Jump to content

James Ruse Agricultural High School

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Unknown123123123 (talk | contribs) at 02:39, 1 May 2010. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Template:Infobox Aust school

James Ruse Agricultural High School is one of four New South Wales Government agricultural high schools. It is a selective co-educational public high school located at Carlingford, New South Wales, Australia. The school is especially noted for its outstanding academic results (see below).

History

In 1949 the main part of the school grounds was purchased by the NSW Government for the purpose of Agricultural Education[1]. The school that commenced on this site in 1956 was an annex of Carlingford District Rural School with Charles Mullavey as the Master in Charge. At that time the school consisted of a wooden five room classroom block, a small staffroom and male only ablution facilities. By the start of 1958 the school was independent of Carlingford District Rural School and was called the "Carlingford Junior Agricultural High School" (the Junior part of the name reflected the fact that students at that time could only undertake the first three years of their secondary education at the school).

In 1959 the name of the school was changed to "Carlingford Agricultural High School" (to reflect its new full high school status - although there were no actual Fourth and Fifth Year classes at that time). The first Headmaster, James C. Hoskin, and his Deputy Headmaster, Charles Mullavey, commenced duties at the start of that year and in April, the name of the school changed again - this time to "James Ruse Agricultural High School".

When James Hoskin was studying Agriculture at University, he had became interested in James Ruse due to his significance in the early development of agriculture in Australia, and also because "both Ruse and I [Hoskin] are of Cornish extraction".[2] Mr Hoskin questioned the name of the school (Carlingford Agricultural High School) as the school was not serving just the Carlingford area (in fact there were only a small number of students from Carlingford). In April 1959 Mr. Hoskin put forward a proposal to the then New South Wales Department of Education outlining two new names for the school: Sydney Agricultural High School and Ruse Agricultural High School; eventually, the Department agreed to a modification of the latter.

Hoskin soon became synonymous with the school, as he served as headmaster until his retirement at age of 65 in 1978. During this time, the school became established as one of the few public schools that were selective; initially because of its agricultural speciality, then for its reputation as a quality school. For his efforts, Hoskin was awarded the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977 and the Order of Australia for Services to Education in 1990.

The first group of students to complete the full five years of secondary education at the new high school sat for the Leaving Certificate in 1961. Most of these boys were part of the initial enrolement of 1st Year pupils at the Felton Rd. site, in 1957. James Ruse AHS was originally a boys only school, but gradually became co-educational after an initial intake of 24 female students into Year 11 in 1977.

Since the mid 1990s, James Ruse has undergone an extensive building works program funded by both parents of students and the State and Federal Governments. 1997 saw the completion of Stage 1 of this program (encompassing a new Library block and English classrooms which replaced the old Anderson building, a new block containing Art and HSIE classrooms, the integration of the existing Powe block and the former library into a science block, and the installation of an elevator in the Perrau block to improve wheelchair accessibility).

In 2000, Stage 2 of the program began with the first building (a 180 seat lecture theatre) completed in early 2001. The Schofield block became part of the program in 2002 after the building was damaged by arson. During the next two years the old Technology Block and the Francis block were demolished due to a white ant infestation, with both blocks being rebuilt and refurnished in 2004. The final stage of the works were underway at the time of the departure of Principal Michael Quinlan, who retired in 2006 after having been Principal since 1992[3].

Academic results

The school is especially noted for its excellent academic prowess and competitiveness, as well as a near perfect record of all students gaining university admission. The school has outperformed every high school in the state of New South Wales in the past 14 years in public university entrance examinations, known in the state as the Higher School Certificate with a median Universities Admission Index (UAI) of 99.55 in 2004.[4] In 2005 and 2006 the median UAI was 99.20.[5][6] According to the school's website, more than half of each year's graduating class ultimately pursue tertiary studies in high courses.

Campus

The school is situated on the corner of Baker Street and Felton Road in Carlingford, a suburb of North-Western Sydney. Its main entrance is located on the southwest corner of the school, with a number of smaller entrances on its southern and western boundaries. The campus is focused on a main quadrangle, with another cluster of buildings centered around a smaller quadrangle, and an oval, sporting facilities and the farm to the north of these.

