Nightcliff Middle School is a

coeducational 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 ...

state school situated between Nightcliff Road, Aralia Street and Ryland Road, in the northern Darwin suburb of Rapid Creek, Northern Territory,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

History

The school was named after the adjacent suburb of

Nightcliff Nightcliff is a northern suburb of the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. It is the traditional country and waterways of the Larrakia people. History Although the origin of the name Nightcliff has alway ...

.Barter, Leith (1994, p. 47). From Wartime Camp to Garden Suburb: A Short History of Nightcliff and Rapid Creek. Historical Society of the Northern Territory. In the mid 1960s, planning had commenced for a high school to serve the region, but it was not until 8 July 1970 that Nightcliff High School was officially opened. 300 students, who had been temporarily housed in demountables at Darwin High School, transferred immediately to the new buildings. Following

Cyclone Tracy Severe Tropical Cyclone Tracy was a small but destructive tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin, in the Northern Territory of Australia, in December 1974. The small but developing easterly storm was or ...

, the new school, which had survived the devastation better than most buildings, was immediately pressed into service as an evacuation centre, then becoming a

hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory sleeping 4–20 people, with shared use of a lounge and usually a kitchen. Rooms can be private or shared - mixe ...

for workers involved in the temporary repair of

essential services Essential services may refer to a class of occupations that have been legislated by a government to have special restrictions in regard to labour actions such as not being allowed to strike. The International Labour Office, a United Nations ag ...

. Following Cyclone Tracy, students of the school were temporarily enrolled to attend Casuarina High School situated approximately 8 kilometres away. The school was reopened in 1975 with classes starting at 7am to avoid heat as the air conditioning was not functioning. After a successful "Lighthouse" program, in 2007, Nightcliff began transitioning to a Middle School and retained Years 8 and 9.

Present day

In 2008, Nightcliff High School became a middle school for students in Years 7 to 9 and as a result was renamed Nightcliff Middle School.Department of Employment Education and Training (2007). Middle Years: Darwin & Northern Suburbs. Retrieved online (11 November 2007). http://www.middleyears.nt.gov.au/your-school/darwin/index.shtml

Sports

The school caters for a wide range of sport including;

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

, Aussie rules,

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

and

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...

. Nightcliff Middle School is also the home of the Nightcliff Tigers Baseball Club.

References and notes

External links

Nightcliff Baseball Club

Official site
{{Use dmy dates, date=December 2020 Public high schools in Darwin, Northern Territory 1970 establishments in Australia Educational institutions established in 1970