Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School

Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School (VCASS), is a government-funded co-educational selective and specialist secondary day school, with speciality in the performing and visual arts, located within the Melbourne Arts Precinct in Southbank, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1978, VCASS teaches students from Year 7 to Year 12; and has an enrolment of 370 students.[1]

This article is about the secondary school. For the former tertiary institution, see Victorian College of the Arts.

Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School
Address
57 Miles Street

Southbank, Melbourne
,
Victoria

Australia
Coordinates37°49′42″S 144°57′54″E
Information
TypeGovernment-funded co-educational selective and specialist secondary day school
MottoArt is life
Established1978 (1978)
Founders
Specialists
PrincipalHilary Bland
Grades7–12[1]
Enrolment370[1]
Affiliations
Websitewww.vcass.vic.edu.au

Students are accepted after annual auditions and interviews. All students share academic subjects, but follow either a specialised dance, music, theatre arts or visual arts training program for half the day. The school also provides academic classes to secondary students from other institutions including the Australian Ballet School,[2] and Gymnastics Victoria.

History

Instigated by the former tertiary institution Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), as a separate and complementary institution, VCASS was founded in 1978 by Lenton Parr and Jack Pitt (as the Victorian College of the Arts Technical School - VCATS). This was the same year that the tertiary VCA commenced its dance faculty, and VCATS was conceived as a preparatory school for the tertiary dance and music courses. In 1981 the name was changed to VCASS. For most of its history VCASS shared its campus and buildings with the tertiary VCA at 234 St Kilda Road, but in June 2009 moved to new purpose built premises at 57 Miles Street, Southbank.[3]

The Dance and Music specialist programs run in parallel from Year 7 to 12. In 2013 the school added a Year 11 intake for its Visual Arts program. In 2016 a new Theatre Arts program commenced with a Year 11 intake.

Academics

Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) studies offered by the school:
Art, Biology, Chemistry, Dance, Drama, English, English (EAL), French, Further Mathematics, General Mathematics, Health and Human Development, History: 20th Century (1900-1945), History: 20th Century (since 1945), History: Revolutions, Literature, Mathematical Methods (CAS), Media, Music Investigation, Music Performance, Music Style and Composition, Philosophy, Physics, Psychology, Studio Arts and Theatre Arts.[4]

Some students study additional languages via Distance Education Victoria, such as Mandarin, Korean, Japanese, Indonesian, German or Spanish.

In 2011, the VCE median study score was 34, and 27 percent of students achieved a study score above 40.[5]

Notable alumni

See also

References
  1. "Right School Right Place - Victorian Government Schools". State of Victoria, Department of Education and Training. Archived from the original on 19 March 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  2. "Academic Studies". The Australian Ballet School. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  3. "Media Release: Curtain Up On Re-Staging Of Arts Secondary School". Legislation.vic.gov.au. 14 August 2006. Archived from the original on 7 March 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
  4. "School Studies Search". Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority.
  5. "Suburbs soar to the top of the class". The Herald Sun. 7 January 2011.
  6. "Hall of Fame". VCASS: The Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School. Archived from the original on 14 September 2009.
  7. "Aaron Choulai - Australian recordings, performances". Move Records.
  8. https://www.claudiaerecords.com/natalie-gauci.html%5B%5D
  9. Donovan, Chris Evans and Patrick (26 November 2007). "Melbourne singer claims Idol crown". The Age.
  10. Yanko, Suzanne (10 March 2014). "Aura Go returns to Melbourne Metropolis".
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