Sydney Secondary College Leichhardt Campus

The Leichhardt Campus of the Sydney Secondary College is a government-funded, co-educational, dual modality, partially academically selective and comprehensive junior secondary day school, located in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Leichhardt, New South Wales, Australia. Together with the senior school at the Blackwattle Bay Campus and the other junior school at Balmain Campus, the school is a part of the Sydney Secondary College.

Established in 2002, the campus caters for approximately 1000 students from Year 7 to Year 10.^[2]

History

Prior to 2002, the school was known as Leichhardt High School which was originally founded as a co-educational and comprehensive school in 1972. Established in an area with a large number of migrant families, particularly from Mediterranean backgrounds, the school has long been known for its diversity of cultural backgrounds. This led to focused funding and pedagogical approaches towards students of non English-speaking backgrounds.^[3]

Declining enrolments at the school, together with a push towards multi-campus colleges (i.e., also including the later established Northern Beaches Secondary College and Georges River College among others) led to the amalgamation of former high schools, Leichhardt High School, Balmain High School and Glebe High School into Sydney Secondary College in 2002. In the first year after establishment, the college had a combined enrolment of 1,800, up from 1,250 in 2003.^[4]

In 2003, Sydney Secondary College was one of 36 public schools to receive an Excellence Award from the former NSW Department of Education's director-general, Jan McClelland, for its "promotion of public education".^[5]

From 2011 onwards, as part of the Smarter Schools National Partnership on Improving Teacher Quality, the school was involved in an alliance with the Balmain Campus and Campus of the Georges River College as a Centre for Excellence.^[6]

Leichhardt Council has proposed that two heritage former tramway buildings, situated next to the school, be handed over and made into a performing arts centre for the students. The school supports the handover, but the government is unwilling to allow access to the buildings.^[7]

Sport

At Sydney Secondary College, sport is a strong focus of all three campuses. There are three annual combined college carnivals: Swimming, Cross Country and Athletics. After each College sporting event, the top two male and female participants for each age group and every event are invited to compete at the Bligh Zone carnivals against other schools in the local sporting zone.^[8]

The college has four respective sporting colour houses named after local sporting identities:

•   Stewart (Geoff Stewart)
•   Pearce (Wayne Pearce)
•   Woods (Taryn Woods)
•   Sauvage (Louise Sauvage)

Students are also given the opportunity to participate in a variety of competitive team sports against other schools such as soccer, netball, basketball, volleyball, European handball, touch football, cricket and softball as well as recreational and social sports such as cycling, dance/yoga, badminton, golf, table tennis, fitness walking, handball, martial arts and tennis.^[9]

Facilities

Lostock

The campus maintains a property, known as Lostock, about 60 kilometres (37 mi) north of Maitland in the Hunter Valley along the Paterson River. The property is used for school excursions and camps, and also provides facilities for families of staff and students as a "weekender". The property is home to an abundance of wildlife, including wombat and platypus colonies.^[10]

Notable alumni

• Wayne Pearce – professional rugby league player^[11]
• Naomi Sequeira – actress and singer
• Renuga Veeran – badminton player; represented Australia at the 2012 Olympics^[12]

See also

1. ^ "From the Principal". Sydney Secondary College Leichhardt Campus. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
2. ^ ^{a b} "My School provides information that helps parents and the community in understanding the performance of schools over time".
3. ^ Unknown (18 August 1977). "Brighter Future for Inner City Children". Sydney Morning Herald.
4. ^ Linda Doherty (15 October 2003). "Class conscious send children to public school with a view". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 5 December 2012.
5. ^ "Class conscious send children to public school with a view". The Sydney Morning Herald. 15 October 2003. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
6. ^ "Centre for Excellence Plan" (PDF). Retrieved 5 December 2012.
7. ^ "Expand Leichhardt High". Retrieved 24 July 2013.
8. ^ "College sport – Sydney Secondary College Leichhardt Campus". leichhardt-h.schools.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
9. ^ "About our College – Sydney Secondary College Leichhardt Campus". leichhardt-h.schools.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
10. ^ "Lostock – Sydney Secondary College Leichhardt Campus". leichhardt-h.schools.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
11. ^ Southward, Jane (31 January 1988). "Don't Muck up! – Jeff Fenech". Sydney Morning Herald.
12. ^ "Olympics". Retrieved 20 January 2021.

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