Macquarie Fields High School (abbreviated as MFHS) 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 ...
dual modality partially
academically selective and
comprehensive 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
Macquarie Fields
Macquarie Fields is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Macquarie Fields is located 38 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Campbelltown and ...
, 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
)
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, 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 1981, Macquarie Fields High School caters for approximately 1,000 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 ...
to
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 administered 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 ...
and has two avenues for admission and runs two streams of classes: "Selective", in which students are accepted after sitting a statewide competitive entrance examination, and "Community", in which students are allowed to reside in the local community.
History
The school began operating at the current site in 1981. It was originally set up as a temporary school in demountable accommodation, to provide for the growing number of students between
James Meehan High School
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, location = Macquarie Fields, South Western Sydney, New South Wales
, country = Australia
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, type = Government-funded co-educational seco ...
and
Ingleburn High School during the 1980s. The parents fought hard to establish a permanent school on the site and eventually were successful in achieving their goal. The first Year 12 group was educated in demountables.
The first Principal was Don Harwin and his Deputy was Mike Wilson. Harwin began in 1981 with approximately fourteen staff members and was appointed to Menai High School in 1988 with Mike Wilson as the Deputy Principal.
The permanent school building was completed in 1987 and the new buildings were fully occupied for one term before the end of that year. The hall/gymnasium is the oldest building at the present site.
During most of its early history, the school catered for students with a wide range of abilities and socio-economic backgrounds. The school was funded by the Disadvantaged Schools Program until the end of 1989. During 1988, the school was targeted to become one of a number of new Selective High Schools that were to be established the following year. The school was chosen because of its strategic location in relation to transport and also because the two other High Schools were in such close proximity.
Since 1989, the school has had a mixed mode intake of selective and community students. In 1994, in response to parents concerns about an imbalance between the number of selective and community students in Year 7 intakes the Department of School Education established a special committee of review to determine the future composition of the student body. The recommendation of the review committee was that the school would continue in the mixed mode for the foreseeable future. Each Year 7 intake is to have a maximum of 90 selective and 90 community students. Though, the school has introduced a Special Education unit of three classes (Gold, Green and Blue), also the number of community students has also risen leading to the introduction of a fourth class within the community stream rather than the conventional 3. This has created mass problems with congestion and space within the school, due to its small size it was designed to cater for only 900 kids. But due to a growing number of residents in Macquarie Fields and increase in demand the school has allowed record numbers of students for enrolment. This lack of space and boom in community students has made the rankings of the school go lower consecutively each year, thus forcing a review into the school's capacity. Since 2010 there has been strong debate to whether the school should become fully selective and make community students go to nearby schools with low numbers such as James Meehan and Ingleburn, however, none of these suggestions have ever been accepted.
Extracurricular activities
Future Teacher's Club
This initiative allows students to experience first-hand teaching. Students plan and teach lessons to younger grades during 'Teach Week'. Additionally club-members participate with annual visits to
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
, allowing them to partake in insightful discussions and activities with current university students studying secondary education. As tradition, students also have annual excursions to
Yanco Agricultural High School
The Yanco Agricultural High School, abbreviated as YAHS, is a Education in Australia#Government schools, government-funded Mixed-sex education, co-educational Selective school (New South Wales), academically selective and specialist secondary schoo ...
, a selective school in , in south-western New South Wales, giving students rural experiences of schooling. The initiative has been successful as Australia's first Future Teacher's Club; currently occupying over 50 club-members.
Campus
The school is situated on Harold Street in Macquarie Fields, a suburb of South Western Sydney. The school features many gardens named after the school's many achievements and notable people including:
*Yellow Ribbon Grove: A looped road branched off from Harold Street leading into the school reflecting the Yellow Ribbon program in which senior students are trained as support people and points of contact for junior students.
*Robbyn Kidd Grove: Dedicated to a notable former principal of the school and for her contributions to the school.
Hall
Refurbished following an arson attack in 2009, in which the hall was gutted and left standing as an unused hollow shell, provides a multipurpose indoor space for special events such as Half Yearly, Yearly, School Certificate and Higher School Certificate Examinations and special assemblies. The hall is the headquarters of the Physical, Development and Health department, and features changing rooms and shower blocks. The hall also features a state of the art P.A. system.
Agricultural plot
Though small, it is an established part of the school.
There are two permanent resident geese, named Van Gogh and Picasso.
Students
There are currently approximately 1030 students enrolled through Years 7 to 12. Macquarie Fields High School is both a community and academically selective high school; admission to Macquarie Fields in Year 7 is by a government examination, the Selective High Schools Test, which is open to all Year 6 students in NSW or opened to students living in the Macquarie Fields student catchment area. A small number of students from other high schools are accepted into years 8 to 11, with application made directly to the school. Of the student population, over 72% are from a non-English-speaking background, predominantly Vietnamese (35.7%), Chinese (26.9%), Bangladeshi (16.3%), Indian (10.2%), Filipino (4.4%), Arabic (4%).
Centre of Excellence
In 2009, Macquarie Fields High School was selected as one of thirteen primary and secondary schools around the state to become Centres for Excellence. The school will receive extra resources, and be linked to a university which will be able to send its teaching students to the school at any time during their course rather than the traditional internship.
Notable alumni
*
Alyson Annan
Alyson Regina Annan (born 12 June 1973) is an Australian field hockey coach and retired field hockey player, who earned a total number of 228 international caps for the Women's National Team, in which she scored 166 goals. Until January 2022, ...
– Olympic hockey player
*
Simon Dwyer – former professional
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
football player
*
Michael De Vere – former professional
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
footballer
*
Brett Emerton
Brett Michael Emerton (born 22 February 1979) is an Australian former professional footballer who played for Sydney Olympic, Sydney FC, Feyenoord Rotterdam, Blackburn Rovers and the Australia national team. Able to play as a wide midfielder or ...
– international Australian soccer player
*
Shayne McMenemy
Shayne McMenemy (born 19 July 1975) is a former Ireland international rugby league footballer who played as a back rower in the 1990s and 2000s. He played club football in Australia for the Western Suburbs Magpies and WA Reds, and in England f ...
— former professional
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
football player
*
Prince Mak – former member of Korean idol group,
JJCC
JJCC (pronounced J-J-C-C; Hangul: 제이제이씨씨) is a five-member South Korean hip hop boy band formed under the management of Jackie Chan Group Korea.
*
L-FRESH the Lion
Sukhdeep Singh Bhogal (born 12 October 1988), better known as L-FRESH The LION is a hip hop artist and producer from Sydney, Australia. The acronym F.R.E.S.H. stands for Forever Rising Exceeding Sudden Hardships, while the L and LION refer to his ...
– Australian hip hop artist
See also
*
List of government schools in New South Wales
{{Use Australian English, date=June 2020
The New South Wales Department of Education is a department of the Government of New South Wales. In addition to other responsibilities, it operates primary and secondary schools throughout the state.
* L ...
*
List of selective high schools in New South Wales
This is a list of selective and agricultural high schools run by the Department of Education. Entry to these schools is managed centrally by the department's Selective High School and Opportunity Class Placement Unit. Prospective students sit th ...
References
External links
Macquarie Fields High School website
{{Public high schools in New South Wales, state=autocollapse
Public high schools in Sydney
Selective schools in New South Wales
Educational institutions established in 1981
1981 establishments in Australia
Macquarie Fields, New South Wales