NSW School of Languages
| NSW School of Languages | |
|---|---|
 Former main building | |
| Location | |
|
West St Petersham, New South Wales Australia | |
| Coordinates | 33°53′42″S 151°09′03″E / 33.8949319°S 151.1507722°E |
| Information | |
| Type | Public |
| Motto | "Learn Locally. Communicate Globally." |
| Established | 1991 |
| Principal | Hilary Hughes |
| Enrolment | 2225 |
| Campus | Urban |
| Colour(s) | Blue, White |
| Website | http://nswschoollang.schools.nsw.edu.au/ |
NSW School of Languages (previously Open High School) in Sydney, Australia, is part of the New South Wales Department of Education. The school specialises in teaching languages to secondary students through distance education.
History
In 1991, The New South Wales Correspondence School, which catered for preschool to Year 12 students, was decentralised into 19 Distance Education centres located in schools across the state. At this time the Learning Materials Production Centre was formed to produce learning materials for all these centres and Open High School was established to teach languages by distance to students across the state. In 2017, Open High School changed its name to NSW School of Languages. In 2018, NSW School of Languages moved to its current and permanent location in Petersham.
Enrolment
Enrolment is available to students in Years 9 - 12 currently enrolled in secondary or central schools, both government and non-government, located in New South Wales or approved Australian Capital Territory or Papua New Guinea secondary or central schools.
The main purposes of the school are to assist students to:
- extend their curriculum options
- maintain continuity of study, e.g. when transferring between schools
To enrol, students must satisfy published enrolment criteria. The maximum enrolments from schools are determined by a quota system; e.g. a school with 600 students is allowed up to six new distance education enrolments each year.
Currently courses are offered in the following languages:
- Chinese
- French
- German
- Indonesian
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Latin
- Modern Greek
- Portuguese
- Russian
- Spanish
NSW School of Languages operates in a distance education mode. Teachers provide students with rich and engaging learning experiences which are designed to meet their individual needs. Some of the strategies employed involve the use of:
- an online LMS (Moodle)
- printed materials
- CD/DVD materials
- telephone lessons
- face-to-face individual and group lessons
- computer-assisted communication
Achievements
NSW School of Languages has a history of high achievement by students sitting HSC examinations. NSW School of Languages students often top the state in their HSC language courses.[1]
Location
NSW School of Languages is located at 35 West Street in the suburb of Petersham in Sydney's Inner West.