Adelaide High School is a coeducational state

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

situated on the corner of

West Terrace West Terrace is a populated place in the parish of Saint James, Barbados. The National Cultural Foundation of Barbados is located in West Terrace. See also * List of cities, towns and villages in Barbados This is a list of cities, towns and ...

and Glover Avenue in the

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

Parklands. Following the Advanced School for Girls, it was the second government high school in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

and the first coeducational public high school in that state. It currently has an enrolment of approximately 1,500 students.

History

In 1879,

John Anderson Hartley John Anderson Hartley (27 August 1844 – 15 September 1896) was an Australian educator and Vice Chancellor of the University of Adelaide from 1893 to 1896. Hartley was the son of the Rev. John Hartley, governor of the Wesleyan College, Handswor ...

, Director of Education, established the

Advanced School for Girls The Advanced School for Girls was a South Australian State school whose purpose was to prepare girls to qualify for entry to the University of Adelaide. Founded in 1879, the school merged with Adelaide High School in 1907. History From its ince ...

in Grote Street, Adelaide. It was the first public high school in Australia, those in New South Wales following in the 1880s. Adelaide High was first named the Continuation School, but in April 1908 was renamed Adelaide High School. This was the same year the South Australian state high school system was launched. The new school combined previous institutions: the Advanced School and the Pupil Teachers School. It also collected bursary holders, and continuation students from the Grote Street Model School. Adelaide High School was officially opened on 24 September 1908 by the

premier of South Australia The premier of South Australia is the head of government in the state of South Australia, Australia. The Government of South Australia follows the Westminster system, with a Parliament of South Australia acting as the legislature. The premier is ...

, Thomas Price. It was the first public secondary school in the Commonwealth of Australia. In 1927, it had an enrolment of 1,067 students, making it the largest school of its kind in the Commonwealth. By 1929, due to increasing enrolments, the school occupied two sites; one site was at Grote Street and the other was at Currie Street (now part of the

Remand Centre Remand, also known as pre-trial detention, preventive detention, or provisional detention, is the process of detaining a person until their trial after they have been arrested and charged with an offence. A person who is on remand is held i ...

). Due to the increasing enrolments, it was decided that a new building was required for Adelaide High School. The current site of the school on West Terrace was originally set aside for an army barracks in 1849, but in 1859 an observatory was built instead, which then became the Bureau of Meteorology in 1939. Based on an award-winning 1940 design, a new building was erected on the site from 1947 to 1951. This became Adelaide Boys High School while Adelaide Girls High School remained in the buildings in Grote Street. An application was made to have the building listed as a Historic Building on the Australian

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heritag ...

. The nomination was on the basis of the building's "Art Modern" style and significance in Adelaide education. It had not led to the building's listing on the register as of 2007. The original Grote Street school buildings were listed on the register as a ''Historic'' site in 1980. As of 2007, the buildings were used as a centre for the

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...

. The buildings were considered to be among the Nationally Significant 20th-Century Buildings in South Australia. In 1977, due to decreasing enrolments at both the Boys and the Girls schools, amalgamation began with Adelaide High School operating on two campuses – one on Grote Street and one on West Terrace. This arrangement ended in 1979, when all students were on the West Terrace site. In 1979, Adelaide High School became South Australia's Special Interest Language School, with students able to study up to seven languages: French, German, Latin, Modern Greek, Chinese, Spanish and Italian. Latin ceased to be offered in 2004 and was replaced by Japanese. Auslan was added as the eighth language in 2018. In 2008, Adelaide High School celebrated its centenary 100th birthday. Adelaide is part of the longest-running sporting exchanges with

Melbourne High School Melbourne High School is a government-funded single-sex academically selective secondary day school for boys, located in the Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1905, the school caters for boys from Year 9 t ...

and

Mac.Robertson Girls' High School , motto_translation = Mastery of self , established = , type = Government-funded single-sex selective secondary day school , principal = Sue Harrap , location = South Melbourne, Victoria , country = Australia , coordi ...

, both in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Curriculum

Languages

Adelaide High School is especially known for being a Special Interest Language School, offering students outside the zone to enrol through one of the three Special Entry Programs (Languages. Cricket and Rowing). It offers its students eight different languages to study: * Modern Greek * Mandarin Chinese * Japanese * Italian * French * Spanish * German * Auslan The school is also a Centre for the Hearing Impaired and an Associate School for Students of High Intellectual Potential. It has a Special Entry Program in its special interest

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

and

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically atta ...

programs. Adelaide High School is South Australia's only Special Interest Language School, and currently has sister schools around the world, including: * Asahi High School in Osaka, Japan * Heriburg Gymnasium in Coesfeld, Nord Rhein Westfalen, Germany * Lycée Saint Sauveur in Redon, Brittany, France * IIS Quintino Sella in Biella, Italy * IES La Sisla in Sonsecas, Spain * Jinan Foreign Language School in Jinan, China * Qingdao No 9 School in Qingdao, China * 7th High School of Corfu, Greece

Facilities

Facilities that students have access to include a library, gymnasium, tennis, basketball and netball courts, cricket nets, four ovals (shared with the

Adelaide City Council The City of Adelaide, also known as the Corporation of the City of Adelaide and Adelaide City Council is a local government area in the metropolitan area of greater Adelaide, South Australia and is legally defined as the capital city of Sout ...

