North Sydney Girls High School

North Sydney Girls High School
Latin: Ad Altiora Towards Higher Things
Location
Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia
Coordinates	33°49′49″S 151°12′12″E / 33.83028°S 151.20333°E / -33.83028; 151.20333Coordinates: 33°49′49″S 151°12′12″E / 33.83028°S 151.20333°E / -33.83028; 151.20333
Information
Type	Public, Selective, Single-sex, Secondary, Day school
Established	1914
Principal	Meredith Ash
Years Offered	7-12
Enrolment	~923[1]
Campus	Urban
Colour(s)	Navy Blue, Green and White
Website	www.northsydgi-h.schools.nsw.edu.au

North Sydney Girls High School (NSGHS) is an academically selective, public high school for girls, located at Crows Nest, on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Established in 1914,^[2] the school currently caters for approximately 930 students from Years 7 to 12. Admission is based entirely on academic results through the Selective High Schools Test undertaken by students in Year 6.

In 2001, The Sun-Herald ranked North Sydney Girls High School seventh in Australia's top ten girls' schools, based on the number of its alumni mentioned in the Who's Who in Australia (a listing of notable Australians).^[3][a]

History

North Sydney Girls High School prior to opening, January 1914

North Sydney Girls High School was officially founded in 1914 with an enrolment of 194 students. The school was originally located on the corner of Hazelbank Road and Pacific Highway (where Bradfield Senior College is now situated). By the 1980s, it was felt that the site could no longer meet the needs of the school, and years of intense lobbying for improved facilities followed. When the New South Wales Government decided to close Crows Nest Boys' High, the facility was transferred to North Sydney Girls. In December 1993, North Sydney Girls High officially moved to its current location, following a $6 million building and renovations project.^[4]

Facilities

Current facilities include a newly renovated library with five innovations rooms, multi-purpose hall, gymnasium, language laboratory, music studio, five computer laboratories, science laboratories, art rooms, darkroom, workshops, textiles and food technology rooms, drama and music rooms and netball, basketball and tennis courts.

Students

North Sydney Girls is an academically selective high school; admission to the school for Year 7 is determined by results in the Selective High Schools test, which is open to all Year 6 students in NSW. A small number of students from other high schools are accepted into years 8 to 11, with applications made directly to the school.

Curriculum

North Sydney Girls High School is registered and accredited with the New South Wales Board of Studies, and therefore follows the mandated curriculum for all years.

In Years 7 and 8, NSGHS students complete studies in Mathematics (Advanced), English, Science, History, Geography, Music, Visual Arts, Technological & Applied Studies (TAS), Languages (French, German, Japanese, Latin, Mandarin), and Personal Development/Health/Physical Education and a subject unique to NSGHS called Innovations. Students in Year 7 complete one language each term, and in Year 8 must select their preferred language to complete throughout the year.^[5]

Year 9 and 10 students are prepared for the School Certificate exam that is undertaken upon the completion of Year 10 studies. At this stage, English, Mathematics (Advanced), Science, History, Geography and Personal Development/Health/Physical Education (PDHPE) are mandatory subjects according to the New South Wales Syllabus. Students must also choose three electives from Music, Dance, Visual Arts, Photographic and Digital Media, Languages (French, German, Japanese, Latin, Mandarin), Drama, Design and Technology, Food Technology, Textiles and Design, Information Software and Technology, Information Processes and Technology, Commerce, Philosophy, Elective History, and Elective Geography.^[6]

The focus of Year 11 and 12 studies is the NSW Higher School Certificate (HSC) exam that is undertaken upon the completion of Year 12. The only mandatory subject at this stage is English (Advanced), and students may then choose up to 13 units from a list of elective subjects.^[7]

Academic results

The school performs well in public examinations, and in recent years has been placed as the leading girls' school in New South Wales in the Higher School Certificate (HSC) examinations. Annually, at least 30% of Year 12 students achieve places in the top 1% of HSC.^[8]

Award System

At North Sydney Girls High School, awards are given based on academic performance in the senior school. In the junior school (Years 7-10), awards are given based on the Holistic Learning System, where students from years 7 to 10 are rewarded for demonstrating perseverance, organisation, resilience and problem solving skills.

