Williamstown High School (Victoria)

Williamstown High School
Location
Williamstown, Victoria
Australia
Information
Type Public
Motto Hold Fast
Established October 1914
Principal Gino Catalano
Years 7–12 + VCAL
Colour(s) Red, yellow, black & blue
Website willihigh.vic.edu.au/index.php/

Williamstown High School is a public co-educational secondary school located in the Melbourne suburb of Williamstown. Williamstown or 'Willi' high is one of four government schools in the Western Suburbs of Melbourne.[1] It is a multi-campus school with both campuses located within walking distance. The two campuses are known as Bayview street and Pasco street campus. It is known to be one of the first public schools in Melbourne with a history of over 100 years.[2]

Campuses

Bayview Street Campus

Bayview St is the junior campus which houses students Years 7–9. It caters for approximately 750 students and employs around 75 staff members. The Bayview Street Campus was formerly the Point Gellibrand Girls School but merged with WHS in 2000.[3]

Sustainability

The School was redeveloped in 2005 to become a model for environmental education. The campus is the first high school in Victoria to receive a 5 Green Star rating by Green Building Council of Australia and has won several awards for its sustainable and clever design. While the schools' design was built with sustainability as its main factor, the curriculum to students is also heavily focused on the environment. The Jawbone marine sanctuary is located behind the school and plays a key role in the Marine education centre located in the school. The marine centre is staffed by a marine biologist and features 9 habitat displays, its role is to promote awareness to the delicate marine ecosystem.[4] Some environmental features of the school include 57 solar panels, rainwater collection system for flushing toilets and irrigation, vegetable gardens, composting facilities, wetland area, built using plantation and recycled materials and a unique design layout for natural cooling/heating without the use of electricity.[5][6][7]

Pasco Street Campus

The Pasco Campus is a historic site that provides education to Year 10 and VCE students. The Campus was built in 1875 and consists of buildings from different decades. The oldest building dates from 1867, this gives a different more mature learning environment much like that of a university.[8]

The Campus is split into the following blocks:

  • S Block (Science Labs in the upper level and several classrooms below)
  • A Block (Math and media classrooms, Administration office)
  • L Block (Library, normal classrooms, computer labs, staff offices)
  • P Block/Portables (Classrooms that range from French, English, History etc.)
  • Q Block/Quadrangle (technology and normal classrooms, staff offices)

The students at Pasco are given many opportunities for their learning and their future. This includes:

  • A full range of VCE units and accelerated – university studies
  • Vocational Education and Training in Schools – (VETiS)
  • Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) which is a school-based apprenticeship and an alternative pathway to VCE.

Year 10 students are given the choice to choose all their subjects in preparation for VCE. This excludes the compulsory subjects English, Math (Advanced or Standard), one semester of humanities (out of six subtopics) and one semester of core science. Year 10 students are also invited to apply for a VCE unit 1 and 2 subjects if they are recommended do so.[9]

Facilities at Pasco include:

  • Two drama and art performance areas. Soul City and the Centenary Theatre.
  • Darkroom Photography
  • Fully equipt and modern science labs
  • Recording studio and music rooms
  • Computer labs
  • Gym and basketball courts
  • Fully equipt Wood technology room
  • Year 12 Study centre

Language Choice

Williamstown High School offers Indonesian and French as LOTE subjects. Students are given the choice when they commence their studies in year 7. In year 9 they are given the opportunity to either drop or continue their LOTE subject. Students can drop out of their LOTE anytime after Year 9 and or can continue their subject through to VCE.

Japanese LOTE was offered to students until it's fall in 2014. Unfortunately, due to lack of interest, it is no longer offered at WHS.[10]

House System

The Houses in WHS are:

  • Red House (Hobsons)
  • Green House (Greenwich)
  • Blue House (Gellibrand)
  • Gold House (Philip)

Notable alumni

Notable individuals who studied at the school include:[11]

Centenary Theatre

In the 2015–16 School Improvement fund (state budget), $10 million was allocated to the school by the Victorian Government. The budget allocated $500,000 for the delivery of the school's Centenary Theatre project.[12][13] Along with the fund from the (labor) government the school has been raising funds through community donations and fund-raising since 2012. It is estimated the school community to have raised $500,000 since August 2012.[14][15] In 2013 and 2014 all new year 7 students received a reusable money donation box to collect loose change to help build the theatre. These red and blue boxes resulted in a competition for students with the chance to win a prize for the heaviest box.[16][17] Building of the theatre commenced in 2015 and the project was completed and opened at the end of May 2017, in time for the yearly school production. The opening was held by Minister Noonan, the local MLA, School Council President Andrew Egan, and Principal Gino Catalano. The event was accompanied by entertainment by school students.[18] The theatre or 'performing arts centre' seats 300 people, includes a dance studio and art gallery. The theatre sports the school colours (red, blue and yellow) at the front with large steel letters that say 'CENTENARY THEATRE' round the side. The seats in the auditorium are purple flip-up seats such as those in cinemas. The floor is carpeted grey in the seating areas and is complemented with the grey walls that are painted with different shades in a plain geometric pattern. The theatre is fully equipped with lighting, bathroom and kitchen facilities, full backstage rooms, curtains and more. There is a dungeon that is used to store large equipment. Behind the stage, there is a corridor with large open windows for reasons unknown, since darkness is generally the standard in terms for the minimal light bounce in theatre. Tut Tut Tut looks like rain[19][20][21]


References

  1. ↑ https://www.goodschools.com.au/compare-schools/in-Williamstown-VIC/williamstown-high-school
  2. ↑ https://victoriancollections.net.au/organisations/williamstown-high-school?page=1-12&rnd=c32#about
  3. ↑ https://victoriancollections.net.au/organisations/williamstown-high-school?page=1-12&rnd=c32#about
  4. ↑ http://www.willihigh.vic.edu.au/?page_id=200
  5. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llAspGXT-6o
  6. ↑ http://www.willihigh.vic.edu.au/?page_id=50
  7. ↑ https://www.gbca.org.au/uploads/19/2835/Williamstown_High_School_-_Bayview_Campus.pdf
  8. ↑ http://www.willihigh.vic.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/PROSPECTUS.pdf Prospectus Handbook Accessed 4 November 2017,
  9. ↑ http://www.willihigh.vic.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2018-WHS_Handbook-Pages.pdf Later Years Handbook, Accessed 4 November 2017
  10. ↑ http://www.willihigh.vic.edu.au/?page_id=141 Williamstown High website LOTE page, Assessed November 2017
  11. ↑ "Williamstown High School celebrates its 100th anniversary this year". Williamstown Leader. 3 February 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  12. ↑ http://www.schoolbuildings.vic.gov.au/Pages/Schools/Williamstown-High-School.aspx
  13. ↑ http://www.schoolbuildings.vic.gov.au/Shared%20Documents/Williamstown-High-School.pdf
  14. ↑ http://www.willihigh.vic.edu.au/?page_id=7289
  15. ↑ http://www.willihigh.vic.edu.au/?p=7283
  16. ↑ http://www.willihigh.vic.edu.au/?p=8106
  17. ↑ http://www.willihigh.vic.edu.au/?p=3097
  18. ↑ http://www.willihigh.vic.edu.au/?p=9530
  19. ↑ http://www.starweekly.com.au/news/arts-led-revival-on-track/
  20. ↑ http://www.willihigh.vic.edu.au/?page_id=7289
  21. ↑ http://www.schoolbuildings.vic.gov.au/Shared%20Documents/Williamstown-High-School.pdf

Coordinates: 37°51′44″S 144°53′41″E / 37.86222°S 144.89472°E / -37.86222; 144.89472

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