Warrawong High School

Warrawong is a comprehensive, multicultural high school with 57% of our students from a range of non English speaking backgrounds. Our school has a strong history of achievement. Over the last decade, we have twice received a NSW Department of Education Director General's Award for School Achievement. In addition students, staff and the school have been awarded individual Departmental honours on several occasions and both students and staff have won many state and national awards in literacy, film making and community engagement. At Warrawong, we ensure students have a positive attitude and work hard to achieve academic success, develop social, interpersonal and employment skills and build self esteem. Teachers promote high expectations and a strong work ethic so all students succeed as learners. We cater for all students including selective classes to extend the most talented students and smaller class sizes across all years so students get more individual attention. We house the region's Intensive English Centre for new arrivals and a Support Unit for students with special needs. Across all years, our students make significant performance gains because of how teachers integrate literacy and technology into classroom learning. We offer an innovative senior curriculum which has significantly increased student retention. This dual strand curriculum involves both a traditional, academic HSC and a vocational HSC to develop employment skills. Our school has excellent facilities which support our comprehensive approach to education. Recent improvements include construction of a new sports centre, canteen café complex and major upgrades to our Science facilities. In addition, we are constantly improving our digital infrastructure. Students have access to cutting edge technology including seven computer labs, a wireless network and the latest whiteboard and video conference technology. To support our students' education, we have built strong links with the community. These include our highly rated community of schools programs with our local primary schools, parent engagement through focus meetings and a broad range of partnerships with the local business community. We seek to engage students through an extensive range of extra-curricular initiatives. These include a strong focus on life skills, sport and the creative arts - band, choir, film and drama. Two of our most innovative and widely acknowledged programs are our annual community student film festival and our permaculture gardens, where students learn about how to achieve a healthier and more environmentally sustainable lifestyle. As a school, our ultimate goal is to ensure that students develop knowledge, skills, attitudes and values which will help them become responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to Australian society.