, motto_translation = Higher , slogan = Exceptional learning opportunities for all , location = Aitken Road,

Bowral Bowral () is the largest town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, about ninety minutes southwest of Sydney. It is the main business and entertainment precinct of the Wingecarribee Shire and Highlands. Bowral once served ...

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Southern Highlands,

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 ...

, country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Australia New South Wales , pushpin_image = Australia New South Wales relief location map.png , pushpin_mapsize = 250 , pushpin_map_alt = , pushpin_map_caption = Location in

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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 ...

comprehensive secondary

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 compa ...

, educational_authority = , established = , closed = , district = Wollondilly; Regional South , school_board = , grades = 7- 12 , grades_label = Years , principal = Jason Conroy , teaching_staff = 69 , age_range = , enrolment = ~800 , enrolment_as_of = 2018 , campus_size = , campus_type =

Regional In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

, team_name = , newspaper = , colours = Blue and white , communities = , feeder_schools = , website = , footnotes = Bowral High School is a government-funded

comprehensive secondary

, located in , a town in the Southern Highlands region of

, Australia. Established in 1929 as a tribute to the

Australian and New Zealand Army Corps 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 com ...

(ANZAC) of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the school caters for approximately 850 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, of whom five 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 twelve percent were from a language background other than English. 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 Bowral, East Bowral,

Mittagong Mittagong () is a town located in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. The town acts as the gateway to the Southern Highlands when coming from Sydney. Mittagong is situated at an elevation of . The town ...

, Colo Vale, and Hill Top. 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 hig ...

; and the current principal is Jason Conroy.

History

The first public school in Bowral was established around 1868. Secondary education was introduced in 1906 when a course was created at Bowral Public School to allow students to continue study after primary. The secondary school was known as Bowral District School. In 1915, the school had its first students pass the Leaving Certificate exams. In 1920 the school was named Bowral Intermediate High School, and enrolled 120 students. In 1921, the school received a visit from Lord Chelmsford. In the mid-1920s, plans were made by the Bowral Parents and Citizens' Association (PCA) to erect a separate high school building from land purchased by the New South Wales Department of Education. The PCA raised funds to expand the area for the school, and continued to petition the Minister of Education to help fund the construction. In February 1928, enrolment at Bowral Intermediate High increased to 303 students, 51 more than the previous year, prompting the PCA to continue pressuring the government to build the school. By 1929, it had enrolled 389 students with 14 teachers. On 8 June 1929 the Minister of Education David Henry Drummond and the mayor of Bowral laid the foundation stone for the new high school building. The land was a three-acre site on the outskirts of town. The building would be a two-story structure similar to Goulburn High School, and would accommodate about 420 students and 11 classrooms. It had an assembly hall, staff rooms, men's and women's lavatories, open-air balconies, and other features, The original estimate from builder W. A. Gazzard was £20,000, and later totaled about £25,000. On 22 March 1930 Drummond returned to officially open the high school. Herbert Cowie served as the first headmaster. In December 1930, on the school's Speech Day, it was announced that the school's classification was raised to second class. Cowie reported that 392 students had enrolled at the peak of the opening in March, with 339 enrolled for the current quarter. The school was separated between the Upper courses for the Leaving Certificate and the Lower courses for the Intermediate Certificate. In 1935, Cowie died and the headmaster duties were passed to A.D. Watson. Classes in those times included two language classes and a non-language class, the last of which was some sort of woodworking, geography and technical drawing for boys, and art and needlework for the girls. A petition was brought forth to add domestic science (cooking, dietetics, physiology, hygiene) and agriculture classes. In 1937, Waston left the school. Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Bowral High School was the only public high school to service students preparing for the Leaving Certificate between Picton to

Goulburn Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of the Australian state of New South Wales, approximately south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters pate ...

until the opening of Moss Vale High School in 1964.

Governance, admissions, and costs

Bowral is a public co-educational school operated by the New South Wales Department of Education. Bowral, along with Moss Vale High School follows the enrolment standards from the Education Reform Act 1990 where students are allocated based on their designated residential zones. Exceptions are occasionally granted for non-resident students. As a state public school, contributions are voluntary and are for expenses such as uniforms, school books and equipment, field trips and extracurriculars. More general contributions are also made towards facilities and educational materials.

