Toodyay District High School is a

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

combined school, located in , a town in the Wheatbelt region of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, Australia. Established in 1886, the school currently has 333 students in total (as of 2020), from Year K to

Year 10 Year 10 is the tenth year of compulsory education in schools in many countries including England, Australia, India, Northern Ireland, New Zealand and Wales. It is the tenth or eleventh year of compulsory education. It is approximately equivalent ...

; of whom 25 percent identified as

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

and 15 percent of whom were from a language background other than English. The school is operated by the WA Department of Education. The school principal is David Ball. The

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...

includes the town of Toodyay and surrounding agricultural areas.

History

The original Toodyay school, known as Newcastle, was built in 1886 and opened in 1887. This building is now the Uniting Church. The school was renamed Toodyay in 1910, and the school moved to its present site on the Avon River in 1954. In 1967, it commenced offering Year 8–10 classes. A fire in 1993 destroyed most of the existing buildings and a rebuilt school was opened on the same site eighteen months later. The Toodyay District High School Parents and Citizens Association raised a substantial amount of money to re-equip these new buildings. The closest school for Year 11 and 12 students is

Northam Senior High School Northam Senior High School is a comprehensive public co-educational high school, located in Northam, a regional centre in the Wheatbelt region, east of Perth, Western Australia. History The school was established in 1921 and by 2020 had an ...

Community work

The school works in strong partnership with its local community. Each year, the school embarks on a project involving students in their community. The restoration of Newcastle Park is the product of projects involving students. Students have also been actively involved in revegetation projects along local waterways. A highlight of 2004 was a year 10 student winning a public speaking competition to earn a place on the Premier's

Anzac The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) was a First World War army corps of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. It was formed in Egypt in December 1914, and operated during the Gallipoli campaign. General William Birdwood comma ...

trip to

Gallipoli The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...

Extra-curricular activities

Many opportunities are provided for students to participate in extra-curricular activities. Students and families have hosted annual visits by Japanese students. Students have also participated in school trips to Japan. Country Week, Camps, Emergency Service Cadets and an annual Ski Trip add to the opportunities available for students at Toodyay District High School.

''Six From Borneo'' project

In early 2011, the Year 9 and 10 Drama students were involved in recording an updated version of the play ''Six From Borneo'', which was originally broadcast on ABC radio in 1947. The play tells the story of over 2000 prisoners of war, held by the Japanese in

Sandakan Sandakan (, Jawi: , ) formerly known at various times as Elopura, is the capital of the Sandakan District in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the second largest city in Sabah after Kota Kinabalu. It is located on the Sandakan Peninsula and east coast of ...

, North Borneo during World War II. The play tells the story of the

Sandakan Death Marches The Sandakan Death Marches were a series of forced marches in Borneo from Sandakan to Ranau which resulted in the deaths of 2,434 Allied prisoners of war held captive by the Empire of Japan during the Pacific campaign of World War II at the Sa ...

that the prisoners were taken on, and how only six POWs, all of whom were Australian, survived by escaping. The story is relevant to Toodyay as four local men, including three brothers, were killed on the death marches. The play commenced recording in May 2011 with the help of the Toodyay community, including local radio station Toodyay Community Radio, Toodyay RSL and the

Shire of Toodyay The Shire of Toodyay is a local government area in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, beyond the north-eastern limits of the Perth metropolitan area. The Shire covers an area of , and its seat of government is the town of Toodyay. Hi ...

and has been broadcast periodically by Toodyay Community Radio since 2011.

References

External links