Belmont High School is an Australian

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

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 ...

located in

Belmont, Victoria Belmont is a southern suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The name means "beautiful hill". Belmont is geographically separated from the Geelong central business district by the Barwon River. The suburb is primarily residential, with some l ...

, a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

in the city of

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

. It is one of the largest public schools in Geelong. The school was established in 1955Victorian Government Schools: Belmont High School
and as of 2019, it has an enrolment of over 1300 students from

years A year or annus is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by change in weather, the hou ...

7 to 12. The school has been progressively refurbished, with the most recent work costing $6.66

million One million (1,000,000), or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian ''millione'' (''milione'' in modern Italian), from ''mille'', "thousand", plus the au ...

and comprising new

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...

and staff areas,

canteen {{Primary sources, date=February 2007 Canteen is an Australian national support organisation for young people (aged 12–25) living with cancer; including cancer patients, their brothers and sisters, and young people with parents or primary carers ...

, and four "learning centres". There is a new Science-Technology centre called 'BioLab' that was completed in 2010 that is accessible for schools throughout Geelong to utilise.

Curriculum

The school offers a programme which includes a core curriculum in years 7 - 8 (English, Mathematics, Science, Italian, Indonesian, Technology, Arts, Studies of Society and Environment, Health and Physical Education). At years 9 to 12 a wide range of pathways are available. These include the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE), Vocational Education Training (VET), Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) and school-based apprenticeships. Belmont High School is one of 37 Victorian Government secondary schools providing a Select Entry Accelerated Learning Programme to address the learning needs of their gifted and high potential students. This allows these students to begin VCE subjects in Year 9 and complete school a year earlier if they wish. The school also offers specialised programmes catering for

international student International students, or foreign students, are students who undertake all or part of their tertiary education in a country other than their own and move to that country for the purpose of studying. In 2019, there were over 6 million internati ...

Incidents

On the 8 August 2008, a

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition ...

swept through a portable classroom, taking

firefighter A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...

s 40 minutes to control the blaze and another 90 minutes to fully damp down the site. One portable classroom was destroyed. There was also a fire in a science room, causing damage that had to be fixed over the start of 2011 holidays. On 19 April 2018 a shooting threat sent the school into lockdown. Police attended the school and upon realising that the threat was a hoax students were briefed on the situation and the day continued as normal.

Notable alumni

Chrissy Amphlett Christine Joy Amphlett (; 25 October 1959 – 21 April 2013) was an Australian singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the frontwoman of the rock band Divinyls. She was notable for her brash, overtly sexual persona and subversive hum ...

, lead singer of the

Divinyls Divinyls () were an Australian rock band that were formed in Sydney in 1980. The band primarily consisted of vocalist Chrissy Amphlett and guitarist Mark McEntee. Amphlett garnered widespread attention for performing on stage in a school unifo ...

* Esther Anderson,

Gold Logie The Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television, commonly referred to simply as the Gold Logie, is an award presented annually at the Australian Logie Awards. The Gold Logie was first awarded at the 2nd Annual TV We ...

nominated actress who portrays

Charlie Buckton Charlie Buckton is a fictional character from the Australian Seven Network, Channel Seven soap opera ''Home and Away'', played by Esther Anderson (Australian actress), Esther Anderson. Anderson was added to the cast in a bid to add more "sex app ...

Home and Away ''Home and Away'' (often abbreviated as ''H&A'') is an Australian television soap opera. It was created by Alan Bateman and commenced broadcast on the Seven Network on 17 January 1988. Bateman came up with the concept of the show during a trip ...

Cheryl Barker Cheryl Ruth Barker (born 22 April 1960, Sydney) is an Australian operatic soprano who has had an active international career since the late 1980s. She has sung on several complete opera recordings with Chandos Records, including the title ro ...

, opera singerGeelong Theatre Hall Of Fame
/ref> *

Peter Coleman-Wright Peter Coleman-Wright (born 13 October 1958) is an Australian baritone from Geelong. He began his career at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, where he sang Guglielmo in ''Così fan tutte'', winning the Touring Prize. Subsequently, he sang Sid in '' Al ...

, opera singer *

Ian Cover Ian James Cover (born 31 July 1956) is an Australian radio presenter, comedian, politician and author. He rose to prominence as a founding member of radio sporting comedy group the Coodabeen Champions, entered Victorian state politics in 1996, ser ...

, Coodabeens * Brooke Davis, author *

Adrian Leijer Adrian Leijer (born 25 March 1986) is an Australian footballer who plays as a centre back. Leijer played on one occasion for Australia and made over 100 appearances for Melbourne Victory in the A-League. Club career Early years Leijer was born ...

, Olympic Olyroo Representative and

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory e ...

player * Tim O'Neill,

CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

player *

Ezekiel Ox Ezekiel Ox (born Alan James Davies c. 1980),Busby, Cec (2006), fasterlouder.com.au, 5 June 2006. Retrieved 5 December 2015 is an Australian entertainer, singer-songwriter, film maker, actor, and political activist.Peterson, Chris (2014)Ezekiel Ox ...

, lead singer of

Mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

Dave Thornton Dave Thornton (born 13 December 1979) is an Australian stand-up comedian, actor, television and radio presenter. He has performed stand-up comedy throughout Australia, in Edinburgh, Singapore and New York. He has also appeared on Australian tele ...

, Comedian and regular panellist of ''The Project''

References

External links

Belmont High School Website
{{Victorian selective schools Schools in Geelong Public high schools in Victoria (Australia) Rock Eisteddfod Challenge participants Educational institutions established in 1955 1955 establishments in Australia