For other uses, see Pimlico (disambiguation).
| Pimlico State High School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Townsville, Queensland, Australia | |
| Information | |
| Type | Public |
| Established | 1959 |
| Principal | James Sloman |
| Enrolment | Co-educational Grades 8-12 |
| Campus | Pimlico |
| Colour(s) | Blue & White |
| Website | http://pimlicoshs.eq.edu.au/ |
Pimlico State High School is a public high school in Townsville, Australia. The school places much emphasis on academic achievement and performing arts, especially music.
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Many concerts are held in the school's performing arts centre. The air-conditioned building contains a raised stage complete with theatre lights and sound systems, a rehearsal room, and backstage storage and dressing rooms.There is a building dedicated to manual arts, and many computer rooms. There are three home economics kitchens which have recently been upgraded to better facilitate the students. All classrooms are air-conditioned.
The school also has two large ovals for various sports and physical education classes. The MPS or multipurpose shelter is used for school assemblies, indoor sports and for functions with attendances too large to fit in the performing arts centre. At the end of this building there is a sprung gymnastics floor used for physical education classes and for external gymnastic classes.
Pimlico State High School first opened in January 1959 with 6 teachers and 168 students. Initially, classes were held in the Exhibition Hall at the Townsville Show Grounds, but by April, B Block was completed and students moved to the present school site. Before the zoning of the land for education purposes, the site known as "Anderson's Paddock" and was used as a military base by American forces during World War II.
The first Principal of the school was Mr J. A. Wolfe B.Sc., followed by Mr M. J. Bourke B.A. In October 1961, the Minister for Education, Mr Pizzey, officially opened the school. In 1962, the school was gazetted as a Class II High School and gained its first Deputy Principal, Mr B. Shaw B.A. The first matriculation students from Pimlico entered the University College of Townsville (then situated on the site of the present TAFE College - Pimlico Campus) in 1963. In 1964, the school enrolled 500 year 8 students and in 1966 a number of former year 12 students became some of the original undergraduates of the new James Cook University at Douglas. Total student numbers at the school increased rapidly from the mid 1960's, with numbers peaking at 2043 in 1975. In this year, Pimlico State High School has become one of the largest school in term of attending students in Townsville. In 1991, the school was gazetted a Band 11 High School.
Pimlico State High School is currently attended by almost 1500 students, has just updated its musical facilities and the current principal is Mr James Sloman.
Pimlico students annually participate in the Festival Of One Act Plays held at the Townsville's Civic Theatre. Also, the students of Pimlico High annually hold a variety concerts called 'Pimlico Presents' (normally around August) featuring acts such as dancing, comedic short dramas and rock bands. The school offers dance and drama as educational subjects from grades 9-12.
Pimlico High School offers a range of English oriented extracurricular activities in which its school attendants may participate in at will. The school is a part of National Debating Tournaments, the Annual Optiminds Challenge, multiple Inter-State Sporting Teams as well as a competing musical symphony.
Students actively participate in inter-school debate competitions. There are several school teams that participate each year, depending on participants age group or skill level.
As well as debating, Pimlico students who excel in the creative thought or acting areas of schooling life, often participate in the yearly Tournament of the Minds or Optiminds competition. Students usually have 6 – 8 weeks of preparation time in which to write, design and perform a small composition piece directly linked to the years Optiminds challenge. As in debating, this is also an inter-school competition, with Pimlico normally submitting several teams, and usually performing quite well with a good percent of their participants making it to state level qualifiers.
The Young Diplomats Program (YDP) is a newly adopted student program for Pimlico State High School, with the Program only being started by the school in May 2007. The Program continued through 2008, with a team consisting of last years Diplomats, now acting as mentors, helping tutor the new Young Diplomats as they represented Chile on the Day of Diplomacy held at James Cook University.
Pimlico State High School has a range of Inter-School competing sports teams, with students forming a variety of Soccer, Hockey, Football, Tennis, Rowing, Swimming, Equestrain and Netball groups. Pimlico students are divided into 4 houses, Royal, Alexandra, Phoenix and Pandanus (all native palm trees) and compete against each other at the Inter-School swimming and athletics carnival along with the cross country to fight for either the house or spirit trophy.