Established in 1960, Melville Senior High School is located in the Fremantle Peel Education District on an attractive site overlooking the Swan River 13 kilometres from Perth and five kilometres from Fremantle. The school's convenient location and the ready availability of public transport make it accessible to students from across the metropolitan area and indeed from throughout the state and overseas.
Melville Senior High School is a vibrant multi-cultural school reflecting the spirit of Fremantle and surrounding suburbs. Based on an inclusive approach to education, an ethos of partnerships and pathways has helped to define the evolution of the school. For example, over the course of recent years Melville has developed partnerships with Murdoch University and Challenger TAFE which provide opportunities for our students to experience first hand life on a tertiary campus from the security of a secondary school. These partnerships enrich student learning and assist them in developing meaningful pathways from school into university, TAFE or the workplace.
Melville SHS is fortunate enough to offer three state-wide accredited specialist programs specifically: a Gifted and Talented Education Program ( GATE) in the Humanities, Maths and Sciences; Aviation Studies; and Netball. Each of these programs provides students with the opportunity to extend an area of specialisation or special interest into their school curriculum and/or to accelerate their learning based on a particular academic aptitude. In addition to these three state-wide testing programs, Melville provides a local selection Academic Extension Course ( AEC) in Years 8 to 10 and a widely acclaimed Music focus program. Again, each of these programs provides our students with extension and acceleration opportunities.
Melville is also lucky enough to host an Intensive English Centre and a large number of International Fee Paying students who are attracted, in part, to the additional language support that is provided by the school. This has led to benefits for our whole school community by providing our staff and students with the opportunity to mix with an array of talented and highly motivated young men and women from across the world. We strongly feel that this enhances the learning experience for everyone at our school and are very proud to be a part of this example of successful multiculturalism. Finally, Melville is home to a small Education Support Unit which will soon be moving into a newly refurbished centre on-site.
In addition to the above specialist programs, the school offers a broad range of courses in Years 8 to 10 matched to the diverse backgrounds, interests, aptitudes and needs of our student body. The school also offers a variety of Senior School courses including Tertiary and Vocational courses leading to the Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE).
A particular strength of Melville SHS is found in our Student Services team which includes a level 3 Manager as well as a Vocational and Education Training Manager, a School Psychologist, a School Nurse, a Chaplain and Year Coordinators who all supports students through the provision of counselling services and extra-curricular programs. The school also enjoys the benefits of an active School Council and a highly motivated Parents and Citizens Association (P&C).
To further enrich the students' experience at Melville SHS, the school offers an extensive range of extracurricular programs that have traditionally incorporated over 30 interschool sporting teams, musical productions, dance and band festivals, outdoor pursuits, camps and expeditions, State Emergency Services Cadets, academic challenges and orientation and extension camps. The school is well resourced with facilities that include a 25 metre enclosed swimming pool, gymnasium, grassed oval, tennis courts, netball courts, and basketball courts.
Melville Senior High School is increasingly being recognized within the local and wider community as a school on the move.We are enjoying a period of sustained growth and a new building program has helped us to accommodate an increase in student numbers. Specifically, Melville SHS has now completed stage one of its refurbishment. Five million dollars has provided a new library, aviation centre and an arts centre with a dance studio, drama studio, a film and television studio, a multi-media studio, three visual arts studios, a keyboard laboratory and music studio. In addition the innovative adaptation of several wings of an existing general learning area block has provided 14 new classrooms each able to access computer pods that enable students to work on line in small groups or individually when required while remaining in contact with the teacher. Finally, we are in the process of planning to have our science laboratories refurbished with the aim providing our students with facilities that do justice to teaching science in the twenty-first century.
The external spaces of the school have also been significantly enhanced with the redevelopment of the Senior School quadrangle to better suit the adult ethos we expect from our senior students. More recently the innovative and visually stunning renewal of the Science Quadrangle has been completed. This has transformed the Science Quadrangle into a masterly fusion of science classroom meets relaxed outdoor living area.The next refurbishment to take place within the school will be the Middle School Quadrangle. This will be built as a safe and friendly space for our younger students to enjoy and will include socialisation nooks that double as outdoor classrooms, together with attractively integrated handball and quarter basketball courts that radiate out from a central chess board motif. This promises to be another very exciting redevelopment that will not only benefit school but also the wider Melville community.
In summary, Melville SHS is a school where all students are provided with the opportunity to excel and are supported in the process of defining themselves as they prepare to find their place in the contemporary world. I warmly invite you to make an appointment to tour the school and to discuss your expectations and needs for your child's education and look forward to meeting with you at some time in the future.
