History
The establishment of the Northern Beaches Secondary College resulted from a review of secondary education, conducted by the Northern Beaches Secondary Principals Council, in 1999. The Secondary Education Review Committee was set up to investigate and report on the provision of secondary education in the Northern Beaches District. Representatives from all stakeholders, secondary and primary schools, parents, the NSW Teachers Federation, Department of Education and Training, the District P&C Association and Technical and Further Education (TAFE), were invited to be part of this committee.
The Committee conducted a district wide review of secondary education which resulted in over 50 submissions from individuals, groups and stakeholder. These were submitted to the Committee in December, 1999. From these submissions the Committee then developed a series of recommendations which forwarded to the Department of Education and Training.
The Department, in consultation with the District, developed a model for the restructuring of secondary education in the lower peninsula area of the Northern Beaches. This model was launched in June 2000, by the then Minister for Education and Training, the Hon. John Aquilina, under the name of New Horizons.
The model proposed by the Department saw six of the existing 7 - 12 high schools restructured as a multi-campus College. The six existing high schools were:
- Balgowlah Boys High School: Boys 7 - 12
- Beacon Hill High School: Co-educational 7 - 12
- Freshwater High School: Co-educational 7 - 12
- Cromer High School: Co-educational 7 - 12
- Manly High School: Co-educational 7 – 12 and selective
- Mackellar Girls High School: Girls 7 - 12
A concept document for the Freshwater Senior Campus was launched in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in early March, 2001 by the then Minister, The Hon. John Aquilina. This document was to inform the development of the 'Freshwater Education Centre' which comprises the Northern Beaches Secondary College - Freshwater Senior Campus, TAFE NSW Northern Sydney Institute – Freshwater facility and the College Administration Centre. The document also outlined the relationship of these two to the University of Technology, Sydney, the third party to the New Horizons concept.
The inaugural College Principal, Mr John Hayes, was appointed in March 2001 and a period of intense development followed. A College Administration Centre was set up at Northern Beaches District Office and a College Development Co-ordinator appointed at the beginning of April, 2001. During 2001 a College Deputy Principal and three Head Teachers joined the College Administration Centre. The role of the College Administration team was to ensure the successful implementation of the College model.
Of importance in the Northern Beaches Secondary College model is the presence of five senior Campuses which have a coordinated curriculum giving students the opportunity to study on more than one Campus of the College during their senior years. The College operates a bus between Campuses.
The College, in its final configuration, came into existence with the movement of students onto the new Freshwater Senior Campus at the beginning of Term 2, 2003.
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