| Pine Rivers State High School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Gympie Road Strathpine, Queensland, Australia |
|
| Information | |
| Type | State secondary school |
| Motto | "By Different Ways to Excellence" |
| School district | Greater Metropolitan Brisbane |
| Principal | Ms J. K. Deakin |
| Grades | 8 - 12 |
| Enrolment | 1500 approx. |
| Campus | Suburban |
| Colour(s) | Green & Gold |
| Website | http://pineriversshs.eq.edu.au [1] |
Pine Rivers State High School is an Australian Queensland state secondary school situated north of Brisbane in the suburb of Strathpine.
Contents |
Prior 2007, Pine Rivers High School was split into four sport houses. Upon enrolment of the school, students were put into the houses of either 'Tjingilli', 'Wandajina', 'Kuran' or 'Kulukan'. Each of the houses were allocated a primary colour that the students could choose to wear on sporting occasions, including swimming carnivals and athletics days. In 2007, a choice was made to abandon the previous system of houses and split the school cohort into two sporting houses. All students (and teachers) with a last name ranging from 'A' to 'L' were assigned to the 'Pine Panthers', whereas 'M' to 'Z' were allocated to the 'Rivers Rhinos'. The emblems of 'Pine Panthers' were the panther animal and the colour green, where 'Rivers Rhinos' adopted the rhino for its emblem and yellow as its colour.
Pine Rivers High School releases a fortnightly newsletter to the school community titled "Rivers Review". The newsletter contains brief summarises of student achievements in the two weeks, in addition to notifying parents on upcoming events, important happenings and reminders. Pine Rivers also releases an annual yearbook, entitled "The Pine Rivers Prism". Compiled by a set of Year 12 students, called the 'Prism Committee', the Prism is a free book available to the students and teachers at the conclusion of the school year, and includes photos of various school events, list of annual highlights, achievements and a complete record of the student and teacher cohort.
Pine Rivers High School has an extensive background in both communal and school based events. The various cause of the events range from the general enjoyment of the students, to showcasing the school to the public. The school also promotes various public events including 'Harmony Day', 'Anzac Day' and 'NAIDOC Week'.
The school hosts an annual expo, which primarily serves as a way of showcasing the school to the public. Members of the general public, typically graduates from primary schools, attend the EXPO to gain a general feel of the school's atmosphere, and can sample different activities available from the school curriculum. Traditionally, EXPO showcases aspects of departments including the school's multi award winning performing arts program. Typically, the performances include the String Ensemble, Concert Band and Stage Band, and the various dance squads the school offers.
For over 30 years, Pine Rivers have annually presented a musical. While the production is decided by the members of the Performing Arts staff, the musical includes members of the school's students. After a vigorous creation period, the musical is performed to paying members of the general public. The pinnacle of student interaction came in 2005, when over 300 students were involved in the staging 'Johnny Rock'. Pine Rivers' annual musical is held around the months of March–May, and is performed over a 3 day period of the Wednesday, Friday and Saturday on its respective week, with a Matinée for local primary schools to view the Musical on the Tuesday morning. The school boasts the reputation of never performing the same musical twice, and celebrated its unique performance standard in 2006 by staging a remake of the 'Wizard of Oz', 'The Wiz', to commemorate its original performance years earlier. The musicals vary in theme, with the 33rd being a rendition of Burgertown, which was the first time the production was staged in Australia.
The school's major fundraiser, the Walkathon is a sporting/social event in which students walk 13 km from the school, to local park Sweeney's Reserve, Petrie. Although optional, enthusiastic participation of the students typically result in a dress up to suit a certain theme that the students have selected. Throughout the years the themes have had extreme variations, from the 'Mad Hatter's Derby Day' to 'Sparrow Invades Neverland', whereas in recent years the school have adopted themes such as 'Heroes and Villains', Disney and the most recent being 'Myths and Legends'.