Westfields Sports High School

Westfields Sports High School (abbreviated as WSHS) is a government-funded co-educational comprehensive and specialist secondary day school, with speciality in sports, located in Fairfield West, a western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Westfields Sports High School
Location
Westfields Sports High School
Westfields Sports High School
Westfields Sports High School (New South Wales)
Westfields Sports High School
Westfields Sports High School (Australia)
406A Hamilton Road, Fairfield West, Western Sydney, New South Wales

Australia
Coordinates33°52′00″S 150°55′12″E
Information
TypeGovernment-funded co-educational comprehensive and specialist secondary day school
MottoLatin: Fortitudo
(Courage and Valour)
Established1963 (1963)
School districtFairfield; Regional South
Educational authorityNew South Wales Department of Education
SpecialistSports school
PrincipalAndrew Rogers
Faculty~115
Teaching staff112.4 FTE (2018)[1]
Years7-12
Enrolment1,662[1] (2018)
Area7 hectares (17 acres)
Campus typeSuburban
Colour(s)Blue and gold         
NewspaperWestnews
AffiliationNSW Sports High Schools Association
Websitewestfields-h.schools.nsw.gov.au
[2]

Established in 1963, the school caters for approximately 1,660 students in 2018, from Year 7 to Year 12, of whom three percent identified as Indigenous Australians and 66 percent were from a language background other than English.[1] The school is operated by the NSW Department of Education; the principal is Andrew Rogers.

Westfields Sports High School is a member of the NSW Sports High Schools Association.[3] The school sits on a total area of approximately seven hectares (seventeen acres).

History
A map of Westfields Sports, outlining the positions of each structure around the campus

The school was established in 1963 and opened by Edward Gough Whitlam, later Australian Prime Minister. The school's first Principal was J. P. Quinlan and its first year enrolment had 300 students. Principal Quinlan had originally wanted the school's motto to be ANZAC, but that was not allowed, so he then chose the Latin: Fortitudo, translated as "courage and valour", that remains the school's motto today. The school originally had four sporting houses: Prospect (team colours black and gold); Kanangra (red); Werriwa (blue) and Lansdowne (green).

In 1964 the new student intake was even larger than the previous year, with close to a thousand new students enrolled. Classes were listed alphabetically from A down to J to include them all. That year also saw a massive fire at the school that affected mainly the science block and the technical arts block, rendering many of the classrooms unusable. Classrooms were temporarily offered at the local primary school, Fairfield West Public School on Hamilton Road, until the burnt out classrooms could be restored. Each day for close to a year, around 100 or so new Year 7 students would attend assembly at Westfields, then march up the hill to classrooms at Fairfield West PS. The cause of the fire was never stated, but it was strongly suspected that the expulsion of several students earlier in the year had led to a grudge arson attack, since the words "N R gang" had been painted in large letters across the girls' and boys' toilet blocks.

From the 1960s to the 1980s the school achieved moderate success in sports and was on the rise during the late 1980s. The then principal, Philip Tucker, had wanted to establish Westfields as a school that could provide any sports person who attended, a pathway to the Australian Institute of Sport, and extend their possibilities beyond high school level sporting competition. The school was eventually officially declared a sports school on 24 April 1991.

Notable teachers who taught at the school in the early years of their careers include the artist Mary Shackman and the international concert pianist Michael Leslie.

Since 1997, there has been an annual student and teacher exchange scheme with Kasukabe High School, from Kasukabe, Saitama, Japan.[4]

In 2008, the International Olympic Committee recognized Westfields Sports for their involvement in producing many Australian Olympians with a special Sport and Youth Trophy.[5]

Enrolment policy

The school has a partially selective approach to enrolment, with students needing to either live within the relatively small catchment area of the school, or demonstrate their ability in sport.[6] The school is very well regarded for having produced sporting talent in a number of different areas of sporting endeavour,[7] and has received a range of grants to support its work with sporting talent.[8]

Talented sports program

Sports offered at Westfields Sports High School include athletics, Australian rules football, baseball, basketball, cricket, dance, equestrian, golf, gymnastics, hockey, netball, rowing, rugby league, rugby union, soccer, softball, swimming, table tennis, tennis, and volleyball.

Notable alumni
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See also

References
  1. "Westfields Sports High School, Fairfield West, NSW: School profile". My School. Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  2. "NSW Department of Education and Training: Westfields Sports High School". Retrieved 20 June 2010.
  3. "High Performance Schools". School programs. Cricket NSW. 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  4. "West News", 7 November 2006
  5. "IOC honour for Sydney school". Retrieved 20 June 2010.
  6. "WSHS Enrolment". Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  7. Proszenko, Adrian (13 January 2013). "Top marks to school where Stars are made". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  8. Chammas, Michael (11 February 2009). "Grant for Westfields Sports High School". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  9. "Higher School of Learning". Westfields Sports High School. Archived from the original on 22 August 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  10. "London 2012 - Dani Samuels Athlete Profile". Retrieved 4 August 2012.
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