File:JRAHS Barrengarry House.jpg
Barrengarry House, the administration block

Barrengarry House

Barrengarry House, the school's main administration block is located near the southwest entrance of the school, adjoining the Senior Common Room and the Library and housing the offices of the principal, deputy principals, head teacher of administration and the administration staff on the lower floor, and the counsellor's office, uniform shop and function rooms on the upper floor. It was originally the home and property of the Felton family, and was built in 1885, with the architect thought to have been Charles Slatyer. [citation needed] The block adjoins a roadway of the same name, both of which are named after the Feltons' estate.

J.C. Hoskin Performing Arts Centre

More commonly known as the "school hall", the J.C. Hoskin Performing Arts Centre, named after the school's founding principal (see history above), is used as a multi-purpose facility. Along with holding important school assemblies, concerts and the school musical, the hall is also used for examinations (primarily government and senior exams) and PE classes- although this function will be largely removed with the construction of the proposed gymnasium.[citation needed]

File:JRAHS Technology Wing.jpg
Exterior of the Technology Block, opened in 2004

Library Block

The Library Block (or "L-Block") was built in 1997 and opened by then NSW Premier Bob Carr as part of the school's building works program, to provide a larger, and more modern and well-equipped library to replace the smaller Shearman Block (now the school's Music block). The block is a two-storey building, with the library occupying the top floor and English classrooms and offices on the bottom floor.

Technology Wing

The Technology Wing (or "T-Block") is a recent addition to the school campus along with the new Canteen Block, with construction finished in 2005. The wing is a two-storey building with a mix of classrooms and modern computer labs, and overlooks the farm on its northern side.

Students

There are currently 845 students enrolled at James Ruse in Years 7 through to 12. James Ruse is an academically selective high school; admission to James Ruse in Year 7 is by a government examination, the Selective High Schools Test, which is open to all Year 6 students in NSW. A small number of students from other high schools are accepted into years 8 to 11, with application made directly to the school; however, no year 11 students from other schools are accepted into James Ruse in the final year (year 12). Of the student population, over 90% are from a non-English-speaking background, predominantly Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean language groups.[7] There is also a substantial minority of Indian and Sri Lankan descent.

Agriculture

The school teaches agriculture as a compulsory subject from years 7 to 10. It was formerly compulsory for senior years, but this was changed with the introduction of a new HSC curriculum by the Board of Studies. However, the school accelerates students in this area so that they may finish the HSC course in Agriculture by the end of Year 11. Agriculture is a very significant part of the school's curriculum, with students undergoing intensive study of the subject both on and off-site, particularly in the junior school, where students study and visit agricultural enterprises both in the Greater Sydney region, with visits to regional dairy and horticultural farming enterprises and an annual Year 7 excursion to the Sydney Royal Easter Show, and in rural NSW, with Year 10 students studying and visiting farms in Bathurst and Gloucester. There is also great involvement in agricultural education and with other agricultural schools, with the school linked with Yanco Agricultural High School and previous Head Teacher of Agriculture, Lisle Brown, being the co-author of the Dynamic Agriculture textbook series, which is extensively used in the study of agriculture in Australian schools.[8][9]

The school leases approximately five hectares of land from the neighbouring electricity sub-station for use in practical agriculture lessons. The farm land is situated north of the general school buildings, extending north to Lynch Close and east to Jenkins Road. The farm is arranged to include a vegetable garden, a classroom, a glasshouse and nursery, a greenhouse, an orchard, experimental plots, an area for field crops and a livestock section, among others. It also contains some riparian land which is currently being monitored and undergoing rehabilitation to its native state by the Streamwatch group (currently working as part of Sydney Water Streamwatch after previously working as part of the now-defunct UPRCT Waterwatch program).[10][11][12]

A significant amount of the farm land is set aside for student plots. Part of practical agriculture lessons involves students growing and maintaining their own crops. Mature crops in the students' assigned plots of land are then the students' to take home.

In addition to its use for educational purposes, the farm also supplies a wide variety of agricultural produce including: Cattle - Angus stud, paraded annually at the Castle Hill, New South Wales Show by the Cattle Group; Sheep - First-cross Ewes & Prime Lambs; Eggs - Barn and Free-range eggs; Poultry Meat - Broilers raised and sold onsite, but killed and frozen at Red Lea Blacktown; Oranges - Washington Navel; Peaches - Flordagold and Sherman's Red varieties; Sweet Corn - Shimmer variety; James Ruse Gold Rose - A privately crossbred rose variety the rights were donated to the school in 1999 in celebration of its 40 years of teaching ; Apiary - Honey sold on-site in 500g jars; and Macadamia Nuts. Various groups of students have been set up to look after these usually during lunchtime, such as the Poultry Squad and a Weatherwatch group to maintain farm weather records. In the past, the farm also housed Merino and Border Leicester sheep for wool-shearing, named the Sharlea Sheep. This aspect of the farm was closed down due to spiraling production costs. It was replaced by the Aquaculture venture, Silver Perch, which has met with limited success, soon to be replaced with a crayfish growing system.

