Marrickville High School

Last updated

Marrickville High School
Address
Marrickville High School
2 Centennial St, Marrickville

Sydney
,
New South Wales
,
2204

Australia
Information
Type Public, secondary, co-educational, day school
MottoAspire, Connect, Thrive
Established1974
PrincipalMr. Steven Holz
Years offered7–12
Enrolment~640
Campus Suburban
Colour(s)     
Website marrickvil-h.schools.nsw.gov.au

Marrickville High School is a co-educational, public secondary school, located in Marrickville, an inner western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The school is administered by the New South Wales Department of Education. [1] Established in 1974, the school follows a non-selective enrolment policy and serves approximately 640 students from Years 7 to 12. [2] It includes a Support Unit for students with special needs and an Intensive English Centre (IEC), [3] which provides English language support for newly arrived non-English speaking student.

Contents

History

Marrickville High School's Quadrangle in 1974 MarrickvilleHighSchool1974.jpg
Marrickville High School's Quadrangle in 1974

Early history

The origins of Marrickville High School date back to 1865, when Thomas Chalder donated land on Chapel Street, Marrickville, for the establishment of Marrickville Public School. The school expanded with several acquisitions, including the purchase of Marrickville’s old Council Chambers in 1878, which was converted into a teacher’s residence. [4]

Marrickville Girls' High School

In 1922, the Old Marrickville Town Hall on Illawarra Road was repurposed as Marrickville Junior Technical High School. By 1929, Marrickville Girls' Intermediate High School was formally established and later renamed Marrickville Girls' Junior High School in 1954.

Plans for a new secondary school on Sydenham Road were approved in 1969, leading to the demolition of historic Victorian-era estates, including Llewellyn and Sydenham Villa (later renamed Standsure). In 1974, students from Marrickville Girls' Junior High School were transferred to the new campus. [5]

On 7 October 1977, the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Arthur Roden Cutler, officially opened Marrickville Girls' High School. [6]

Marrickville High School

In 1979, the school became co-educational to accommodate more students and alleviate overcrowding at Dulwich and Enmore High Schools, leading to its renaming as Marrickville High School. [7]

The school initially enrolled 860 students and employed 64 staff members. Given the area’s high migrant population, extensive English as a Second Language (ESL) and remedial reading programs were introduced. Marrickville High School became fully co-educational by 1984.

In March 2001, the New South Wales Government proposed merging Marrickville High School with Dulwich High School on the Dulwich campus, effectively closing Marrickville High School. [8] This decision sparked local opposition, leading to the "Save Our School" campaign. A community meeting attended by hundreds of people was held in the school hall. [9] In May 2002, Education Minister John Watkins announced that both schools would remain open, citing the best interests of public education. [10]

In 1990 the Support Unit was established to provide specialised education for students with special need and intellectual disabilities.

In 1999 the Marrickville Intensive English Centre (MIEC) was established to provide secondary school aged, newly arrived migrants, refugees and International Students with English language skills so that they can access mainstream high school courses across Sydney.

In December 2024, Marrickville High School hosted Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Early Learning, Prue Car, alongside local MP Jo Haylen, NSW Department of Education Secretary Murat Dizdar, and Director of Educational Leadership Chris Pevy-Buenen for a policy announcement on High Potential and Gifted Education (HPGE). The school was selected to receive $6 million in funding for facility upgrades. [11]

Principals

Marrickville Girls Junior High School

NamePeriod
Alice Preston1954–1955
Grace Simons1956–1960
Phyllis Wylie1961–1963
Esther Small1964–1971
Valda Stephens1972–cont.

Marrickville Girls' High School

Valda Stephenscont.–1974
Kenneth Oliver1975–cont.

Marrickville High School

Kenneth Olivercont.–1982
Ronald Ashe1984
Kenneth Palmer1984–1986
Andrew Powell1987–1996
Sue Turner1997–2000
Rick Symons2001–2012
Arety Dassaklis2013–2020
Bruno Sciacca2021–2022
Steven Holz2023–Current

Sports

Marrickville High's Top Field Mhs top field.JPG
Marrickville High's Top Field

Sport plays an important role at Marrickville High and it has always been competitive and ambitious in sporting matches. Sports can be played on school grounds or out of school venues, in compulsory PDHPE lessons or as an extra-curricular activity.

Weekly Grade Sports (Years 7 and 8) offered include:

Weekly Integrated Sports (Years 9 and 10) available include:

Annual Sports Gala Days are held, where years 7 and 8 students from local high schools use the sporting grounds at Marrickville High to compete against one another in games of basketball.

The school competes in the Sydney East Knockout Competition, through which girls may compete in Touch, OZ Tag, Netball, Basketball, Soccer and Volleyball, and boys in Rugby League, Touch, Soccer, Netball, Basketball, Softball and Volleyball, Table Tennis and Indoor Soccer.

Sporting houses

Marrickville High has a house system used for sporting carnivals, students are organised into teams based on their roll call class. Originally the houses were simply named Gold, Red and Blue but they have been renamed using the surnames of Australian sports people:

Each year two sporting captains are chosen from the senior years to represent and lead their team. The school holds annual school carnivals in Swimming, Athletics and Cross-Country. Results from these Carnivals determine selection for school representative teams and students progress on to the Zone Carnival for further competition.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Home - Marrickville High School". marrickvil-h.schools.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 1 May 2025.
  2. ↑ ACARA. "School Profile". My School. Retrieved 1 May 2025.
  3. ↑ "Home - Marrickville Intensive English Centre-MIEC". marrickvil-i.schools.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 1 May 2025.
  4. ↑ "Ministerial Visit To Marrickville". The Sydney Morning Herald. 18 April 1899.
  5. ↑ "Eight high schools face their first term". The Sydney Morning Herald. 23 January 1975. p. 17.
  6. ↑ "Labor will make bid in budget to boost rural vote". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 2.
  7. ↑ "Work has begun on the second stage - a high school and a community library". The Sydney Morning Herald. 30 January 1979. p. 9.
  8. ↑ Navin, Noreen (4 April 2001). "Massive Opposition to School Closure". Green Left.
  9. ↑ "Community rallies to save school". Green Left. 11 April 2001.
  10. ↑ "Mergers part of five-year plan". The Sydney Morning Herald. 18 December 1980. p. 3.
  11. ↑ "High school upgrades to increase opportunities for high potential students". NSW Department of Education Infrastructure. 10 December 2024.
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