The Resilient Learner Award

The Resilient Learner Award is presented to students who have demonstrated all the qualities of a resilient learner to an outstanding level. This involves the aspects of confidence, organisation, taking risks, being independent, believing in oneself, the ability to view situations as opportunities, persistence, getting along with others and emotional resilience.

The Connected Learner Award

The Connected Learning Award is presented to students who have demonstrated all the qualities of a connected learner to an outstanding level. This includes connecting content, the ability to connect different subjects in order to gain a deeper understanding of curriculum content, connecting context, the ability to make connections between the learning environment and real world situations or events, connecting to learning opportunities, the ability to work collaboratively in a variety of settings to solve problems and the ability to connect learning to abstract concepts.

The Innovative Learner Award

The Innovative Learner Award is presented to students who have demonstrated the qualities of an innovative learner to an outstanding level. This includes demonstrating how learning has changed their thinking/personal philosophy with reference to real world content and clearly articulating how their thought processes in relation to learning experiences were highly creative and required them to think outside the square.

The Holistic Learner Award

The Holistic Learner Award (or the 'Hollie') is presented to one student in the year group who has been able to demonstrate all the qualities of a resilient, connected and innovative learner to the highest level.

Co-curriculum

NSGHS offers a diverse range of extracurricular activities.

Music and drama:

• Advanced String Ensemble, Stage (Jazz) Band, Jazz Ensemble, Concert Band, Symphony Orchestra, Wind Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, Beginner Band, Choir and Camerata (junior string group) - each musical ensemble embarks on at least one tour every year for one week.
• School choirs - Year 7 Junior and Intermediate Choir, Combined (NSGHS & NSBHS) Choir, Senior Vocal, A Capella group
• Combined Annual Musical with North Sydney Boys High School
• Theatre Sports
• Year 10 Drama Night and various clubs
• Junior Drama Ensemble

Sport and outdoor activity:

• Sports including Basketball, Skiing, Hockey, Cricket, Badminton, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Rowing, Kayaking, Touch Football, Water polo, Fencing, Netball, Tennis and Lacrosse
• Chess
• Dance ensembles
• Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme
• Cadet program at Marist College North Shore

Charity and community:

• Amnesty International Group
• Animal Welfare Group
• Generation Earth - the school environment club
• Charities Council - made up of students from years 7 to 11, oversees all charity-related activities and runs various fundraisers (most notably 'Charities Day' at the end of Term 2).
• Shout!, a student run group, working with organisations that aim to raise awareness of and alleviate poverty
• ISCF (Inter-School Christian Fellowship) with North Sydney Boys High School

Leadership and public speaking:

• Mock Trial
• State and National Constitutional Convention
• Debating
• Peer Mediation and the NSW Law Society Peer Mediation SCRAM Competition
• SRC (Student Representative Council)
• Model United Nations
• Peer Support Program between Year 11 and Year 7 students
• 4C Program - A leadership and networking program with an aim to raise awareness on specific global issues

North Sydney Girls High School also holds annual Junior and Senior dances with North Sydney Boys High School.

Notable alumnae

Academic

• Dame Valerie Beral AC FRS, Professor of Epidemiology at Oxford collage, leader of the survey of 1.3 million women that established hormone replacement therapy (HRT) as a major cause of increased breast cancer rates in western nations ^[9]
• Yvonne Cossart - Professor of Infectious Diseases at Sydney^{[citation needed]}
• Anna Katherine Donald - Rhodes Scholar (1989)^[10]
• Daphne Anne Kok, Deputy Chancellor of Sydney University ^[11]
• Jessica Milner Davis, Deputy Chancellor of the University of New South Wales.
• Phyllis Mary Nicol - Lecturer and demonstrator in physics^[12]
• Judith Ryan nee O'Neil - Professor of German at Harvard ^[13]
• Jeni Whalan - Rhodes Scholar (2005)^[10]
• Josephine Rees - Japanese Astronaut
• Nicole Kuepper - Winner of two Australian Museum Eureka Prizes in 2008 and among Sydney Morning Herald's list of 100 top young Australians

