Normanhurst Boys' High School

Normanhurst Boys High School
Know Thyself
Location
Normanhurst, New South Wales Australia
Coordinates	33°43′17″S 151°6′5″E / 33.72139°S 151.10139°E / -33.72139; 151.10139Coordinates: 33°43′17″S 151°6′5″E / 33.72139°S 151.10139°E / -33.72139; 151.10139
Information
School type	Selective, Public, Single-sex, Day school
Established	1958[1][2]
Principal	Mr Mark Anderson
Enrolment	~730[2]
Campus	Urban
Colour(s)	Red      Black
Website	www.normanhurb-h.schools.nsw.edu.au

Normanhurst Boys High School (colloquially known as Normo) is an academically selective, public, high school for boys, located in Normanhurst, on the Upper North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Established in 1958 and operated by the New South Wales Department of Education and Communities (DEC), the school currently caters for around 730 students from Years 7 to 12.^[2] The school, affectionately known as "Normo," celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2008.

History

In 1957, five schools made up the Hornsby School site, located on the Pacific Highway: a boys' primary school and a boys' junior technical school on the eastern side, and an infants school, a girls’ primary school, and a girls’ domestic science school on the western side.^[3] On 30 November 1957, the three western schools were destroyed by bushfires.^[3] Over the 1957-58 Christmas holidays, the three schools were relocated into the facilities of the boys' technical school, and the three year groups of boys were moved to a newly built but unopened school at Normanhurst.^[3]

From the opening in 1958 until 1993, Normanhurst Boys High School operated as a comprehensive school.^[3] In 1993, the Government of New South Wales marked Normanhurst as one of several high schools allowed to select students by academic achievement.^[3] The first intake of "selective" students was made up of those starting Year Seven in 1994, with a new intake of Year Sevens each year, until the school became fully selective in 1999.^[3] As of 2010, Normanhurst is one of 17 fully selective schools in New South Wales. ^[4]

Structure

Normanhurst Boys High School is an academically selective high school and accepts only 120 students in Year Seven, from those who have passed the Selective High Schools Examination in Year Six.^[5] Some students may be accepted into Years Eight to Eleven, through direct application to the school.^[6]

Facilities

The school has an area of 6.3 hectares, and is within five minutes walk of Normanhurst railway station.^[7]

Sport

Normanhurst Boys High School comes under the North West Metropolitan Sports Association. The sporting year is divided into summer and winter, and boys are able to select sports they wish to play throughout the semester.^[8] Boys can play grade sport, representing the school in inter-school competitions, or social sport, not competing against other schools.^[8] The school also holds annual swimming and athletics carnivals,^[8] as well as an annual cross-country event.

Co-curricular activities

Many clubs and societies are on offer to students. These include a debating and public speaking society;^[9][10] a chess club;^[11] a concert band, a stage band, a jazz ensemble, a vocal ensemble, and a string ensemble.^[12] Normanhurst Boys also participates in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme.^[13]

Normanhurst Boys runs an annual school excursion for Year Seven students to Jenolan Caves and the Central West of New South Wales. The excursion has been running for 50 years.

Normanhurst Boys is not far from its "sister" school, Hornsby Girls' High School, with joint curriculum and extra-curricular activities held.

Staff

• Principal: Mr M. Anderson

Notable alumni

Politics, public service and the law

• Peter Andren AM, former Independent Member for Calare in the Parliament of Australia (1996–2007)^[14][15]
• The Honourable Peter Baldwin, former Labor Member for Sydney in the Parliament of Australia (1983–1998), former Minister for Employment and Education Services (1990), former Minister for Higher Education and Employment Services (1990–1993), former Minister for Social Security (1993–1996)^[15][16][17]
• The Honourable Justice Ian Harrison, Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales (since 2007)^[18]
• The Honourable Justice Peter McClellan, Chief Judge at Common Law of the Supreme Court of New South Wales (since 2005), former Chief Judge of the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales (2003–2005), former Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales (2001–2003), former Chairman of the Sydney Water Inquiry (1998)^[19] and head of the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse.^[20][21]

Science, medicine and academia

• Dr Philip Bohle, Professor at the University of New South Wales (1999-2008), University of Sydney (2008+);^[22]
• Dr Geoffrey Kiel, Professor of Management at Queensland University;^[23]
• Professor Ian Plimer, geologist and academic^[24]
• Professor Philip Mitchell AM, Scientia Professor of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales.^[25]
• Professor Ian Williamson AM, Professor of Geomatics, University of Melbourne.^[26]

Business and industry

• David Hill, Chairman and CEO of Fox Sports, creator of the Sky Sports channel, former chairman of Fox Broadcasting^[27]
• Graham John Bradley, Chairman Infrastructure NSW; current and former director of numerous companies including Stockland Group and HSBC Bank Australia; former national managing partner of Blake Dawson Waldron.^[28]

Entertainment, media and the arts

• Rowan Cahill, historian, author, journalist, teacher, trade unionist
• Simon Main, past actor and convicted drug trafficker^[29]
• Peter M. Reeve, International Designer, NIDA Graduate and Director of NIDA Foundation. Honeywell-Bull Arts Fellow, Trustee of The Peggy Glanville Hicks Trust, Board Member Pacific Opera, Sydney Committee Opera Australia, MCA and Sydney Dance Company.

Sport

• Murray Barnes (1954-2011), Socceroos player and captain (1978-81).
• Roger Davis, golfer^[15]
• Neil Maxwell, former NSW and Australia A cricketer.^[15]
• Richard Pybus, cricketer and former Pakistan cricket coach^[30]
• Robert Wheatley, former Socceroo (1981 to 1990)^[15]

See also

• Selective school (New South Wales)
• List of Government schools in New South Wales
• List of selective high schools in New South Wales

References

External links

• Normanhurst Boys High School website
• NSW Department of Education and Training: Normanhurst Boys High School
• North West Metropolitan Sports Association