Elanora State High School

Infobox School
name=Elanora State High School


motto = Aim to Excel
type = Secondary
location = Elanora, Queensland
principal = Mrs. Roslyn Wilson
free_label_1 = Deputy Principal
free_1 = Gary Dawes, Kym Dickinson, Shirley Booth
established = 1990
grades = 8 - 12
students = Approx 1400
free_label_2 = School Captains
free_2 = Georgia Gardiner and Timothy Gear
free_label_3 = School Vice Captains
free_3 = Kendra Chen and talented musician Chang Po Ching"'
colors = Jade, Navy
website = http://www.elanorashs.eq.edu.au

Elanora State High School is the high school serving the Elanora area of the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1990, it currently has a student body of 1400 students.

Changes to the Curriculum

Major changes to the school curriculum are currently underway. The first alteration was placing the tenth grade into the Senior School. All students in the tenth grade are required to wear the senior school uniform and do "transitional" classes designed to bridge the gap between Junior and Senior schooling.

At the beginning of 2007, the school adopted the Education Queensland's "Learning or Earning" initiative and setup a special schooling system for Year 11 and 12 students. On Monday, the Year 11 and 12 students do not attend school and either use the day to endeavor in vocational educations (i.e. school based trainee ships and apprenticeships) or to study Senior classes.

tudent Council

The Student Council of Elanora State High School is a body of elected students who represent the school community. By organizing fund raising events such as free dress days, the student council is able to raise money for improvements on the school. However, the student council focuses on the larger community also, such as coordinating "Red Nose Day" to support SIDS for KIDS, "40 Hour Famine" to contribute to third world countries, "World's Greatest Shave" to raise money for cancer research, and many more. They even have a sponsor child! The Student Council's role is to SUPPORT; support the students, support the school, support the community. The members of the student council work as a team in a similar way to that of a local council; they discuss and, when possible, take action on any matters students have voiced. The student council is not only a good resource for the community, but for the junior students who are involved, it is a step in the right direction for taking on leadership roles in the senior school. The student council is an integral facet of Elanora State High School's community.

Music Department

Elanora is a school that promotes music. Every year there are several Battle of the Bands competitions that draw crowds and money into the performing arts block. Guitar lessons also available from Chad the guitarist. They also compete in the rock eisteddfod challenge which they unfortunately receive very poor results. Elanora State High School recently participated in the global rock challenge in which they didn't receive recognition.

Notable People

Operator Please are a band that originally came from Elanora High. Members include Amandah Wilkinson, Sarah Gardiner, Ashley McConnell, Timothy Commandeur and Taylor Henderson. The band is touring the UK, Europe and the US at the moment, and have a Top 20 ARIA Chart hit "Just a Song About Ping Pong" off their forth coming album "Yes Yes Vindictive". The band recently won 'Best Pop Release' ARIA for their single "Just a Song About Ping Pong".

Dane Lovett is a contemporary artist currently based in Brisbane, Queensland. A notable event in his career was the creation of the artwork for Eskimo Joe's album, Black Fingernails, Red Wine, and subsequent singles. He was nominated for Best Cover Art in the ARIA Music Awards of 2006 for his work on Black Fingernails, Red Wine.

Joel Parkinson (surfer) attended this high school.

Vandalism

The school has been targeted by vandals frequently, which led to the Elanora Police Beat to be setup in 2005. The vandals have caused over AU$100,000 in damage (as of July 2007) and have yet to be caught. The school has had windows smashed, computers smashed, and a projector mounted on the roof of an Audio Visual room stolen.

See also

* List of schools in Queensland

External links

* [http://www.elanorashs.eq.edu.au/ School website]
* [http://education.qld.gov.au/marketing/eqi/pdfs/eqi_sp_elanora.pdf Elanora State High School School Overview]