), Performing Arts Centre, science labs and lecture theatres. The school also has a boatshed on the bank of the

River Torrens The River Torrens , (Karrawirra Parri / Karrawirraparri) is the most significant river of the Adelaide Plains. It was one of the main reasons for the siting of the city of Adelaide, capital of South Australia. It flows from its source in the ...

which holds the school's many rowing boats and where the school's rowing crews train. It also has a shared rowing facility at West Lakes with

Unley High School Unley High School, located in Netherby, South Australia. History Unley High School was founded in 1910 as one of the first public high schools to be established after Adelaide High School in 1908. Initially it was under the control of the He ...

and

Norwood Morialta High School Norwood International High School (NIHS) is a single-campus, co-educational, public high school located in the eastern suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. Founded as Norwood District High School in 1910 on Osmond Terrace, Norwood, the schoo ...

. A new wing, the Charles Todd Wing, was added to the southern side of the school in 2015. Building 4, previously housing the Languages, Art and Library areas, was upgraded and now contains the Languages, Maths and Arts learning areas. In 2019, the school self-funded a Performing Arts Centre Refurbishment and in 2021, also saw a $24 million build in the centre of the school, in order to accommodate for the large intake of Year 7 students into the school.

Sport

Houses and Special Sport Programs

The school has four "houses" which students represent in sporting and other events within the school. The houses took their names from past principals of the school. The house names are: Adey (Red), Macghey (Blue), Morriss (Green), and West (Yellow). Sporting events include the intra-House Swimming Carnival and Athletics Carnival. The houses compete for the SJ Dowdy Cup, named after former Principal Stephen Dowdy. Adelaide High School has a range of girls' and boys' sporting teams and offers Special Interest Sporting Programs including cricket and rowing. The Adelaide High School Cricket Program provides the opportunity for talented cricketers from outside the school zone to enrol at the school, similar to the Adelaide High School Rowing Club, which incorporates a talent identification selection process whereby students from outside the school zone can apply to enrol at the school. Both Special Entry Programs participate in games and regattas throughout the year which lead up to the main events. The 5 Highs Cricket Carnival is held in December against

Sydney Boys High School Sydney Boys High School (”SBHS”), otherwise known as The Sydney High School (“SHS”) or High, is a Education in Australia#Government schools, government-funded Single-sex school, single-sex Selective school (New South Wales), academically s ...

Brisbane State High School , motto_translation = Knowledge is Power , city = South Brisbane , state = Queensland , country = Australia , coordinates = , type = Public, selective, co-educational, secondary, ...

and

Kent Street Senior High School Kent Street Senior High School is a public co-educational specialist high day and boarding school in the Town of Victoria Park, located on Kent Street in East Victoria Park, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Over 50 percent of students a ...

. The major rowing event is the Head of the River Regatta held in March or April. This regatta was jointly founded in 1922 by Adelaide High School and St Peter's College. Other sporting trips have the volleyball teams travelling to the Australian Volleyball Schools Cup in Melbourne, in December.

Exchanges

Since 1913, Adelaide High has taken part in a sporting exchange with

and since 1910, Melbourne High School. This is the longest-running sporting exchange in the state. Both Exchanges compete for the Prefects' Cup. The exchanges are held in early Term 3 and each year the venue swaps. There are competitions in many sports such as: Australian rules football, soccer, tennis, rowing, basketball, netball, softball, chess, debating, theatre sports, volleyball, cross country /athletics, badminton, table tennis and hockey. Sports previously played against Melbourne included

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

and

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

. Adelaide High School is a member of the

Sports Association for Adelaide Schools Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

(SAAS).

Head Master / Principal

Notable staff and students

* Sir Don Anderson (1917–1975) – Director-General of the Department of Civil Aviation *

Lynn Arnold Lynn Maurice Ferguson Arnold, AO (born 27 January 1949) is an Anglican priest and a former Australian politician, who represented the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party, serving as Premier of South Australia between 4 Septem ...

(b. 1949) – South Australian Premier *

Nick Bolkus Nick Bolkus (born 17 July 1950) is a former Australian Labor Party politician. He was a member of the Senate from July 1981 to June 2005, representing the state of South Australia. Early career Bolkus was born in Adelaide and educated at Adela ...