School structure

Bowral covers Years 7 through Year 12. At the end of Year 10, students can leave the school to begin full-time work, undergo education and training, or stay on to prepare for the Higher School Certificate (HSC) exam that is taken in Year 12. The NSW

Record of School Achievement The Record of School Achievement (RoSA) is an Australian qualification issued by the New South Wales Education Standards Authority in New South Wales. It is provided to students who complete Year 10 but who leave school before achieving the Highe ...

replaced the

School Certificate The School Certificate was a qualification issued by the Board of Studies, New South Wales, typically at the end of Year 10. The successful completion of the School Certificate was a requirement for completion of the Higher School Certificate. T ...

, awarded at completing Year 10.

Curriculum

Bowral follows the curriculum as directed by New South Wales Department of Education. Students are taught in the subjects of "English, mathematics, science, technology, creative arts, personal development, health and physical education, human society and its environment, languages". Mandatory courses are set by the New South Wales Education Standards Authority (NESA). The school also offers electives. NESA also endorses courses taken in Year 11 and 12 that are suitable for

Australian Tertiary Admission Rank The Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) is the primary criterion for domestic student entry into undergraduate courses in Australian public universities. It was gradually introduced to most states and territories in 2009–10 and has sinc ...

(ATAR) and courses that are classified as Vocational Education and Training (VET). Some courses count towards both ATAR and VET.

Sports and traditions

Bowral has grouped students into four houses: Belmore, Fitzroy, Gibraltar, and Hume. Each house is headed by a house captain and vice-captain. The houses occasionally compete against each other in sporting events. The colours for each house are: Belmore (blue); Fitzroy (red); Gibraltar (yellow); and Hume (green). Since 1928, Bowral High School has competed annually against Goulburn High School in a series of sports matches for the R.S. Smith Cup. Sports have included rugby, association football, cricket, basketball, and

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 ...

. In more recent years, the competitions have also included non-sporting events such as

masterchef ''MasterChef'' is a competitive cooking show television format created by Franc Roddam, which originated with the UK version in July 1990. The format was revived and updated for the BBC in February 2005 by executive producers Roddam and John ...

, spelling bees and computing.

Campus

Bowral's main buildings include the original historical building built in 1929, a large three-storey block built in the 1970s and a few more buildings from the 1980s and 1990s. Facilities on Bowral High include science labs, computer labs, a library, kitchens, textile rooms, industrial art labs, basketball courts, amphitheatre/COLA area, quad, canteen. In 2015, the school built a memorial garden to commemorate the centenary of the ANZACS.

Headmasters and principals

A listing of principals from the school since its opening in 1930. * Herbert Cowie (1930–1935) * Andrew Watson (1936–1937) * Sydney Barker (1938–1953) * Robert Wilson (1953–1965) * Stanley Clutterbuck (1966–1970) * Henry Waterhouse (1971–1974) * John Jeffery (1975–1978) * David McGrath (1978–1986) * Ray Perrau (1987–1991) * Lance Corr (1992–1994) * Kathryn Brennan (1995–2005) * Dianne Hennessy (2006–2009) * Kim Paviour (2010–2018) * Jason Conroy (2019–present)

Notable alumni

* Don Bradmancricketer, scored his first century at Bowral in 1920–21 * Chris Corriganbusinessman * Miriam LyonsAustralian Policy Analyst, writer, commentator. * Lizzie PearlNine News US correspondent, former National 9 News reporter, and WIN Newsreader. *

Craig Reucassel Craig Bruce Reucassel is an Australian television and radio comedian. He is best known for being a member of satirical team The Chaser. He hosted the Australian version of ''Balls of Steel'', which premiered in April 2011. Since 2013, Reucassel ...

television actor and comedian *

Jai Rowell Jai Travers Rowell (born 2 January 1977), an Australian former politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Wollondilly for the Liberal Party from 2011 to 2018. In April 2014 Rowell was appointed as Minister ...

Member of Parliament for Wollondilly

References

External links

* {{HighSchools-SouthernHighlands Public high schools in New South Wales 1929 establishments in Australia Educational institutions established in 1929 Bowral