Mount Stromlo High School

Stromlo High School
Location
Badimara Street, Waramanga, Canberra
Information
Type	Public High School
Principal	Cecily Blake
Enrolment	>700 (6-12)
Colour(s)	Black & White
Mascot	Stromaz
Website	http://www.stromlohs.act.edu.au/

Stromlo High School is a high school located in Waramanga, Australian Capital Territory and was previously known as Weston Creek High School & Holder High School. The name was changed to Stromlo High as the incompetent Labor territory government needed a new way to waste money and make life harder. It's postcode is 2611. Stromlo High School has over 700 students and is the only high school in Australian Capital Territory to provide education from grades 6 - 12 and both students and teachers abide by the four school core values; pride, endeavour, learning and respect. Every morning students attend their TEAM classes before heading to their first lessons. TEAM is the Stromlo High equivalent of home room and stands for Together Everyone Achieves More. The school provides subjects in the areas of Mathematics, English, Arts (Includes Drama, Dance, Music and Visual Arts), Physical Education, Technology and IT (Includes Home Economics, Metalwork, Woodwork, Textiles and Information Technology), SoSE (Includes History and Geography), Languages (From a choice of three; Japanese, Italian and French) and Science.

Executive Teachers

Principal: Cecily Blake.

Deputy Principal: Jo Kellow.

Maths: Rod Grieve.

English: Michelle Morthorpe.

SoSE and Languages: Matthew Noonan.

Physical Education: Sharon McPhee.

Technology and IT: Bruce Fuda.

Science: Jeanette Watts.

Arts: Rod Harding.

Learning Centre: Jo Monteith

Student Services (Welfare): Rebecca Pearce

Pastoral Care: Kate Bolton

Buildings

Stromlo's main building is three stories high. From above the main building looks similar to a square with the centre cut out. The middle of the main building is the inner courtyard and is mostly used by year 7 students at recess and lunch.The previous gym at Stromlo High has been converted into a hall for use by Drama students, and is still used for school assemblies. PE students are taught in the new Gym which was completed in December 2009. The school also has a Science Block, including a lecture theatre, and a tech block which is used for Visual Art, Home Economics, Woodwork and Metalwork classes. The four main buildings are all linked by covered walkways.

Facilities

The school has a canteen, which is run by student volunteers and a cafe which is run by students, as part of a hospitality course, the latter of which only opens on Thursday at Lunch, and is available to be booked for classes on particular lessons, any day of the week. The main structure includes one boy's toilet block, and one girl's toilet block, located on either side of the canteen. It also has changing rooms, as the students are required to change for P.E. (The changing rooms are located beside the entrance in the gym).The hall has a soundbooth, curtain and lights for Assemblies and performances.

The school has plenty of computer facilities with both Apple and Windows computers, spread across all buildings, bar the Gym. It has a Library, with its own computer facility and a wide selection of books, the school also provides workshops for some of the Technology classes, such as Metalwork and Woodwork.

The majority of class rooms are fitted with Smart Boards (Interactive Whiteboards).

Stromaz, the School Mascot

Stromlo High School's mascot, a zebra named Stromaz, was a gift from the graduating Year 10 class of 2008. The animal was chosen to match the school colours, black and white. The students and teachers sometimes dress up in a zebra costume and rally support at lunchtime if a school event is on, they also make sure to do this during special events and school carnivals, like mini timetable night or the swimming carnival. Since the creation of their mascot, the school has looked at adopting a zebra at the Canberra National Zoo & Aquarium, and naming it 'Stromaz' after their mascot.

Stromaz

Fundraising/Community Involvement

The school has regular fundraisers for most charity events, these include, but are not limited to, a color code free day for Jeans for Genes day, the ability to buy daffodils to send to other people for Daffodil Day and a pet photo competition and cupcake sale for RSPCA week.

The school puts special effort into particular assemblies such as the ANZAC Day, Remembrance Day and Naidoc assemblies, and the Book Week assembly, which includes a costume competition.

During October 2010 the school hosted a fete to commemorate its 20th anniversary, with each TEAM running its own individual stall.

School Houses

The school houses are named after nearby mountains and are represented by the students and teachers at school events such as the swimming carnival, athletics carnival, cross country, year challenges and various other competitions. The school houses and colours are as follows:

Oakey: Red, with a Redback Spider as the mascot.

Cooleman: Green, with a Crocodile as the mascot.

Reef: Blue, with a Shark as the mascot.

Taylor: Yellow, with a Tiger as the mascot.

Awards/Achievements

In 2005, the school won Best film- Secondary Schools, out of all competitors in Australia as a part of the CSIRO's Science Film Festival Scenima. It was won by James Hunter with his Short Film, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to Physics.

Controversy

In 2007, Stromlo High School was the subject of criticism after its decision to allow a 16-year-old student permission to take cigarette breaks, after her doctor advised she is clinically addicted to nicotine but this was never proven.

In 2009 the school was audited by the ACT department of education and was found to have insufficient numbers of "black" students. As of 2010 this problem has been rectified.

In 2010 it was reveled that a homosexual minority was responsible for the "Ryan D" vandalism of 2008. A Mr Summer (name changed) has been charged and is awaiting trail.