Melville Senior High School is a

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 ...

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 ...

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 Melville, a suburb of

Perth, Western Australia Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. Opened in 1960, as of 2021 the school had an enrolment of 1,399 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 ...

, with its

catchment area In human geography, a catchment area is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...

covering most of the

City of Melville The City of Melville is a local government area in the southern suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth, east of the port city of Fremantle and about south of Perth's central business district. The City covers an area of ...

History

The school was opened as Melville High School in February 1960, originally only with

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 ...

8 and 9. Designed by architectural firm Parry, Parry and Rosenthal, and built by A. T. Brine and Sons Pty. Ltd., the school cost £324,493 to build, and was the first high school in Western Australia designed by a private architect. The school's Parents and Citizens Association (P&C) was established in March 1960, with a Student Council being formed in 1964. The school's name was altered to the present Melville Senior High School in 1964.''2010 Yearbook: Celebrating 50 years 1960–2010'' – Melville Senior High School. Accessed 18 September 2011. A fire on 21 April 1970 destroyed part of the Arts and Crafts section. A gymnasium and pool were completed in the 1970s. Another fire destroyed part of the Mathematics section in 1990. A $450,000 upgrade of the school's administrative facilities was completed in 1997 as part of the Court government's schools program. A major redevelopment of the senior school, middle school and science quadrangles was completed in 2010. In 2015, Melville made the adjustment to add year 7s (aged 12–13) into the cohort. In 2017, a renovation to the school's student services facilities was completed.

Catchment area

As defined by the ''School Education Act 1999'', the catchment area for Melville Senior High School attempts to cover the entire suburbs of Attadale, Melville and Willagee, and parts of the suburbs of Alfred Cove, Myaree and Kardinya. The school also shares areas of the suburbs of Bicton,

East Fremantle East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

and

Palmyra Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early second ...

with

South Fremantle Senior High School South Fremantle Senior High School (SFSHS) is a former comprehensive public co-educational high day school, that was located in Beaconsfield, south-east of Fremantle in the south-western suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. The school ope ...

and

John Curtin College of the Arts John Curtin College of the Arts, originally John Curtin High School, is an independent, public co-educational, partially selective high school, located in East Street, , a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. The school provides a general and ...

; the suburb of

North Fremantle North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

with South Fremantle Senior High School, John Curtin College of the Arts and Shenton College; areas of the suburbs of

Murdoch Murdoch ( , ) is an Irish/Scottish given name, as well as a surname. The name is derived from old Gaelic words ''mur'', meaning "sea" and ''murchadh'', meaning "sea warrior". The following is a list of notable people or entities with the name. ...

and Winthrop with

Applecross Senior High School Applecross Senior High School is a public co-educational high school, located in Ardross, a southern suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Founded in 1958, Applecross Senior High School has traditionally been one of the leading public high schoo ...

; and areas of the suburb of North Lake with Hamilton Senior High School.

Programs

Melville operates specialist programs in the areas of

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...

, graphical design and media, and the government selected

gifted and talented education Gifted education (also known as gifted and talented education (GATE), talented and gifted programs (TAG), or G/T education) is a broad group of special practices, procedures, and theories used in the education of children who have been identified a ...

. These programs are open to students outside of the catchment area. The school also hosts an Intensive English Centre and international fee-paying student program, with 19% of students having a language background other than

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. These programs are also open to students outside of the catchment area.

Notable alumni

Notable people who have attended Melville Senior High School include: * Peter Capes, businessman, former cricketer, CEO of the

Subiaco Football Club The Subiaco Football Club, nicknamed the Lions and known before 1973 as the ''Maroons'', is an Australian rules football club in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). It was founded in 1896, and admitted to the WAF ...

Patrick Gorman (politician) Patrick Possum Gorman (born 12 December 1984) is an Australian politician, elected as an Australian Labor Party representative to the Division of Perth at the 2018 Perth by-election. Early life Gorman was born on 12 December 1984 in East Frem ...

, Labor Party politician, member for the

division of Perth The Division of Perth is an Australian electoral division in the state of Western Australia. It is named after Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, where the Division is located. History The division was proclaimed in 1900, and was ...

in the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...

since 2018 * Garry Kelly, Labor Party politician, member for the

South Metropolitan Province The South Metropolitan Province was a two-member electoral province of the Western Australian Legislative Council, located in metropolitan Perth. It was one of several metropolitan seats created following the enactment of the ''Constitution Acts A ...

in the

Western Australian Legislative Council The Western Australian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Western Australia, a state of Australia. It is regarded as a house of review for legislation passed by the Legislative Assembly, the lower house. The two Houses ...

from 1982 to 1989 *

Andrea Mitchell (politician) Andrea Ruth Mitchell (7 February 1956 – 4 April 2020) was an Australian politician who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 2008 to 2017, representing the seat of Kingsley. She was a minister in the government ...

, Labor Party politician, member for the

electoral district of Kingsley Kingsley is an Electoral districts of Western Australia, electoral district of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Western Australia. The district is located in the northern suburbs of Per ...

from 2008 to 2017 *

Craig Parry Craig David Parry (born 12 January 1966) is an Australian professional golfer. He has been one of Australia's premier golfers since turning professional in 1985, and has 23 career victories, two of those wins being events on the PGA Tour; the 2 ...

, golfer. *

Sally Robbins Sally Robbins (born 15 July 1981) is an Australian sportswoman. Originally from Perth, Western Australia, she attended the rowing program at the Western Australian Institute of Sport, and later represented Australia at the women's four at the 20 ...

, former Olympic rower. * Diane Smith-Gander, business executive * Friday Zico, soccer player

References

External links