Winmalee High School

Winmalee High School is an Australian public school.

It was established in 1985, and teaches students from year 7 to year 12. The school is famous for its Autumn Art Festival, which supports well-known local artists from throughout the region. Winmalee also has good results for students graduating from their Higher School Certificate studies in years 11 and 12. The school colours are yellow and maroon: the school's motto is "Strive to Achieve".

Location

The school is situated in the North of the suburb of Winmalee in the city of Blue Mountains, Australia. The School borders onto National Park which has been recently placed on the World Heritage List and surrounds the City.

Autumn Art Festival

The Autumn Art Festival, usually abbreviated to Autumn Art-Fest is an annual event which attracts art collectors and the viewing public from throughout the Blue Mountains and surrounding areas. The event takes place to raise money for the school and showcases the work of well-known artists from throughout the region such as multi-award-winning artist John Wilson, a member of the Royal Art Society of New South Wales, who featured in the 15th annual Art-fest in 2006. Crafts and other goods are also sold at the event with musical items by school students.

School curriculum, demographics and enrollment

There are approximately 991 students enrolled at Winmalee High School (as of 5th March 2007). Winmalee High subjects include drama, music, dance, business studies, legal studies, computing studies, technology and design, visual arts, photography, languages, food technology and physical education. There are also Higher School Certificate programs offered at rigorous levels of study such as 4 Unit Mathematics and 3 unit subjects such as English, Computing Studies, Physics and Chemistry.

Reflective of its location, the majority of students are Anglo-Saxon in origin, and the student and staff body is largely culturally homogeneous. This has changed slightly in recent years, and new arrivals to the school have enriched the school’s diversity

A special feature of Winmalee High schools curriculum is a program supporting hearing impaired students in mainstream classes.

In addition to their studies, students at Winmalee High School have the option to take part in on the job training in such specialities as building and construction, industry studies (metals and engineering), industrial technology and hospitality which are usually unavailable at similar public high schools. Students also have the opportunity to link into joint TAFE courses as part of their HSC.

Students can also be involved in a sporting situation called mountain sports. This is a government funded organisation and allows children to be involved with sports directly through the school which is very helpful for the parents who work long hours. The organisation picks up children from the school and drops them off at sportin locations such as SummerHayes Park.

Architectural significance

Being designed fairly recently in 1985 Winmalee High School is of great architectural significance; the building is an example of Modern Architecture. It is one of the only High Schools in the Blue Mountains with wheel-chair access into a large percentage of the school.The school has also recently built a performing arts hall at the rear of the main hall. The hall was designed to cater for drama and small perfomaces with the best sound and lighting technology there is to offer. The school has a wide range of rooms including 7 maths rooms, 6 English rooms, 5 science laboratories, 4 L.O.T.E and history rooms, 4 social science rooms, 2 metal techniques rooms, 2 wood techniques rooms, 4 visual arts rooms, 2 textiles rooms, 1 tiered learning space 2 cooking rooms 2 discussion rooms many computer labs, 2 music rooms and 1 graphic drawing, 1 graphic technology room. There is also a wide range of smaller rooms used for smaller lessons.

References

External links

* [http://www.winmalee-h.schools.nsw.edu.au Winmalee High School Official Website]
* [http://www.bluemts.com.au/WinmaleeHigh/ Blue Mountains Web Schools]
* [http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/schoolfind/locator/summaryschool.php?selectOption=8573 Department Of Education And Training - Winmalee High School]