Matraville Sports High School

Matraville Sports High School (abbreviated as MSHS) is a government co-educational comprehensive and specialist secondary school, with speciality in sports, located on Anzac Parade, Chifley, an eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Matraville Sports High School
Location
Anzac Parade, Chifley, Sydney, New South Wales

Australia
Coordinates33°57′54″S 151°14′41″E
Information
Former nameMatraville High School
TypeGovernment-funded co-educational comprehensive and specialist secondary day school
MottoEndeavour
Established
  • January 1960 (1960-01)
    (as Matraville High School)[1]
  • December 2001 (2001-12)
    (as Matraville Sports High)[1]
School districtBotany Bay; Metropolitan South
Educational authorityNew South Wales Department of Education
SpecialistSports school
PrincipalNerida Walker
Years7-12
Enrolment305[2] (2011)
Campus typeSuburban
Colour(s)Navy and sky blue   
AffiliationNSW Sports High School Association
Websitematrasport-h.schools.nsw.edu.au

Established in 1960 as Matraville High School, the school became a specialist high school in December 2001 and caters for approximately 300 students from Year 7 to Year 12. The school is operated by the New South Wales Department of Education; the principal is Nerida Walker. Its alumni include Bob Carr and a number of professional sportsmen and women, particularly rugby league players.

Matraville Sports High School is a member of the NSW Sports High Schools Association.[3]

History

In the years consequent upon the Second World War, South Eastern suburbs of Sydney saw increasing population growth and, as a result, increasing demands for infrastructure to assist that growth. At the time, the closest high schools in the area were South Sydney Boys' High School and Maroubra Junction Girls' High School. As a result, the local member and Minister for Education, Bob Heffron, made the decision to establish a new high school in Matraville. The site on the corner of Anzac Parade and Franklin Street in southern Matraville was secured by the Department of Education in 1957. The original school site was covered in virgin Banksia scrub growing on low sand hills bordered by houses on Mitchell Street.[4] (The southern part of Matraville became the suburb of Chifley in 1964.)

At Heffron's instigation, the new school would be co-educational, in a period when the vast majority of NSW secondary schools were sex segregated. Prior to 1960, Robert E. Mobbs, a former Second World War army officer who had also helped establish Fairfield Boys' High and Arthur Phillip High, was appointed as the school's first headmaster. However, a lack of funding restricted the start of construction and it was not until well after the first 200 students had been accepted in 1960 that building began. Therefore, the first students were housed at Daceyville Public School and the 1961 intake of students were sent to Gardeners Road Public School. Construction was finished by early 1962, which allowed the students to finally move in.[4] The school soon generated a reputation for excellence in sports. The Waratah Shield, the state knockout competition for Rugby, was won by Matraville in 1972, 1976, 1977, 1983 and 2007 and the ARL Schoolboy Cup was also won in 2007. In recognition of the school's excellence in this area, in December 2001, Matraville High was re-established as a specialist sports high, thus becoming "Matraville Sports High School".

School details

In May 2010, there were 325 students enrolled in the school from Years 7 through to Year 12. Of these, 110 students were girls and 215 were boys. The school has an enrolment of 30% Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and 30% Pacific Islander students. There were approximately 45 staff at the school.

Notable alumni

See also

References
  1. "Matraville Sports High - Cumberland". History of New South Wales government schools. NSW Department of Education. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  2. "Matraville Sports High School". School Locator. NSW Public Schools. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
  3. "High Performance Schools". School programs. Cricket NSW. 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  4. "Matraville High School's 50th anniversary". Southern Courier. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
  5. "Ella Brothers". Monument Australia. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  6. "Board of Directors: Roslyn Field, Director". SEARMS. SEARMS Aboriginal Corporation. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  7. "NetArch moves to Canberra". The Canberra Times. 67 (21, 104). Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 25 January 1993. p. 19. Retrieved 27 August 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.