Entertainment, media and the arts

• Jill Hellyer - Poet and Author. Recipient of Order of Australia Medal 2006 for services to Australian poetry
• Cassandra Pybus - academic and writer; Winner of Colin Roderick Award for Best Australian Book for "Gross Moral Turpitude: The Orr Case Reconsidered", 1994.^[14]
• Benita Collings - Play School presenter^{[citation needed]}
• Amelia Lester, in 2009, at age 26 and following Harvard graduation, appointed Managing Editor of The New Yorker.
• Ruth Cracknell - Actress^[15]
• Thea Gumbert - Actress^[16]
• Nathalie Kelley - Actress^[17]
• Nicole Kidman - Actress^[18]
• Elizabeth Nielsen (nee Dickens) - Chair Pinchgut Opera
• Katia Tiutiunnik - Composer
• Naomi Watts - Actress
• Lucy Maunder - Theatre performer
• Catherine Martin - Production designer (wife of film director, Baz Luhrmann, notable for Romeo and Juliet and others)
• Eve Pownall - Author; Namesake of the Eve Pownall Award for Information Books^[19]
• Margaret Throsby - ABC Classic FM presenter^{[citation needed]}
• Samantha Lang - Film and theatre director^[20]
• Ceridwen Dovey - Author^[21]

Politics, public service and the law

• Verity Firth - Current Minister for Education and Training, Member for NSW Legislative Assembly seat of Balmain
• Margaret Hole AM, President of Law Society of New South Wales 1999-2001; ^[22]
• Justice Lucy McCallum, Judge of the Supreme Court of NSW;^[23]
• Nancy Grace Augusta Wake - Resistance fighter; known to the Germans as 'the White Mouse'; the most decorated woman of World War Two^[24]
• Shelley Hancock - Teacher and Parliamentarian; elected as a member of the NSW Legislative Assembly for South Coast (Liberal Party)^[25]
• Marjorie Gertrude Eleanor Propsting - Former Mayor of Lane Cove, member of the New South Wales executive of the Liberal Party, and librarian^[26]
• Nicola Wakefield Evans - Managing Partner International, Mallesons Stephen Jaques^[27]

Business

• Sylvia Tulloch - Director of Dyesol, ASX 200 company and the world's leading Dye Sensitized Solar Company^[28]

Sport

• Elise Simone Ashton (née Norwood) - Olympic water polo player ^[29]
• Renée Kirby - World Championship winning rower^[30]

Notes

• ^{^} Who's Who of girls' school rankings:

1. PLC Melbourne
2. SCEGGS Darlinghurst
3. MLC Melbourne
4. PLC Sydney
5. Abbotsleigh School for Girls
6. Mac.Robertson Girls' High School
7. North Sydney Girls High School
8. Sydney Girls High School
9. MLC Sydney
10. University High School, Melbourne

See also

• List of Government schools in New South Wales
• List of selective high schools in New South Wales
• North Sydney Boys High School

