Canley Vale High School (abbreviated as CVHS) is a government-funded

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

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 ...

, located in

Canley Vale Canley Vale is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Canley Vale is located 30 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Fairfield and is part of the South ...

, a south-western 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 1965 in an area that once comprised orchards, the school now caters for approximately 1,500 students 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 ...

. The school is operated by the

New South Wales Department of Education The New South Wales Department of Education, a department of the Government of New South Wales, is responsible for the delivery and co-ordination of early childhood, primary school, secondary school, vocational education, adult, migrant and hi ...

Campus

The school is situated in

, a suburb in south-western Sydney (adjacent to

Cabramatta Cabramatta ('Cabra') is a suburb in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Cabramatta is located south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Fairfield. Cabramatta ...

). The campus is built around the main quadrangle, next to the Historic bell tower. As of 2015, the school's foundation bell (originally housed in an actual tower) was restored and positioned on a metal frame over the base remnants of the bell tower, below where it would've been positioned had the tower remained. The bell was restored in time for school's 50th Anniversary, but for some bizarre reason was then stolen a few weeks later. Fortunately enough the bell was eventually recovered by police a few weeks after the incident, having been left discarded by presumably thieves in a creek. Other facilities includes a renovated multi-purpose school hall on the western end of the school, a double-storey library, an administrative facility, a canteen, computer labs, a lecture theatre (a single hall amphitheatre) at the school's eastern end, a Timber Trades Centre (TTC), a newly built 'Learning Hub' centre, and a school gym (located in the place of the school's table tennis complex) near the quadrangle at the heart of the school. To the front and south of the school's 'Bell Tower' Quadrangle is the school's assembly area which is approx. the size of 2 basketball courts. Opposite to this and north of the quadrangle is a sail-covered turf area for students with 3 basketball courts located in its north-eastern direction.

Orphan School Creek Orphan School Creek is a storm drain located in inner Sydney, New South Wales. It is a tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not ...

which flows behind the school, and Ada Street Reserve (a federally protected nature reserve to the school's northeast) marks the school's natural boundaries. The school runs relatively adjacent Prospect Road, Canley Vale, with its Eastern boundaries marked by Ada Street. Further north of Ada Street Reserve is Sherwin Park, which is utilised by the school during school hours (in addition to the nearby

Parkes Reserve Parkes may refer to: * Sir Henry Parkes (1815–1896), Australian politician, one of the earliest and most prominent advocates for Australian federation Named for Henry Parkes * Parkes, New South Wales, a regional town * Parkes Observatory, a radi ...

) for sports. The school is located about 10–15 minutes away from both

Canley Vale railway station Canley Vale railway station is located on the Main South line, serving the Sydney suburb of Canley Vale Canley Vale is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Canley Vale is located 30 kilometres west of the Syd ...

and

Carramar railway station Carramar railway station is located on the Main South line, serving the Sydney suburb of Carramar. It is served by Sydney Trains T3 Bankstown Line services. History Carramar station opened as South Fairfield on 8 October 1924 when the Main ...

Student life

Canley Vale High attracts many students from outside the local area and overseas due to its multicultural environment and student welfare program. A high proportion of the school's student population comes from a non-English speaking background, which includes predominately those of Cambodian, Chinese and Vietnamese heritage as well as students with

Polynesia Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of ...

n backgrounds.

Academic results

Canley Vale High School has close ties with the local community and has a reputation for high academic achievement and expectations of student excellence; and is one of the best academically non-selective co-educational public high schools in the Liverpool-Fairfield area. In 2016, the school was the highest ranked in Higher School Certificate results for New South Wales schools with the lowest levels of socio-educational advantage.

Houses

As with most Australian schools, CVHS utilises a

house system The house system is a traditional feature of schools in the United Kingdom. The practice has since spread to Commonwealth countries and the United States. The school is divided into subunits called "houses" and each student is allocated to o ...

. Students are allocated to a house when they enter the school according to the first letter of their surname. The four school houses are further represented through their individual 'house banners' which (in addition to the school banner) is kept in permanent overhanging display in the school's hall. There are four different houses under which students compete for the

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

and cross country carnivals:

Notable alumni

Jason Clare Jason Dean Clare (born 22 March 1972) is an Australian politician serving as Minister for Education since 1 June 2022. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has represented the Division of Blaxland in Western Sydney since 2007 ...

politician;

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

member for Blaxland *

Trung Ly Trung Ly is a Vietnamese martial artist, fight choreographer, and action director. He has gained recognition as the fight choreographer for several notable productions, including Roger Corman's martial arts film Fist of the Dragon, the ABC TV ser ...

martial arts choreographer *

Maria Tran Maria Tran (Vietnamese: Maria Trần) (born 30 January 1985) is an Australian actress, martial artist, producer, and director based in Las Vegas, Nevada. She is known for developing the martial arts action film genre in Australia via the Asian ...

actress and filmmaker

Campus Photos

File:CVHS 1.jpg, View of the Front of the School (A-Block). Pre-2000s, true date Unknown File:CVHS 2.jpg, Inside-view of C-Block (Now changed to D-Block) from upstairs. Photo was taken from what is now the front of the social-science staffroom. Pre-2000s, true date Unknown File:CVHS 3.jpg, Rear outside view (North & East Face) of A-Block, from what is the Bell Tower. Pre-2000s, true date Unknown File:CVHS 4.jpg, Zoomed out rear outside view (North & East Face) of A-Block, from what is the Bell Tower. Pre-2000s, true date Unknown File:CVHS 5.jpg, Outside view (West Face) of B-Block, from A-Block's Eastern Corridor. Pre-2000s, true date Unknown File:CVHS 6.jpg, View of the Bell Tower's Western Face, with B-Block in the background. Pre-2000s, true date Unknown File:CVHS 7.jpg, CVHS's Original Bell Tower. Pre-2000s, true date Unknown File:CVHS 8.jpg, Inside of a CVHS Science Lab. Pre-2000s, true date Unknown File:CVHS 9.jpg, A-Block Mosaics Pre-2019 Renovations.

References

{{Public high schools in New South Wales, state=autocollapse Educational institutions established in 1965 School buildings completed in 1965 Public high schools in Sydney 1965 establishments in Australia