Asquith Boys High School is a government-funded comprehensive single-sex

secondary Secondary may refer to: Science and nature * Secondary emission, of particles ** Secondary electrons, electrons generated as ionization products * The secondary winding, or the electrical or electronic circuit connected to the secondary winding i ...

day school A day school — as opposed to a boarding school — is an educational institution where children and adolescents are given instructions during the day, after which the students return to their homes. A day school has full-day programs when compar ...

for boys, located on Jersey Street,

Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of ...

, an

upper north shore The North Shore is a region within Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, generally referring to suburbs located on the northern side of Sydney Harbour up to Wahroonga, and suburbs between Middle Harbour and the Lane Cove ...

suburb of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. Established in 1960, the school enrolled approximately 730 students in 2018, from

Year 7 Year 7 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand. It is the seventh full year (or eighth in Australia) of compulsory education and is roughly equivalent to grade 6 in the United ...

Year 12 Year 12 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England and Wales, Northern Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. It is sometimes the twelfth year of compulsory education, or alternatively a year of post-compulsory educa ...

, of whom one percent identified as

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

and 27 percent were from a language background other than English. The school is operated by the

NSW Department of Education ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

in accordance with a curriculum developed by the

New South Wales Education Standards Authority The New South Wales Education Standards Authority (abbreviated as NESA) is the state government education statutory authority with the responsibility for the establishment and monitoring of school standards in the Australian state of New South W ...

; the principal is Bryce Grant. The school's

sister school A sister school is usually a pair of schools, usually single-sex school, one with female students and the other with male students. This relationship is seen to benefit both schools. For instance, when Harvard University was a male-only school, Rad ...

is the

Asquith Girls High School Asquith Girls High School, (abbreviated as AGHS) is a government-funded comprehensive single-sex secondary day school for girls, located on Stokes Avenue, Asquith, an upper north shore suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Establis ...

. Activities such as music, art, drama, debating, sport and strong participation in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme are included in the co-curricular program.

History

The site on which Asquith Boys High School was built was originally a citrus

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of larg ...

owned by the Fear family, a Hornsby pioneer family. The name "''Asquith''" from which the suburb north of Hornsby, and subsequently the school, takes its name, was named in 1915 after the wartime

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern pr ...

H. H. Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom f ...

, who was later made the

Earl of Oxford and Asquith Earl of Oxford and Asquith is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1925 for the Liberal politician H. H. Asquith. He was Home Secretary from 1892 to 1895, Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1905 to 1908, Leader of t ...

. Before the land was acquired by the New South Wales Government in the 1950s, the land had become a cattle and horse paddock. Originally intended to be the site of the Hornsby Technical College, the Department of Education later decided to build Asquith Boys on its current site instead. Construction of the school buildings began in late 1959 but it was realised that they would not be finished in time for the school's opening in 1960 and thus the half the first boys were housed in various sites around Hornsby while the other half were housed in

Chatswood High School , motto_translation = Through Hard Work We Prosper , established = , type = Government-funded co-educational bi-modal partially academically selective and comprehensive secondary day school , prin ...

. By mid-1960, the A Block was complete and the school moved onto its present site on 24 June 1960. By 1961 the school had risen in size to 660 students, which was later to rise to 990 by 1962, and 30 teachers while E Block and the Assembly Hall were also completed. The first principal was Mervyn Brown, who contributed to establishing school traditions by composing the school song "Grow in Wisdom". By the time the first

prefects Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

and

captains Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

were elected in 1964, the school had risen in size to 1073 students and 54 teachers. The school was officially opened on 7 August 1964 by the director-general of secondary education, A.W. Stephens. By 1965 the science, arts and music rooms in G Block had been completed. The cadet unit was also formed in 1967, only to be disbanded again in 1973 following the end of Commonwealth funding for cadet units. The 1970s also saw various changes including an expansion of the Library as well as repairs to E Block following a classroom fire. The school's

is the

Notable alumni

Daniel Arnamnart Daniel Arnamnart (born 14 September 1989) is an Australian competitive swimmer who specialises in backstroke events. Early years Arnamnart was born in Wahroonga, New South Wales. He was educated at Asquith Boys High School. Arnamnart comp ...

Australian swimmer *

Lloyd Babb Lloyd Babb , (born 1966) is an Australian barrister and was the New South Wales Director of Public Prosecutions from his appointment on the 18th July 2011 through to 17th July 2021. In making his announcement about the appointment of Babb, A ...

NSW Director of Public Prosecutions *

George Blackwood George Henry Raymond Blackwood (born 4 June 1997) is an Australian professional footballer who plays as a striker. Born in Sydney, Blackwood played youth football for APIA Leichhardt Tigers before making his professional debut for Sydney FC in ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player; played for

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional Association Football, soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under North American professional sports league organization#Systems ar ...

* Justin Hantable tennis player * Leroy HoustonAustralian rugby union player * Mike Kelly politician; former Australian Army lawyer and Member for Eden-Monaro *

Andrew Sayers Andrew George Sayers (29 June 1957 – 11 October 2015) was an Australian curator and painter, who was the first director of Australia's National Portrait Gallery from 1998 to 2010, and director of the National Museum of Australia from 2010 to ...

director of the

National Museum of Australia The National Museum of Australia, in the national capital Canberra, preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation. It was formally established by the ''National Muse ...

* Jordan Smylieprofessional soccer player; played for the

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The Ma ...

References

External links

* {{High Schools in Sydney, state=autocollapse Public high schools in Sydney School buildings completed in 1960 Educational institutions established in 1960 Boys' schools in New South Wales 1960 establishments in Australia Asquith, New South Wales

History

Notable alumni

See also

References

External links