The whole school population is involved in farming the trout, measuring the pH levels, food loads and water quality as part of the learning program. 

School principal Geoff Hastings said the trout start out as fingerlings and were fed, studied and cared for until they were ready for the table.

The project began in 2010 when the school made an application for a trade training centre. 

They ultimately decided the $800,000 aquaculture centre was a better option because it would allow more students, of varying ages, to be involved. 

Mr Hastings said the trout were specifically bred to be sold for food.

As part of the process, the students prepare the trout for the table by gutting and cleaning them. 

The trout start off as fingerlings about 3cm long and in just 12 months average around 99 grams.

Mr Hastings said the 12-months cycle allows the students to track the trout throughout their growth, become involved in marketing the fish, and get them sold and onto the table. 

He said the aquaculture centre had been great for engaging the students.

Students from Carenne school are also involved in the program.

Mr Hastings said people were finding the end product delicious.

“The trout are eagerly being snapped up by the school community and, at $12 per trout, are a fantastic bargain,” Mr Hastings said.

Word is that Mr Hastings is an enthusiastic consumer of the fish and he has declared them better than the fresh Atlantic salmon he ate while working in Canada a few years ago.

Mr Hastings said the 2014 crop was selling at the moment and Bathurst High was now working to register itself as a primary producer of fresh water fish so the fish could be sold to the wider Bathurst community.

“Hopefully then we will be able to sell our freshly grown trout at the farmers’ market and to local restaurants for a very good price,” he said. “As far as we know Bathurst High School’s aquaculture centre is the only one based in a school.”

 - certainly it is one of the biggest.”