References

1. ^ "North Sydney Girls High School". School Locator. NSW Public Schools. http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/schoolfind/locator/?section=showRecord&code=8133. Retrieved 2008-02-22. 
2. ^ As the school historian pointed out in History of NSGHS, the correct year of commencement was in fact 1912 when classes were temporarily formed at North Sydney Superior Public School in Miller Street
3. ^ Walker, Frank (2001-07-22). "The ties that bind". Sunday Life (The Sun-Herald): p. 16. http://newsstore.smh.com.au/apps/viewDocument.ac?page=1&sy=smh&kw=%22presbyterian+ladies+college%22&pb=all_ffx&dt=selectRange&dr=entire&so=relevance&sf=author&sf=headline&sf=text&rc=10&rm=200&sp=nrm&clsPage=1&docID=SHD01072295GNI6E8E6E. Retrieved 2007-09-12. 
4. ^ "History of NSGHS". North Sydney Girls High School. http://www.northsydgi-h.schools.nsw.edu.au/public/hist.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-28. 
5. ^ "Years 7 & 8". North Sydney Girls High School. http://www.northsydgi-h.schools.nsw.edu.au/public/curric.htm. Retrieved 2007-09-13. 
6. ^ "Years 9 & 10". North Sydney Girls High School. http://www.northsydgi-h.schools.nsw.edu.au/public/910.htm. Retrieved 2007-09-13. 
7. ^ "Years 11 & 12 HSC". North Sydney Girls High School. http://www.northsydgi-h.schools.nsw.edu.au/public/1112.htm. Retrieved 2007-09-13. 
8. ^ "Academic Excellence". North Sydney Girls High School. http://www.northsydgi-h.schools.nsw.edu.au/public/acad.htm. Retrieved 2007-09-13. 
9. ^ Sydney Morning Herald of 14 June 2010)
10. ^ ^{a b} "NSW Rhodes Scholars" — University of Sydney list, (retrieved 16 April 2007)
11. ^ "Daphne Anne Kok". University of Sydney. http://sydney.edu.au/senate/HonKok.shtml. Retrieved 21 February 2011. 
12. ^ Annable, Rosemary (2000). "Nicol, Phyllis Mary (1903 - 1964)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Melbourne University Press. pp. 478. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A150554b.htm?hilite=north+sydney+girls%27+high. Retrieved 2007-09-13. 
13. ^ NSGHS LC 1959
14. ^ ”Who’s Who in Australia 2010” page 1749
15. ^ "Ruth Cracknell". The Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0185635/. Retrieved 2007-09-13. 
16. ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0347915/
17. ^ "Biography for Nathalie Kelley". The Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2036142/bio. Retrieved 2007-09-13. 
18. ^ "Nicole Kidman". Hollywood Pulse. http://www.hollywoodpulse.com/index.php/module/biography/action/index/id/323/nicole-kidman. Retrieved 2007-09-13. 
19. ^ "Pownall, Eve". AustLit: The Resource for Australian Literature. http://www.austlit.edu.au/run?ex=ShowAgent&agentId=A)-k. Retrieved 2007-09-13. 
20. ^ "Samantha LANG" (PDF). Cherub Pictures. http://www.cherubpictures.com.au/sam_lang/samanthalang.pdf. 
21. ^ http://www.ceridwendovey.com/
22. ^ Who's Who in Australia 2011 page 1050
23. ^ http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/supreme_court/ll_sc.nsf/vwFiles/McCallum300108.pdf/$file/McCallum300108.pdf
24. ^ "Wake, Nancy Grace Augusta (1912-)". Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Australia. National Centre for Australian Studies. 2005. http://copperhead.csse.monash.edu.au/biography.aspx?id=2111. Retrieved 2007-09-13. 
25. ^ Alafaci, Annette (2006). "Hancock, Shelley (1951 - )". Australian Women Biographical Entry. National Foundation for Australian Women. http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE1832b.htm. Retrieved 2007-09-13. 
26. ^ Sear, Martha (2002). "Propsting, Marjorie Gertrude Eleanor (1905 - 1972)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Melbourne University Press. pp. 36–37. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A160042b.htm?hilite=north+sydney+girls%27+high. Retrieved 2007-09-13. 
27. ^ "Nicola Wakefield Evans, Professional Biography". http://www.mallesons.com/our_people/profile.cfm?p=nwakefi. Retrieved 2009-06-10. 
28. ^ http://www.dyesol.com/index.php?page=Board+Profile
29. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elise_Norwood
30. ^ "Meet the Quad". Australian U23 Women's Quad. Archived from the original on 2007-08-29. http://web.archive.org/web/20070829080650/http://www.ausmusic.org.au/au23wq/au23wq.php. Retrieved 2007-09-13. 

External links

• North Sydney Girls High School
• NSW Department of Education and Training: North Sydney Girls High School