Arthur Phillip High School

Arthur Phillip High School
Location
Parramatta, New South Wales Australia
Coordinates
Information
Type	Public, Secondary, Coeducational, Day school
Established	1960
Principal	Lynne Goodwin
Enrolment	1,507 (7-12)
Campus	Urban
Website	http://aphs.nsw.edu.au/

Arthur Phillip High School (APHS) is a coeducational public high school in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia. The school was established in 1960 in its own right, in buildings which had been used continuously as a school since 1875, and is named for Arthur Phillip, the first governor of the state of New South Wales and the founder of the city of Sydney.

In 2009 APHS had 1,507 students across years 7–12 and 105 teaching staff.

History

Parramatta South Public School opened in 1873, and in 1875 moved to Smith Street. In 1887 it became a "Superior Public School" offering both primary and post-primary courses. In 1907 it was renamed Parramatta. For many years, boys' and girls' post-primary classes were taught separately in the adjacent buildings. In 1944, they were combined into a Central School. At the start of 1958, the primary school moved to Macquarie Street, where it remains today. In 1960, the secondary classes were separately established as Arthur Phillip High School.

At the front of the main side of its two-part campus the Old School House building, now a museum, is situated and contains photos and items pertaining to education in Australia's early colonial era and beyond. The Old School House is the oldest continuously used educational building in Sydney.

Lynne Goodwin has been principal of the school since 1996.

In 1967, the school was Principaled by Mr Walsh who had been principal for the past 6 years. His Deputy was Mr E.G. Ledlin. Mr Walsh was succeeded by Mr Hoolahan in 1969 but Mr Ledlin remained as deputy. The school then consisted of two distinct buildings - (1) the current double storey southern wing which accommodated the principal's office on the ground floor in the south west corner, 2 x science labs, a first aid room and a staff room. The first floor had all classroom. (2) A timber and tile roof building on the eastern side of the school grounds consisting of classrooms only.

Construction of the new eastern and northern wings (built simultaneously) began in 1967 and were completed in mid-1970. This required the demolition of the old timber and tiled buildings.

When Mr E.G. Ledlin died, the original early colonial building on the northern side of the school (still standing today) was named in his honour.

Campus

The campus is located at the corner of Smith Street and Macquarie Street in Parramatta's central business district, on both sides of Macquarie Street. The architectural front and main entrance of the school faces Smith Street, however it is rarely used and is an artefact of a different structure which has now changed due to the building's numerous appendages. The school has a central courtyard around which the main classroom buildings are arranged, and additional sports grounds which have gradually decreased in size due to an increase in demountable classrooms.

There is a playing field across the road from the main school building, but it is largely covered with portable classrooms (21 as of January 2012). In 2002 the playing field was not covered with any classrooms at all, but slowly as student numbers have increased so have the demountable classrooms. The school also has a large multi-purpose hall with a stage, and three basketball (or netball) courts.

Alumni

• Australian actress Kym Valentine attended APHS. Subsequently in 1994 at age 17, she moved to Melbourne to take up the role of Libby Kennedy in the long-running Australian series Neighbours, for which she is best known.
• Napoleon Perdis (born 19 March 1970), an Australian makeup artist and businessman
• Chips Rafferty Australian Actor attended Parramatta Public School that subsequently became APHS.

Controversies

Arthur Phillip High School has been at the forefront of multicultural policy implementation in Australia. For example, the School Plan has a Refugee Transition Program which engages with the wider emigrant and refugee community in Western Sydney.

Farhad Khalil Mohammad Jabar, who shot a NSW Police Force employee while yelling Islamic phrases was a student at the school. On 6 October 2015, police arrested another student of Arthur Phillip High School for posting offensive and threatening material on Facebook.

External links

• Official website
• NSW Department of Education and Training (DET): Arthur Phillip High School