Norwood International High School

Norwood Morialta High School is a dual campus high school of over 1400 students (years 8 to 13), located in the leafy Eastern suburbs of Adelaide, the capital city of the state of South Australia in Australia. The school maintains a strong rivalry with surrounding schools such as Marryatville High School and Rostrevor College.

History

Norwood High School

Norwood High school first opened in 1910 on what is now the NMHS Senior Campus on The Parade. Some of its first students came from the Norwood Model School on Osmond Terrace, a school that would later become Norwood Boys Technical High [1], which in turn would eventually become the main rival of both NHS and NMHS, Marryatville High School.

Over the next few decades, Norwood became a well known and established school in the eastern areas for its high standard of education. It was also an alternative to parents living in the area wanting to enrol their children in a public school rather than one of the many private, selective and technical schools that were also in the area at that time.

Norwood High School was ruled for many years by its now legendary principal, Ivan Coward (whom after the hall is named in his honour). He met the needs of those enrolled in the public system at Norwood who sought entry to the academic world[2].

Morialta High School

Morialta High School was opened in 1974 under its founding principal Joe Laslett. Morialta was not a specialist high school, but the majority of the classrooms were science laboratories and staff were adequately trained in the field of science. Once of these staff members was senior lab technician Charles Jennings, who would go on to work for 32 years at both Morialta and Norwood Morialta, setting up accurate data records and hazardous substances folders for the science area, which helped the school gain level 3 occupational health safety and welfare (OHS&W) accreditation[3].

The school won awards for its design in the 1970s, as it was considered modern and futuristic at the time. Despite having undergone extensive renovations since then, staff and students still often complain about faults in the schools design such as the bottleneck spaces between the buildings and cramped stairwells.

Following the amalgamation, the Morialta site became the NMHS Middle Campus.

Norwood Morialta High School

NMHS was created in 1993 following the amalgamation of Norwood High School and Morialta High School. From 1993, all students in years 8-10 were based at the Middle School Campus, and students in years 11-13 were based at the Senior School Campus. The Middle School concentrates on developing students from years 8-10 for life at the Senior School, which focuses on the senior years of schooling and entrance in to higher education. Over the past few years, students have sought to enrol at Norwood Morialta High School from outside of the school's zone. Students from Hong Kong, Vietnam, China, Germany and South America have also been recruited through the school's International Program[4]. As at term 3, 2005, the largest Government school in SA was Norwood Morialta High School with 1454.1 full time equivalent (FTE) students[5].

Current Life at NMHS

Many students at NMHS take part in extra-curricular activities such as committees, debating, mock-trials, rowing and pedal prix. Students can also participate in one of the many sports that the school offers.

The school's Year 12/Stage 2 formal is held annually, usually at the Adelaide Hilton. Year 12/13 students may also invite a Year 10 or 11 student from the school along. If they wish to bring a person outside of school, they are usually interviewed before they are allowed to attend the formal. The formal is also an opportunity for former students to meet with old teachers, and for students to introduce their partners from outside school to their peers.

Sub-schools and Home Groups

Norwood Morialta High School places its students into one of three Sub-schools, which are similar to houses used at other schools. NMHS has three sub-schools; Blue, Red and Gold. The sub-schools were originally used at Morialta High School and have continued to be used since the amalgamation in 1993. Sub-schools contain Home Groups which have about 20 to 30 students each. Students are divided into Sub-Schools for administrative and other purposes. Students from different Sub-Schools display a strong sense of rivalry towards each other during the weeks leading up to Sports Day which is held annually at Santos Stadium.

Media

The school offers a media program. In 2005 several students were invited to be media producers for the "Our Children the Future Conference".

Music

The school offers a comprehensive music program to all its students. Recently the school's music students have had the opportunity to work with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.

A music concert is performed annually at the Ivan Coward Hall at the Senior School. There is usually a theme to each concert. This years' theme was 'The British Invasion' and included music from famous UK artists such as the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Handel, and Gilbert and Sullivan. There was also an appearance from two characters from this years musical 'The Pirates of Penzance'. The previous years' theme was 'Music from Latin America' and featured a performance from music students from Magill Primary School.

Musical

Over the years, Norwood Morialta High School has put on many successful musical productions involving students of all year levels. The musical is run almost entirely by students from stage management, make up and props to the actors and lighting technicians. The school musical is always a fantastic experience and a great way for students to interact with people they may have never been able to get to know otherwise. In stage 2, a SACE point may be awarded to participants. This year's musical was "Pirates of Penzance". This year's musical was "Pirates of Penzance". Past musicals include: 'In Your Dreams', 'Pendragon', 'Les Miserables', 'Calamity Jane', amongst others. In 2004, the Drama faculty began production of a student-written drama serial entitled, 'Can ya land a nigga a pencil?'; a public outcry ultimately deemed this play too offensive to perform and instead "Third-Rate Schooling", a semi-autiobiographical history of the Norwood Morialta school merger dating 1974-2004 was performed.

Facilities

NMHS has many facilities for its students to use, including:

• Basketball, Tennis and Netball Courts
• Design and Technology Studies areas
• Home Economics areas
• Large Cafeteria/Canteen
• Computer rooms
• Multimedia rooms
• Art/Design rooms
• Gym
• Library
• Music rooms (including a Keyboards Lab)
• The Ivan Coward Hall
• The Peter Lang Performing Art Centre

Notable alumni

• Anthony LaPaglia and Jonathan LaPaglia, actors based in Los Angeles.
• Neil Craig, current coach of the Adelaide Crows Football Club.
• Justice John Sulan, Judge.
• Chris Chamberlain, Major Crime detective.
• Jim Zavos, Founder of EzyDVD.
• Clay Watkins, athlete, winner of both the Plympton and Bay Sheffield Gifts.
• Nathan Bassett, Adelaide Crows footballer
• Melanie Vallejo, actress in Power Rangers Mystic Force
• Dichen Lachman, actress in Neighbours
• Katie Hodson-Thomas, Member for Carine in Western Australian Parliament[6]
• Dick Thomas, Member for Karine in East Timor Parliament[7]

Other Facts

• NMHS is a school that offers the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program (IBMYP) to Middle School students.
• NMHS is a member of the Independent Schools Sports Association and the Catholic Girls Sports Association.
• NMHS is one of three state schools that offer Rowing as a summer sport in South Australia and also participates in Pedal Prix.
• NMHS has four international sister schools in Japan, Greece, China and Italy.

References

• Norwood Morialta Old Scholars Association
• Norwood Morialta High School Official Website
• Marryatville High School Origins
• DECS Xpress and Xtra Magazine
• [8]
• [9]
• [10]
• Information from past and current students and staff.

External links

• Official school website