Sydney Distance Education High School

In 1884, the Government school system was established to provide educational facilities to all students, including those in rural areas.[4] Until the late 1870s, many children were not able to access education due to geographical isolation, commonly living in impoverished conditions.[4] This was mostly due to the sparse settlement in New South Wales.[4] House to house schools rose in popularity during the 1890s but the minimum enrolment numbers for a school to be viable were proving difficult to reach, causing a decline in the use of the house to house system.[4] The subsidy scheme introduced in 1903 aimed to bring easier access to education for these children by subsidising isolated families so they could afford private teaching.[4] Although the scheme succeeded, there were still children without access to education due to their family's financial circumstances not being able accommodate private teaching despite the subsidy.[4]

Travelling schools were first introduced as an alternative method of public education in 1908.[4] Reports conducted by inspectors for the New South Wales Department of Education in 1912 showed of school aged children living west of the Great Dividing Range, 1014 were not attending school.[4] Due to this, the travelling schools scheme was expanded, announced by the Minister of Public Instruction in 1913.[4] In 1915, there were three travelling schools, with a collective enrolment of 85 students.[4] Travelling schools were predominantly used during World War I (1914–1918) to provide education separate from a physical institution. Work was shared through radio and print.[5] After the war they were closed down.[6] The Department of Education made the decision to suspend travelling schools, replacing them with correspondence schools.[4] The Department of Education opened The Correspondence School in place of travelling schools at the Department's Bridge Street headquarters in 1916 to accommodate students who may struggle with on-campus learning.[7] The majority of schools were located in urban areas, creating geographical difficulty for students living in rural areas attending school. This includes regional areas where 67% of students complete their HSC compared to 81% of urban students.[8] The Department of Education started recommending the Correspondence School to students wanting to enrol in travelling schools and rejected most applications for the establishment of new travelling schools in New South Wales.[4]

As travelling schools closed, The Correspondence School's enrolment numbers increased. The 25 students enrolled at the Inverell Travelling School were transferred to the Correspondence School due to the schools closure in 1921.[4] The school's expansion created the need for a physical location to facilitate the continuation of distance education.[6] This resulted in the Teachers College, now known as the Sydney Distance Education High School, becoming a secondary school in Blackfriars, Sydney in 1922.[6] In 1923, the first Schools for Specific Purpose were established by the Department of Education.[9] These catered for students struggling with disabilities and other circumstances that interrupted their education.[7] Therefore, the Teacher's College was known as a School for Specific Purposes. Enrolment at the Correspondence School reached 2555 students in 1925, with 60 teaching staff.[4] In 1959, enrolment levels began to lower due to improvements in access to traditional education methods, especially for rural students in New South Wales.[6] Students were now given the option to study single subjects through the school, due to the introduction of the Wyndham Scheme in 1961.[6] The scheme created the current (as of 2020) secondary school curriculum where in ‘junior school’ (year 7) students complete a set of common compulsory subjects and in second, third and fourth form (years 8, 9 and 10) they complete a set of compulsory subjects along with two elective subjects. It also introduced new criteria for the School Certificate, received at the end of fifth form (year 11).[10] This scheme led to an increase in enrolments.

In 1965, multiple satellite schools opened in Walgett, Bourke, Cobar and Nyngan and The Correspondence School moved to William Street in Kings Cross.[6] Dover Heights High School became a shared space with the opening of the Sydney Secondary Distance Education Centre in 1999.[6] The school relocated to Forbes Street, Woolloomooloo in 2002 and was renamed Sydney Distance Education High School.[6] The digital learning format of an eLearning Portal as a platform storing school files and accessibility to video chat facilities[11] was used during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 as an example for educational institutions transferring to online learning.[12]

Students complete generic compulsory high school subjects in Stages 4–5 as well as a compulsory student wellbeing course. In Stage 5 students also complete two elective courses from a list of general high school electives as well as industrial technology subjects. In Stage 6 students complete one English subject and up to 12 units of other general HSC subjects and/or one of the Vocational education and Training (VET) courses offered by the school. For a full list of subjects see the 2020 Enrolment Application Form for Years 7–12.

Home. (n.d.). Sydney Distance Education High School, Retrieved 23 March 2020, from https://sydneyh-d.schools.nsw.gov.au/

Sydney Distance Education High School. (2019). HSCninja. Retrieved 2 April 2020, from https://www.hscninja.com/profile

Sydney Distance Education High School, Woolloomooloo, NSW School Profile. (2019). My School. Retrieved 2 April 2020, from https://www.myschool.edu.au/school/41186/profile

Olympians. (n.d.). Australian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 20 April 2020, from https://www.olympics.com.au/olympians/

Peninsula Community Centre. (n.d.). Coast Community Connections. Retrieved 18 May 2020, from https://www.coastcommunityconnections.com.au/community-centre