Gulgong High School

Gulgong High School is a comprehensive high school located in a diverse rural setting. The schools focus is 'Preparing Young Adults for the Future'. Students are drawn from the immediate rural and urban surroundings and from various walks of life. There is a divergent range of abilities among the students. The school caters for this divergence by creating a wide choice of curriculum that is both academic and vocationally based. The school offers vertically-integrated curriculum structures in the junior school to allow a great deal of flexibility and choice that encourages engagement of students in learning. For a small school, Gulgong High School offers a particularly wide range of student electives in both the junior and senior school and enjoys small class sizes in all senior courses and many junior courses. All students are encouraged to strive to achieve at their optimal level and effective student welfare programs are at the forefront of supportive structures to this end.  Gulgong High School has recently achieved outstanding success in a range of national and state wide sporting and academic competitions. The school was the regional winner of the Science and Engineering Challenge and received a Gold Award in the Premier's Coding Challenge. Each year Gulgong High School has many students who represent Western Region and NSW in a range of team and individual sports. Gulgong High School provides an exceptional creative and performing arts curriculum and there is a large number of students who access this learning area. The hospitality curriculum is also a feature of the school and the students and staff work closely together to provide a wonderful service to our wider community and at the same time provide expanded learning opportunities for the students. There are two support unit classes located at the school to cater for the needs of students with disabilities. The retention of students from the feeder schools and from year 10 into 11 is very high. This can be attributed to a strong history of high academic results achieved at the school and the stable and enthusiastic mix of talented young and experienced staff. Also contributing to this is the diverse range of educational programs and curriculum that are offered to cater for all students' needs. The school currently boasts a 60% success level for year 12 students wishing to move from school to university education. In recent years Higher School Certificate and NAPLAN student academic growth data provided to the school by the Department of Education has been outstanding. This data reflects student growth well above state and regional averages. The school has an active Parents and Citizens Association, School Council and School Canteen who provide wonderful support to the school. Parent interest in school activities is very high with community attendance at school functions a feature of the school.  Gulgong High School boasts a Trade Training Centre including a metal and engineering workshop, wood technology workshop and a hospitality room featuring a commercial kitchen. Gulgong High School is future focused and has transformed the library and classrooms into flexible lerning spaces along with the whole school implementation of the AVID program.Gulgong High School is a proud provider of quality public education to the local community and will continue to do so for many years to come.