(b. 1950) – South Australian Senator and Cabinet Minister *

Shaun Burgoyne Shaun Playford Burgoyne (born 21 October 1982) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the Port Adelaide Football Club in the SANFL, and Port Adelaide and Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Burgoyne ...

(b. 1982) – AFL footballer * Ralph Clarke (b. 1951) – South Australian Deputy Opposition Leader * Hugh Cairns (1896–1952) – First Nuffield Professor of Surgery, Oxford University * John Stuart Dowie (1915–2008) – Artist *

Sia Sia Kate Isobelle Furler ( ; born 18 December 1975) is an Australian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Adelaide, she started her career as a singer in the acid jazz band Crisp in the mid-1990s. In 1997, when Crisp disbanded, she rel ...

(b. 1975) – Pop singer and songwriter *

Anne Haddy Anne Haddy (5 October 1930 – 6 June 1999), credited also as Anne Hardy, was an Australian actress, television presenter and voice artist, who worked in various facets of the industry including radio, stage and television. She was married ...

(1930–1999) – Actress (best known for her role as

Helen Daniels Helen Daniels is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera ''Neighbours'', portrayed by Anne Haddy. Following the death of Jim Robinson (Alan Dale) in 1993, she remained the only original character played continuously by the same act ...

Neighbours ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera, which has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons an ...

) *Barbara Hall (b. circa 1931) – Physicist in 1956. one of two women first to receive a PhD from the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

; mother of Hugh Possingham *

Bob Hank Robert William "Bob" Hank (19 June 1923 – 14 June 2012) grew up in and lived in Lockleys and was an Australian rules footballer who played for West Torrens in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Career Hank began hi ...

(1923–2012) – Dual

Magarey Medal The Magarey Medal is an Australian rules football honour awarded annually since 1898 to the fairest and most brilliant player in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), as judged by field umpires. The award was created by Willia ...

list * Margaret Hubbard (b. 1924) – First woman to win the Hentford Scholarship for Latin at Oxford *

Tom Koutsantonis Anastasious "Tom" Koutsantonis is an Australian politician in the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party, representing the seats of West Torrens (2002−current) and Peake (1997−2002) as a Labor member in the South Australian ...

(b. 1971) – South Australian Treasurer * Simon Lewicki aka Groove Terminator – Electronic music artist *

Brian Ross Martin Brian Ross Martin (born 2 September 1947) is an Australian jurist. He was a judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia before being appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory in 2004. He served in the Northern ...

(b. 1947) –

Chief Justice of the Northern Territory The title of Chief Justice of the Northern Territory refers to the highest judicial position in the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory. The position is currently held by Michael Grant (judge), Michael Grant. History of the Chief Justice of ...

* Sir Mark Oliphant (1901–2000) – South Australian Governor *

Neil Page Neil Philip Page (born 17 January 1944) is a former Australian baseball representative. A left-hand starting pitcher, he regularly played for Australia from 1964 until 1977.Greig Pickhaver Greig Pickhaver Order of Australia, AM (born 1948) is an actor, comedian and writer, who forms one half of the Australian satirical sports comedy duo ''Roy and HG'' as the excitable sports announcer H.G Nelson. The Roy and HG#Awards and nominati ...

– aka H.G. Nelson, actor, comedian and writer *

Chris Sumner Christopher John Sumner AM (born 17 April 1943) is a former Australian politician. Sumner, who holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Law and was a barrister and solicitor before entering politics, was elected to the South Australian Legisl ...

(b. 1943) – South Australian Attorney-General *

David Vigor David Bernard Vigor (26 June 1939 – 9 April 1998) was a member of the Australian Senate, representing the Australian Democrats and the Unite Australia Party. Born in Elbeuf, France to an English mother and French father, the infant Vig ...

(1939–1998) – South Australian Senator *

Lou Vincent Lou Vincent (born 11 November 1978) is a former New Zealand cricketer and opening batsman. He has represented New Zealand in Test match, One Day International and Twenty20 International cricket as well as playing for Auckland in New Zealand do ...

(b. 1978) – New Zealand Test cricketer * Brennan Cox (b. 1998) – AFL footballer * Oswald Rishbeth (1886-1946) - Geographer, taught at Adelaide High in 1910Craig Campbell,
Adelaide High School: Inventing a state high school
, Dehanz, March 6, 2019. * Riley Thilthorpe (b. 2002) - AFL Footballer

References

External links

*Virtual Tou

{{Authority control Educational institutions established in 1908 Public schools in South Australia Special interest high schools in South Australia Secondary schools in Adelaide 1908 establishments in Australia Adelaide Park Lands