opened the doors to the Central West Adaptive Skills Hub at 176 Mort Street, Lithgow. This innovative workshop, maker space and laboratory has been designed for the delivery of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths (STEAM) subjects for local students, as well as micro-credential courses to provide the greater Lithgow community with access to skills training in topics to support workers in the transition to net zero.
What is adaptive capacity, and why an Adaptive Skills Hub?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change defines adaptive capacity as the potential or ability of a system, region, or community to adapt to the effects or impacts of climate change. Building Lithgow’s collective adaptive capacity represents a practical means of coping with changes and uncertainties and strengthens our community’s ability to withstand shocks.
In Lithgow’s context, one of the pressing concerns is the looming shift from an economy based on traditional, coal-based industry to a sustainable, net-zero economy. This is because currently more than 40% of Lithgow’s economy is reliant on coal or coal-related industry, and only 10% of the region’s coal is exported, meaning the region is heavily reliant on declining domestic coal sales.
The Central West Adaptive Skills Hub is a community-centred educational space which will provide an avenue to build the Lithgow community’s adaptive capacity by providing access to capacity-building and industry-aligned training to support workers in learning the skills they’ll need for the jobs of the future. It will also help pivot the education and training of the emerging workforce to STEAM skills – including a focus on leadership, teamwork, and innovation. STEAM is not just about university education and high-end technical jobs. STEAM skills are applicable to all jobs from primary production through to retail. STEAM skills create an adaptive workforce that is resilient to automation and the changing nature of work.
The Central West Adaptive Skills Hub is a collaboration of local schools, industries, unions and all levels of government (including First Nations governance structures) working together to create sustainable growth and long-term opportunities for the region. The Adaptive Skills Hub unites schools, industries, and government in preparing the region for transition of a Net Zero economy.
The LEEP team gratefully acknowledges that the Central West Adaptive Skills Hub and STEAM Pilot program in Lithgow are made possible by funding from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations’ Local Jobs National Priority Fund.
STEAM Pilot Program – primary schools
The goal of the Primary STEAM Pilot Program is to deliver high-quality and engaging STEAM programs through a variety of integrated and authentic learning experiences developed to encourage and support student interest in STEAM areas of learning and to upskill local teachers in 21st-century learning pedagogy.
This will be achieved by offering multiple teaching and learning pathways for schools to select between allowing teachers and students to improve and grow in their specific areas of need in a meaningful way. Students and teachers will have the opportunity to develop their skills in 21st-century skills such as filmmaking, coding, gamification and robotics.
Local primary schools will be invited to engage in an Interactive First Nations Sensory Garden program. This district wide STEAM program will immerse students in Wiradjuri culture, focusing on how the Wiradjuri people sustainably used the native plants as food, medicine and for utility. Students will have fun while learning valuable STEAM skills to prepare them for the future, including how to:
- Find and use evidence to explain how scientific knowledge can develop sustainable practices
- Pose critical questions to identify variables, conduct tests to gather data and interpret data to support arguments
- Use the ISTEM process to define, identify, brainstorm, design, prototype, evaluate, iterate and communicate their ideas and creations
- Develop reports, conduct experiments about the suitability of their proposed garden site, research native plants, debate and negotiate what they want to plant, create garden designs, develop a budget and present their finished gardens.
- Understand and continue to engage with First Nations culture in an authentic way
Alongside this, students will also be engaging in 21st-century learning by filming videos, developing online games, publishing recipes, creating scientific and artistic drawings, researching and writing reports all about the plants they will grow. This will be available to experience via QR codes published by the students.
Students aren’t the only learners here – teachers will also be participating in this professional learning opportunity. This program has specifically been developed to inspire Stage 3 teachers to increase their use of STEAM learning practices in classroom teaching, and to provide their students with more opportunities to develop their 21st-century learning skills – preparing them for the future!
To find out more, contact LEEP STEAM Education and Skills Coordinator Emma Francis on 02 6354 9999.
STEAM Pilot Program – secondary schools
The future of work is shifting fast, we are currently moving out of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and into the Fifth, and Lithgow is leading the way with a ground-breaking Drone STEAM Pilot Program, giving students hands-on experience in cutting-edge industries. With STEM jobs projected to grow by 14% – twice as fast as non-STEM roles – the Lithgow Emerging Economy Plan (LEEP) is investing in the next generation, ensuring our students are ready to take on high-tech careers of the future.
This innovative iSTEM elective, approved by the NSW Department of Education, is not just another school subject – it’s a launchpad for the careers of the future. The iSTEM course has a vast variety of specialised topics aligning with the state priorities outlined in the NSW Industry Development Framework. Students have the option of completing the 100-hour course (1 year), or the 200-hour course (2 years).
In the 100-hour course, students from Lithgow High School, Portland Central School, and La Salle Academy will immerse themselves in the scientific method, computer-aided design (CAD), programming, engineering, robotics, and mathematics – all while building, programming, and piloting drones. In the 200-hour course, students’ skillsets will be expanded to designing and programming other autonomous vehicles with a range of applications. Projects will also incorporate design and artistic elements, and creativity.
From Classroom to Skyline: Choreographing a Drone Light Show
In their first year of this Project-Based Learning experience, students will design, build, and program drones, culminating in an awe-inspiring drone light show set to a soundtrack – a fusion of technology, engineering, and creativity. Students’ won’t just be flying drones; they’ll be mastering the skills that power industries of the future, including:
✅ Scientific Concepts: Aerodynamics, motion, forces, properties of materials and conducting experiments
✅ Engineering & CAD: Designing and prototyping drone components
✅ Programming & Robotics: Programming flight paths and drone formations
✅ Mathematics & Data Science: Understanding flight dynamics and motion algorithms
✅ Innovation & Creativity: Developing drone performances
Students will gain real-world, industry-relevant experience in a collaborative, interdisciplinary environment, with lessons delivered across multiple campuses and hands-on training at the Central West Adaptive Skills Hub. By the end of the course, students will not only have mastered a range of technologies, but will also have developed essential workplace skills in project management, collaboration, communication, critical and creative thinking, and problem-solving. This is more than just an elective—it’s an opportunity to future-proof local students for careers in aviation, robotics, AI, data science, and engineering.
To find out more, contact LEEP STEAM Science & Technology Communicator Ingrid Moores on 02 6354 9999, or Principal of Lithgow High School Dr Foty Loupos 02 6352 1422.
Workforce planning and education pathways
Essential to the role of the Central West Adaptive Skills Hub in building local adaptive capacity is a detailed understanding of future workplace needs, and the education and training pathways required to staff the workplaces of the future.
During the first half of 2025 the LEEP team has worked with leading Australian workforce and transitions economist Professor Andrew Beer and his expert team to explore workforce planning and education pathways to strengthen the region’s adaptive capacity as the nation transitions towards net zero.
Professor Beer and his team have brought their knowledge of Australia’s economy and other transitioning regions’ social and economic trends, combined with the unique insights and requirements of local stakeholders to develop a series of reports which will be released later in 2025.
These reports will provide a roadmap for accelerating the region’s adaptive capacity with industry-aligned education and training pathways that will prepare Lithgow workers for the local jobs of the future, ensuring that the region is well-prepared for economic shifts.