| Northcote High School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Northcote, Victoria,, Australia | |
| Information | |
| Type | Government Secondary School |
| Motto | Meliora Sequamur (Let us follow the better things) |
| Established | 1926 |
| Principal | Kate Morris |
| Asst. Principal | Kevin Hoole Jocelyn Hill Nick Murphy |
| Grades | 7-12 |
| Enrolment | ~1,450 |
| Houses | Diamond, Darebin, Merri, Plenty, Batman, Sumner |
| Colour(s) | Purple, Green, Gold, Navy Blue and White |
| Yearbook | Ripples |
| Website | www.nhs.vic.edu.au |
Northcote High School is a co-educational, state high school in Northcote, Victoria, Australia. It is situated at the southern end of the City of Darebin, on St Georges Road.
Teaching from Year 7 through 12, the school has a population of around 1,450 students.[1] Northcote has a large music and science program, and has been recognised as a significant leader in the use of learning technologies in the classroom.[2]
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Northcote High School was established in 1926 as a co-educational secondary school, one of the first six to be established in Melbourne by the Victorian Government. The school owes its establishment largely to agitation led by John Cain (senior), Northcote City Councillor and later Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for Jika Jika, with support from the Principals of nearby Wales Street Primary School and Northcote Primary School. Cain's repeated efforts to establish a school to provide secondary education for the predominantly working class suburb of Northcote were finally successful, despite an environment of opposition from conservative politicians and independent principals.[3]
Although Northcote High School was established as a coeducational school, it became a boy's school after 1928 when Preston Girls High School was established.[4] In the 1980s Northcote High School again began to enrol girls in response to community pressure, officially moving to coeducation in 1989.[5] In 2010 there are approximately 750 boys in the school and 640 girls enrolled.[1]
The school has a strong connection to the inner northern Melbourne suburbs of Fitzroy North, Clifton Hill, Brunswick East, Northcote, Thornbury, Fairfield, Preston and Reservoir with many of its students attending the school as their parents once did. A feature of Northcote High School is the numbers of staff who are former students (including two former School Captains) and others who have their own children at the school.
Northcote High School first offered a limited Maths and Science Matriculation (final year certificate) in the 1940s. Principal Alex Sutherland expanded Matriculation in the 1950s to include most subjects on the curriculum.[6] The school continues this tradition today with a very broad range of Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) subjects on offer.
Northcote High School celebrated its 80th anniversary in 2006. It remains one of very few Victorian government secondary schools that has not significantly changed its identity through closure, reorganisation or amalgamation.
Northcote High School acquired the Boho South Primary School site in 1979, for use as a country outdoor education camp. It is situated in the Strathbogie Ranges, approximately 200 kilometres from Melbourne.
Most students spend 4 days there in Year 7 and 8, doing activities such as: hiking, visiting farms, canoeing, horse riding, swimming and bush camping. Boho camps are often run for Land Care projects with older students. NHS remains one of only a handful of Melbourne Government secondary schools to retain an off-site campsite into the 21st century.
Northcote High School has a long tradition of developing ties with schools overseas. In the 1930s students at Northcote High School corresponded with a school in Poland, and in the early 1950s the school began the practice of enrolling and hosting students from overseas, partly under the auspices of the Colombo plan.[7] In 1999, a sister school agreement was made with Huaibei Number One High School in Anhui province, China. Staff and student exchanges are conducted with this school every year. A second sister school agreement was made in 2002 with the Romanazzi Institute in Bari, Italy.
In 2010, there are approximately 80 International students studying at Northcote High School, all in the post compulsory Years 10 -12. The students come from 14 different countries, including China, Vietnam, Korea, Germany, Thailand and Italy.