Kooweerup Secondary College

Minister Unveils

The Minister unveils the plaque on 11th March, 1977, at the official opening of the new wing

College History

Kooweerup Higher Elementary School commenced in 1952 in a wooden building of eight rooms which had served as a primary school. Following much work and pressure from the community, Kooweerup High School was established in 1957 with an enrolment of 164 pupils.

Many activities have been established which now form traditional parts of the life of the College. Features of the yearly calendar are the House Music Festival, the School Musical, the Debutante Ball, the school dances, house Swimming and Athletics Carnivals, Inter-School Sport and the Blackfish Oratory Competition. In 2005 we also introduced competitive aerobics.

Year	Event
2007	We celebrated the 50th anniversary of the official opening of Kooweerup High School. Prior to that it was a Higher Elementary School, and before then a primary school.
2007	Year 7 Learning Centre opens.
2006	New staff rooms, new Home Economics room and new commercial kitchen completed. YAC (Youth Action Committee) established. ‘A Golden Year’ – school wins 5 gold medals at the Victorian Secondary Schools Sports Association Athletics championships.
2005	Kooweerup Secondary College joins the Leading Schools Fund program. New school toilets and locker rooms opened. New Administration area completed. The College offers VET Hospitality and Music in the curriculum for Year 10 and 11 students. VCAL extended to Years 10 and 12.
2004	VCAL program introduced at Year 11.
2003	Kooweerup Secondary College and the primary schools in the ‘Swamp’ cluster join the Innovations and Excellence program. New library, community rooms and woodwork room opened.
1996	$250,000 spent installing new computers and upgrading existing networks. Students are given access to the internet at school for the first time.
1995	The venue for the annual Deb Ball is changed from the school hall to a reception centre. The College successfully wins funding with four other schools to set up the Casey Science and Technology Centre Project.
1994	The College becomes a ‘School of the Future’ and develops its first College Charter. The Band is placed third in its section in the Australian National Band Championships. Girls’ football is introduced as a sport. Senior Boys and Girls Netball teams come second in the Victorian Championships.
1993	New structure of College Council introduced. A mini-school structure is introduced with a Junior School, Middle School and Senior School. The band is awarded the VSMA trophy for the ‘most memorable’ performance at the Melbourne Bands competition.
1992	First major purchase of computers for the school. First Annual Presentation Night held with the introduction of scholarships provided by local businesses and organisations. The Parents Association sets up a perpetual citizenship scholarship to commemorate Yvonne Kerr’s dedication to the school and the community. The VCE is now a two year program. $320,000 worth of maintenance work done, including painting of virtually the whole school inside and out and purchase of new classroom furniture.
1991	Mr B Whitehead is appointed Principal. The new VCE is introduced at Year 11. The Band competes in the State Band Championships for the first time and is placed first in its section at the Dandenong Festival of the Arts.
1990	Mrs J Burch retires as Principal at the end of term 1. Mr G Pledge is acting Principal for the remainder of the year. Kooweerup High School becomes Kooweerup Secondary College.
1989	First Whizz Bang Week held.
1988	First Reading and Writing Festival held.
1987	Kooweerup Secondary College and its feeder primary schools successfully win funding to join the School Community Development Program.
1986	The ‘Swamp’ Network is established.
1984	Mrs J Burch is appointed Principal. New Arts/Crafts centre completed. Instrumental Music and Band program starts.
1983	Mr I.G. Matheson is appointed relieving Principal followed Mr Hooper’s retirement.
1979	Senior annexe destroyed by fire. F. C. Hooper Hall officially opened in February. The Kooweerup High School Theatre Group established in March and the first school musical is held.
1978	F.C. Hooper hall built. Work Experience program starts.
1977	New front wing completed: offices, library, Home Economics centre. Blocking system introduced for Forms 3 and 4 and for craft for the first four years.
1975	New Science block completed.
1974	Nearly half the school is burnt down including the front wing, in forty minutes.
1972	First Debutante ball held and following the presentation of the couples they danced the Maxina. New hockey field established behind the canteen. New extensions to the canteen opened. ‘Drama Festival’ started with the production of ‘The Shifting Heart’.
1971	Parents’ Association becomes the ‘Parents, Teachers and Citizens Association’. 10 week Modern Miss Grooming Course introduced. The lady teachers’ flat caught fire – so much for radiators in bathrooms. The Prefects Investiture was moved to the Church of England hall instead of being held in the usual place at the front of the school, because of the extreme heat.
1969	New wing with gym and classrooms built. Form 6 Annexe established.
1966	First school tour – to Tasmania. Queen Carnival replaces the annual school fete.
1965	489 students. New wing is built with Science rooms and general classrooms; Devon Meadows and Five Waysadded to the Kooweerup school zone. Last year that Pakenham primary school students were within the Kooweerup zone.
1964	490 students and some classes are held in the RSL and Memorial hall because there aren’t enough classrooms; Matriculation class established. Last time Swimming Sports held at the Lang Lang foreshore baths
1963	F. C. Hooper is appointed Principal. 426 students.
1961	280 students. Mr A.H. Morris is appointed Principal. Four school houses created: Bass, Flinders, Mawson, Sturt. School bus run started to bring students from Pakenham to Kooweerup. Maths and Science now available after Form IV. School oval constructed at a cost of 5000 pounds.
1960	There are 273 students. Academic and Commercial subjects available up to Form IV and Humanities up to Form V. Students who wanted to study Maths and Science beyond Form IV transferred to Dandenong orWarragul High Schools due to staffing shortages. Monthly school assemblies are held in the local Church of England hall. Kooweerup Primary School moves to its own site in Moody Street
1959	Semester reports introduced.
1958	196 students. First edition of the ‘Blackfish’ school magazine. Domestic Arts centre, Art and Science rooms completed. Kooweerup High wins the combined schools athletics competition.

Ten Commandments for Schoolgirls by Ann Beveridge Form III 1957 include:

Thou shalt have no other socks but grey
Thou shalt not satisfy thy hunger in the street
Thou shalt keep thine ears being mistaken for fingers by wearing no earrings
Thou shalt wear thy hat provided it is not studded with rhinestones or decorated with ostrich feathers

Year	Event
1957	Kooweerup High School is established with 164 students and shares the site with the primary school. Mr F.E. Farmer is appointed Principal. School Fete introduced. First school picnic held – at Mornington
1956	School excursion to the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games.

From the school newspaper April 1953:

There were enough desks for about half the children. Thus, on the first morning most of us, teachers included, stood up.
Form duties were ink, cleaning and decorating. Each room had to have a vase of flowers.
Students’ Court was held and two students were awarded extra duties for behaviour unbecoming to members of the school.
Mosquitos, glutted on human blood, grew to enormous sizes, and around the school, flies and insects lay dead in thousands.

Year	Event
1953	Kooweerup Primary School becomes Kooweerup Higher Elementary School with 180 students – 15 students in senior classes. School Houses are Bunyip and Western. First edition of the school newspaper “Koo-ee’.

“And YOU, girls and boys, are the first to use this new school. There is a glory in being FIRST. In years to come you will look back with great satisfaction, and, I hope, say proudly, ‘I went to that school the year the new school opened.", Letter from D.C. Streader, District Inspector, published in the first edition of the school newspaper April 1953

Year	Event
1950	Primary school buildings destroyed by fire.
1910	Kooweerup Primary School moves to present secondary college site.
1903	Name changed to Kooweerup Primary School.
1884	Yallock Primary School opens with two rooms attached as the teachers’ quarters.