Barrenjoey High School is a government-funded

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

day school A day school — as opposed to a boarding school — is an educational institution where children are given instruction during the day, after which the students return to their homes. A day school has full-day programs when compared to a regular s ...

, located in

Avalon Beach Avalon Beach is a northern beachside suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 28 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Northern Beaches Council, in the Northern Beache ...

, a suburb in the

Northern Beaches The Northern Beaches is a region within Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, near the Pacific coast. This area extends south to the entrance of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), west to Middle Harbour and north to the ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia. Established in 1968, the school catered for approximately 831 students in 2023, from

Year 7 Year 7 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand. It is the seventh full year (or eighth in Australia and England) of compulsory education and is roughly equivalent to grade 6 ...

Year 12 Year 12 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. It is sometimes the twelfth or thirteenth year of compulsory education, or alternatively a year of post-comp ...

, including less than one percent of whom identified as

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

and 14 percent were from a language background other than English. The school is operated by the NSW Department of Education; the

principal Principal may refer to: Title or rank * Principal (academia), the chief executive of a university ** Principal (education), the head of a school * Principal (civil service) or principal officer, the senior management level in the UK Civil Ser ...

is Mark Robinson.

Overview

The first student intake was in 1968 with a single grade (known at the time as 'Form 1') which formally graduated from the school in 1973. The inaugural graduating year of 1973 remains close-knit and has recently held a reunion with an outstanding number of students in attendance (more than 70, close to 40 years after last seeing each other). The location of the school right at the

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

lends itself to many curricular and non-curricular beach activities. Over ensuing years, the school has grown in enrolments to its current level, necessitating expansion of the campus and construction of additional facilities. Barrenjoey's feeder primary schools include Avalon Public School, Bilgola Plateau Public School and a few other schools in the local area.

House system

In 2009, Barrenjoey High School introduced the

house system The house system is a traditional feature of schools in the United Kingdom. The practice has since spread to Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries. The school is divided into units called "houses" and each student is allocated to on ...

. Students are placed into one of the four houses in Year 7. The houses are made up in alphabetical order, according to students last name. The four houses are named Maluka (blue), Akuna (yellow), Iluka (red) and Tingara (green). Students can win 'house points' through various activities including receiving merit certificates and participating in school carnivals. But, by the end of 2018, this system had been terminated. The System was reinstated in 2023.

Community involvement

Barrenjoey High School is actively involved in the Avalon community. The SRC chooses a charity each year to support. Various teachers have participated in

Movember Movember is an annual event involving the growing of Moustache, moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of Men's Health issues, such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and Gender differences in suicide, men's suicide. It ...

in 2014 and 2015, raising over $2,700 towards

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...

and

testicular cancer Testicular cancer is cancer that develops in the testicles, a part of the male reproductive system. Symptoms may include a lump in the testicle or swelling or pain in the scrotum. Treatment may result in infertility. Risk factors include an c ...

research. Their team is called Barrenmoey

Notable alumni

Kirin J Callinan Kieran John Callinan (born 21 January 1986), known by his stage name Kirin J. Callinan, is an Australian singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is also a founding member of Mercy Arms and has played with the Night Game, Jack Ladder and the Dre ...

musician *

Nina Curtis Nina Curtis (born 24 January 1988) is an Australian sailor. She represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics in sailing, winning a silver medal. Personal Curtis was born on 24 January 1988 in Sydney. She attended Bilgola Plateau Primary ...

sailor and silver medalist at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

* Nyree Osieckrugby union player *

Angus Stone Angus John Stone (born 27 April 1986) is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He is one half of the musical sibling duo Angus & Julia Stone, with whom he has released five studio albums. His debut solo album, ''Smoking ...

musician *

Julia Stone Julia Stone (born 13 April 1984) is an Australians, Australian Folk music, folk singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She is a sister of Angus Stone, with whom she has collaborated in professional music, and is also a solo musician. Her ...

musician * Sam Verrillsrugby league player

References

External links