Message from the Principal

University High School has a very proud tradition of being a values based school. The members of our community are encouraged to create a culture of excellence in learning and teaching which celebrates the diversity brought to the school by our students, teachers, alumni and parents.

Our programs incorporate, apart from academic excellence, the development of social responsibility and personal qualities such as integrity, resilience and respect for oneself and others. Independent thought, critical thinking and collaborative learning are other hallmarks of our programs.

Our policies and practices promote enrichment and extension in both the formal curriculum and co-curricular activities. We also engender active partnerships between students, staff, alumni, parents and the wider community to enrich educational opportunities and outcomes.

In 2010 we celebrated our centenary and commissioned Carolyn Rasmussen to write our history 'A Whole New World'. I was asked to write the after work which I have reproduced below.  I believe this gives you an insight into my feelings regarding the past and future members of the University High community.

"In 1910, the British Empire covered a quarter of the globe, Africa was divided between the European powers, Russia was ruled by the Tsars and China by the last of its Emperors. The Commonwealth of Australia was only nine years old and still viewed with suspicion by some as a ‘social laboratory’ that had risked disaster by experimenting with a minimum wage and the vote for women.

No one born in that year, from Mother Teresa to Jacques Cousteau, could have foreseen what the next century would hold. The world has changed faster in the last hundred years than in any other period in human history. Perhaps it is understandable, then, that I am reluctant to make too many firm predictions as I launch this book into The University High School’s next century.

But I am an optimist, and as I walk through the school I feel as if I have much to be optimistic about.  Whatever the world is like in 2110, I feel sure that the school will still offer a vibrant mix of tradition and progress, past and future. I am also confident that we will maintain our unshakable belief in our values. We will continue a culture of excellence in teaching and learning which draws heavily upon our diversity, the development of personal qualities, and respect for the individual. The world will still see education as life’s great opportunity, the chance to advance individuals and to improve society.

Whatever the future holds, I am proud to say that it will be shaped by the next generation of University High School graduates as it clearly has been in the past hundred years. I firmly predict that with such a strong history, the school will continue to give young people the hope, passion and intellect to have significant impact on the world.

The world is in very good hands."

Rob Newton
Principal