Kalgoorlie–Boulder Community High School

Kalgoorlie-Boulder Community High School is a comprehensive public co-educational high day and boarding school, located in Kalgoorlie, a regional centre located in the Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia.

Along with Eastern Goldfields College the school was formerly known as Eastern Goldfields Senior High School until the campuses were separated.

History

The school was established in 2006 and caters for students from Year 7 to Year 10. Paul Matthews was the inaugural principal and was followed by Terry Martino in 2010. Terry Martino moved to Northam Senior High School in 2013 and was replaced by the deputy principal Vicki Bogensperger. The current principal is Douglas Dearle, since 2020.

Early in 2012 the school received a commendation award from the local chamber of commerce. The deputy principal, Vicki Bogensperger, accepted the award on behalf of Terry Martino and remarked "''We are on an improvement journey at Kalgoorlie-Boulder Community High School and in a sense, the work will never be complete''." Later the same year the school was reviewed by Expert Review Group appointed by the Department of Education. The director of the group commented on the "''dramatic improvements at the school"'' in the areas of uniform, behaviour and mobile phone policy. The director, Brett Hunt, also commented "''The school’s environment has a long history of being unsettled, but we found the current team has focused on developing a welcoming, structured and predictable environment for everyone''."

At the start of the 4th term of 2016, the first stage of KBCHS' $45 million redevelopment program was completed and opened, which includes new English, Mathematics and Humanities building blocks, and previous buildings were demolished to make way for stages 2 and 3. In July 2017, the second stage was completed, which included the new Visual Arts and Eastern Goldfields Education Support Centre buildings. The third stage was completed and opened in late 2017, which involved landscaping and new pathways connecting stages 1 and 2, and fully completed the school's redevelopment.

Enrolment

Enrolments at the school have fluctuated with total enrolments ranging from 510 (2010) to 1,036 (2015). The migration of Year 7 students to public high schools were the likely cause in the 301 enrolment number spike from 2014 to 2015.

Incidents

The school had many reported incidents of violence in 2009 between indigenous and Maori students, resulting in cultural advisors being employed to tackle the problem.

The school was in the headlines in 2010 when a teacher set an assignment asking the students how they would launch a chemical or biological terrorist attack on an unsuspecting Australian community to kill as many civilians as possible. The assignment was withdrawn after students complained. The teacher was counselled.

In May of the same year, a male teacher was assaulted by a 13-year-old girl, the girl hit the man several times and was later charged by police for assaulting a public officer. The girl pulled out clumps of his hair and hit him with a bin, she had to be pulled off the teacher by his colleagues who heard his screams.

Another incident occurred in 2010 when a relief teacher was dismissed after students pushed, swore at and assaulted him. The teacher was ordered to leave the premises but later took the WA Department of Education to the industrial relations commission. It was found that the teacher was unfairly dismissed, the students involved having a history of falsely accusing teachers, and the department was ordered to rehire the teacher.

The school ranked second in the state, behind Gilmore College, for school suspensions given to students in 2010.

The school made the front page of '' The West Australian'' in early 2013 when it was revealed students from the school had formed 'fight clubs' where they would gather to watch students brawl with one another. Fights were recorded on video and posted to Facebook, as were details of upcoming fights. The police became involved and were planning additional patrols in the area. The principal, Terry Martino, called on the community to take a shared responsibility for the children's behavior.

In 2016 the school year commenced with 49 suspensions handed out to students in the first three weeks. In March of the same year a teacher was assaulted by a student, the teacher escaped serious injury and the student was suspended.

Just a day after the opening of the new English, Maths and HASS buildings, they were vandalised, smashing windows and causing other significant damage to the buildings. This incident forced the school to be closed for a day for repairs so that it was safe for students and staff members to return.

See also

* List of schools in rural Western Australia

References

External links

Kalgoorlie-Boulder Community High School website

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Public high schools in Western Australia
2006 establishments in Australia
Educational institutions established in 2006
Boarding schools in Western Australia
City of Kalgoorlie–Boulder