Historical: Marryatville High: A New Identity

A Dump with an Experimental Plot! The new school faced the massive task of restoring community confidence. The old technical school had become so unpopular that the predicted enrolment of year 8 students in 1975 had been zero.

The new school was a total unknown and the proposed curriculum was so different that it met with resistance from parents and some staff already disenfranchised by the changes and amalgamation of departments with those of the girls' school.

Glen McArthur set about persuading people that his ideas would work and creating a team who could redefine Marryatville and maximise the opportunities it could offer. The school was granted a Federal Disadvantaged Schools Grant with which to set up a programme of camps available to all, and a well-equipped outdoor education programme. School sports teams were actively encouraged, as was parental involvement.

The girls moved to the Marryatville campus in 1977 bringing the enrolment to 440. In 1979 there were 493 students and the enrolment continued to climb. The level of sporting competition was raised with the school entering into the Independent Schools Sports Association and the Catholic Girls Sports Association.

There was a great emphasis on learning outside the classroom known as The Fifth Department and this included sport, music, drama, crafts and other clubs and activities as opportunities presented themselves.

The Swan Reach Area School became a campsite for the school and all students attended camps there.

Mr McArthur was concerned with the public face of the school and worked at giving the school an individual image. He organised a large rock with brass lettering to proclaim the name of Marryatville High at the front gate. He created committees to provide artworks and potplants for the school corridors and in other ways reduce the institutional feel of the place. In each student's diary the following notes appeared to universally communicate the school ethos.

"SOME BASIC POINTS OF STYLE Five enduring components of the school's style are crucial to our continuing health: 1. The caring, warm and 'Knowable' community environment has been a feature of our strivings since the school's inception. Students and staff enjoy structured, but less remote relationships than is traditionally the case - the organisation of the school; is designed to foster this - and parents are seen as an integral part of the community, sharing heavily in decision making, vision sharing and as human resources for many aspects of school life. 2. A striving for excellence in every facet of school life has been a feature of our style. Academic pursuits of a very diverse range, cultural and sporting achievement at the highest level, a striving for excellence in the facilities field, a restless search for a supportive human relationships environment have all been consciously nurtured by the school ethos. Our conscious goal has been to encourage each member to achieve their best. 3. There has been a constant commitment to the provision of a wide ranging co-curricular life as an integral part of the community's educational offering. The Fifth Department provides wide ranging opportunities for students to develop in a recreational way, the skills which are honed during lesson time. Involvement in such programs enriches the experience of each participant immeasurably. 4. Our school style has always celebrated the richness available in tapping the potential of a structured co-educational environment, and of valuing all participants in the school population, equally. As with the boys, girls have always achieved highly and been encouraged to participate in the widest range of academic and cultural pursuits, and students with special needs, whether in the emotional or basic skill support areas, or in the challenging of peculiar gifts and talents, have always been the target of special effort. 5. A feature of the community's style is the commitment to provide all students with an adequate exposure to all major "areas of knowledge'. In consequence, the Arts and the "ways of knowing" associated with their various symbolic systems, take their place alongside of the Humanities, the Maths and Sciences and the Technics area of our curriculum, as equal partners in the junior years." School Diary 1989

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