Tempe High School (Sydney)

For other uses, see Tempe High School.

Tempe High School is a government-funded co-educational dual modality partially academically selective and comprehensive secondary day school, located in Tempe, an inner-western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Tempe High School
Location
Unwins Bridge Road, Tempe, Sydney, New South Wales Australia
Coordinates	33°55′12″S 151°9′40″E
Information
Type	Government-funded co-educational dual modality partially academically selective and comprehensive secondary day school
Motto	Latin: Labora Fortiter (Work Hard)
Established	1874; 151 years ago (1874)[1]
Educational authority	New South Wales Department of Education
Principal	Vanessa Williams
Years	7–12
Enrolment	900[2] (2012)
Campus type	Suburban
Colour(s)	Maroon and black
Website	tempe-h.schools.nsw.gov.au

History

After an unsuccessful 1863 application to establish a school in Tempe, in 1872, local residents raised £A200 in funds to build a public school. Tempe Public School, a stone rubble building with an adjoining teacher's residence, opened on the site of the current high school in 1874.^[3]

Land opposite of the school was purchased in 1908, and a new two-storey primary department building was erected. A separate girls' department was established in 1910, and in 1923, a large new primary building, containing twelve classrooms, was opened.

In 1949, the school became a boys' intermediate school. Subsequently, in 1955, the school was designated a junior technical high school.

In 1973, a library and science building was constructed. The teacher's residence in the original school building was demolished in 1974, and a new three-storey classroom block was built. Then, in 1975, Tempe Boys and Arncliffe Girls high schools progressively merged to become Tempe High School.^[4] The 1923 primary building would then be converted into an industrial technology and arts facility.

In 1994, the school was featured in an SBS documentary, The School of Babel. The film explored the school's large migrant population and the effect of teaching students their native languages on their English marks. It featured a visit from Harvard University's head of education at the time, Professor Courtney Cazden.^[5]

A 2004 proposal failed to combine Tempe, Dulwich Hill, Marrickville and Newtown high schools into a multi-campus college due to falling enrolments.^[6] Instead, from 2005, the school became partially selective offering places based on academic performance as well as accepting local students.

In 2017, there was controversy among parents surrounding the school principal's threat of suspension for uniform violations.^[7] The school purchased and converted a bus in 2019 into a "hangout space" to help Year 12 students deal with HSC stress.^[8]

The school was used as a filming location for the 2024 Stan original series Critical Incident.^{[citation needed]}

Notable alumni

• Tim Cahill – Soccer Player (disputed)
• Col Joye – Entertainer
• Bob Simpson – Cricketer
• Anba Suriel – Coptic Orthodox Bishop

See also

• Schools portal
• New South Wales portal

• List of government schools in New South Wales
• List of selective high schools in New South Wales