Parramatta High School

Parramatta High School (abbreviated as PHS) is a government-funded co-educational dual modality partially academically selective and comprehensive secondary day school, located on the Great Western Highway in the central business district of Parramatta, a western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Parramatta High School
Location
Parramatta High School Location in greater metropolitan Sydney Show map of Sydney Parramatta High School Parramatta High School (New South Wales) Show map of New South Wales Parramatta High School Parramatta High School (Australia) Show map of Australia
Great Western Highway, Parramatta, Western Sydney, New South Wales Australia
Coordinates	33°49′03″S 150°59′51″E
Information
Type	Government-funded co-educational dual modality partially academically selective and comprehensive secondary day school
Motto	Latin: Fax Mentis Incendium Gloriae (The torch of the mind lights the path to glory)
Established	1913 (1913)
School district	Parramatta; Sydney metropolitan South
Educational authority	New South Wales Department of Education
Principal	Dominique Splatt
Enrolment	~30
Campus	Urban
Colour(s)	Royal blue, sky blue, grey, white
Newspaper	Phoenix
Website	parramatta-h.schools.nsw.edu.au

Established in 1913, the school was the first co-educational school in the Sydney metropolitan area and was previously a fully selective high school. Since 2013, it has been partially selective in the Parramatta region with a high multicultural student base.[1] The school is operated by the New South Wales Department of Education and has over 1000 students from Year 7 to Year 12. In 2019 the school has ranked 140th overall in the state for the NSW Higher School Certificate.

House system

At the beginning of Year 7, all Parramatta High students are placed in one of the following four houses:

House	Colour	Named after	Origin
Batman		John Batman	Adventurer who explored the Port Phillip Bay district of Victoria in 1835, discovering the Yarra River stating “This will be a place for a village”. This village was to become Melbourne.
Brisbane		Sir Thomas Brisbane	Fair-minded Governor of NSW from 1821 to 1825 – most famous for allowing the first newspaper in the colony The Sydney Gazette to be free from government censorship.
Fitzroy		Charles Augustus Fitzroy	Governor of NSW from 1846, responsible for encouraging the rapid expansion of settlement until the gold era.
Marsden		Rev'd Samuel Marsden	The first chaplain of NSW – an astute businessman who contributed greatly to the colony’s economic expansion.

Every year two sporting carnivals, athletics and swimming, and two advanced carnivals, zone and/or regional, are held in which students compete to earn their house points. A winner of each carnival and of the overall house championship is announced each year.

History

At a cost of A₤13,000, Parramatta High School was officially opened by Ambrose Carmichael, the Minister for Public Instruction, on Monday, 22 February 1913.[2] In 2013 Parramatta High School celebrated its centenary, marking 100 years since its establishment on 28 January 1913. Class of 2018, the 100th cohort to enrol at Parramatta High School, acknowledged this by implementing the Phoenix on the back of their year 12 jerseys. The Phoenix is a well-known symbol of Parramatta High, which derived from the 1940s Phoenix Magazine, and is celebrated through the annual PHS Phoenix Week.

Notable alumni

• John Benaud – cricketer
• Richie Benaud – cricketer
• Cardinal Edward Idris Cassidy – high-ranking Vatican official
• Philip K. Chapman – first Australian-born American Apollo astronaut
• Manu Crooks – musician
• Harry Hopman – tennis player
• Bede Morris – immunologist
• Ted Noffs – theologian
• Chips Rafferty – actor
• W. E. H. Stanner – anthropologist
• Rod Taylor – actor
• Sir Cyril Walsh – Justice of the High Court of Australia
• George Weir – politician

See also

• List of government schools in New South Wales
• List of selective high schools in New South Wales
• Selective school (New South Wales)

References

1. "Parrmatta High School" (PDF). DE Education International. New South Wales Department of Education. n.d. Retrieved 25 June 2019. The school is proud of its strong multicultural population and our students currently come from 56 different cultural backgrounds.
2. "Parramatta High School". The Daily Telegraph. Australia. 23 February 1913. p. 11. Retrieved 25 June 2019 – via Trove, National Library of Australia.

External links

• Parramatta High School Website
• "PARRAMATTA HIGH SCHOOL GOLDEN JUBILEE", Education: Journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation, 43 (2014): Page 8, 14 November 1962, ISSN 0013-1156