Co-curricular activities

Co-curricular and sporting activities are available to students, including: Australian Army Cadets; James Ruse Amnesty International Association; Rotary Interact; Interschool Christian Fellowship (I.S.C.F); Annual Musical Productions; Rural Youth; Informatics; Anime Club; Sport; Knitting ("Knit Wits"); Scrapbooking; Poultry Squad; Weather Watchers; Cattle Showing Group; Year 11 Drama Productions; Mentoring Program; Mock Trial; Prefects; Student Representative Council (S.R.C.); Peer Support; Streamwatch; Chess Club; Puzzles Club; Programming Club; Music ensembles (Choir, Stage Band, Senior and Junior Concert Band, Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Drum Core, Woodwind Ensemble, Recorder Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble, Year 9 and 10 Vocal Groups and String Orchestra); Duke Of Edinburgh Award; School Knockout Sports Teams; Intraschool Public Speaking; Inter-school Debating; Games Club.

Student Representative Council (SRC)

The school's Student Representative Council was inaugurated in 1960, making it among the first high schools in New South Wales to have such a body.[13] Each year, each roll class elects a Class Captain and Vice-Captain who represent it on the SRC. Larger extracurricular organisations are also entitled to a representative. The SRC as a whole elect a student executive, which consists of a President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary and Minutes Secretary, by a system first inaugurated in 1990. Through the SRC, students have a one-third representation on the seven school steering committees (along with parents and staff), and also play a major role in decision-making processes relating to curriculum, building plans, and resource allocation.

Sport

The school also holds annual sporting carnivals, including the Swimming, Cross-Country and Athletics Carnivals, where students can compete for participation in wider regional competitions, from Zone and Area carnivals to the CHS (Combined High Schools) competition for the top school teams and competitors in NSW.[14]

Head Teachers

Mathematics - I. Woodhouse English - A. St. Louis Science - S. Pooviah TAS - R. Grant PDHPE - K. McKenzie Head Teacher Administration - L. Flanagan and I. Lowcock

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.carlingfor-p.schools.nsw.edu.au/schoolsince1935.html
  2. ^ Interview with James Hoskin printed in the 1978 School Magazine
  3. ^ "Top marks again, but class is over for high-achieving principal". Sydney Morning Herald. 2006-12-08. Retrieved 2006-12-20.
  4. ^ "Only race that matters is the rush to the top". Sydney Morning Herald. 2005-11-26. Retrieved 2006-08-26.
  5. ^ "Top marks again, but class is over for high-achieving principal". Sydney Morning Herald. 2006-12-08. Retrieved 2007-04-07.
  6. ^ "James Ruse Union - Principal's Notes". 2007-12-11.
  7. ^ "Sweeping Chinese revolution". Sydney Morning Herald. 2005-11-26. Retrieved 2006-08-26.
  8. ^ "James Ruse Agricultural High School- Agriculture Staff". James Ruse Agricultural High School. 2004-09-12. Retrieved 2006-08-15.
  9. ^ "McGraw-Hill Education". McGraw-Hill Education. 2006-01-31. Retrieved 2006-08-15.
  10. ^ "Strictly Streamwatch newsletter- March 2007" (PDF). Sydney Water Streamwatch. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
  11. ^ "James Ruse A.H.S. Streamwatch group profile". Retrieved 2007-07-16.
  12. ^ "UPRCT Streamline newsletter- November 2006 (announcing closure of the UPRCT and absorption of Waterwatch groups into the Sydney Water Streamwatch program)" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-07-16.
  13. ^ "History of the JRAHS SRC". James Ruse Agricultural High School. 2006-03-27. Retrieved 2006-08-03.
  14. ^ "Prospectus 2006" (PDF). James Ruse Agricultural High School. 2005-10-15. Retrieved 2006-08-04.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James_Ruse_Agricultural_High_School&oldid=359372960"