Established in 1919, Dandenong High School is one of the oldest, largest and most culturally diverse Secondary schools in the state. It is situated in the South Eastern Region in Dandenong a low socio economic community (SFO density of .72) with a high refugee population. The school has over 2000 students and is highly multicultural with 78 Nationalities and 80 different language groups represented. There are 29 indigenous students, 12 international students and 80% of students speak a language other than English at home. Of our large refugee population, 25% of those students have experienced interrupted schooling or no schooling at all in their native country. The school community is transient in nature with the origin of refugees changing over time and bringing differing needs and new cultural challenges with them. An extensive ESL Program, including an ESL Transition Program supports students learning at the school and literacy is a key school focus. An iconic educational facility in the community, in 2005 Dandenong High School merged with 2 very different schools of varying sizes, Cleeland Secondary College (550 students) and Doveton Secondary College (175 students).
School Profile Documents
Annual Report 2011
Annual Implementation Plan 2012
School Level Report 2011
School Level Report 2011 Attachment
School Strategic Plan 2012 - 2015
School Council Minutes February 2012
School Council Minutes March 2012
New Principal Application Information
Selection Criteria
Despite their close geographical location each school was unique in their culture, the element of the community they served and their approach to teaching and learning. In 2005 the data at each school showed incompleteness in educational provision, growing concerns regarding student outcomes in literacy and numeracy and a lack of pathway offerings. The schools recognised that they would need to use the merge as a catalyst to develop a “new school” with an innovative teaching and learning model, state of the art facilities and a dynamic, supportive and engaging learning environment that would address the changing community, the needs of its blended cohort of students and its shared understanding of how students learn. The school is currently undergoing a $45 million building program (Stage 2 is complete with Stage 3 due to begin this year).
The school has an enrolment of 2000 students with approximately 330 at each year level and its vertical structure is unique. In order to ensure students develop a “sense of belonging” and connectedness to the school, given its size, students are housed in 7 House Buildings on one site. Each house holds 300 students from Years 7 -12, 25 teaching staff, a House Leadership Team of 3 and an attendance officer. In Years 7 -10 students learn primarily in the purposefully designed and ICT rich learning spaces within the House for their core learning moving to specialist learning spaces when required. Students have the opportunity to develop meaningful relationships with the teams of teachers within the house, parents can communicate on a regular basis with the House Leadership Team and the vertical structure encourages peer tutoring and mentoring across Years 7 -12.
The school has an innovative approach to curriculum and operates a collaborative learning model. In Years 7 – 10 students learn in groups of 50 students with a team of 3 teachers who plan, teach and assess together for English/Humanities, Maths/Science, Health/PE and LOTE. In order to ensure consistency across the Houses teaching Teams follow curriculum frameworks available on the network for each Year Level. There is a focus on discovery based learning and student inquiry and students are encouraged to be independent learners, self-motivated and curious about the world around them. All students in years 7 -12 have personalised learning as part of their timetable and develop an individual learning plan in the form of a digital portfolio. During each term students in Years 7-10 develop their own inquiry based on an essential question and explore their ideas during immersion activities.
The school has an accelerated learning program in Years 7 -10 and offers a wide range of elective options and extensive curriculum opportunities in the Senior Years. Students can select numerous VCE studies, a VCAL program and the school also offers VET subjects. The completion of the Trade Training centre in 2012 with Chisholm TAFE will result in even more diverse educational opportunities for students. Strong links with a number of tertiary institutions including the Access Program at Deakin University provide students with excellent pathway planning resources and support and a dynamic Careers team deliver an effective and far reaching pathway program in Years 9 – 12. The school also runs work experience and the Beacon Program in Year 10 and maintains strong links with SELLEN, local businesses and industry providers.
An experienced Well Being Team including a Chaplain and several Social Workers support staff and students and work in a liaison role with the Houses. They also offer extensive Well Being Programs throughout the year for a range of student groups dependent on students need.
Dandenong High School employs 175 teaching staff and 65 non – teaching staff. There is a low staff turnover with a higher proportion of expert teachers but in the last 2 years the school has strategically employed a large number of graduate staff in key learning areas. The school has a distributed leadership model including the Leadership Executive (Principal, Associate Principal for Curriculum and Associate Principal for Curriculum Implementation), 7 House Leaders (AP) each with a whole school curriculum responsibility, 3 Curriculum Implementation APs and 14 Leading teacher positions consisting of Assistant House leaders, Cross House Curriculum Leaders and Curriculum Implementation Leaders. Each expert teacher undertakes a leadership role either within the House or whole school. Two Curriculum Leadership Teams the Curriculum Committee and the Curriculum Planning Team drive curriculum development across the school each with a visioning and implementation role but each with a different focus and each led by the Associate Principal for Curriculum.
The school also has an active student voice with student leadership programs offered at Years 10, 11 and 12. Students can hold formal leadership positions in Year 12 or be an SRC member representing their House in Years 7 -12. The SRC is dynamic, full of energy and has a key role in the school and the Year 12 student leaders meet fortnightly with the School Executive Leadership team. The school also offers many sporting and performing arts opportunities through the House Shield Competition including House Chorales, Swimming and Athletics. Each Year there is a Performing Arts Gala, an annual production and in 2011 students has had the opportunity of participating in WOT Opera run by Opera Australia. The school has also recently received a number of awards in the Arts, Media and Visual Communication. A lunchtime activities program is available to students and the school has a Debating Club.
