Melbourne High School

Melbourne High School is a government-funded single-sex academically selective secondary day school in the Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, Victoria, Australia. The school caters for boys from Year 9 to Year 12.

History

In 1905, Frank Tate, the first Director of Education, established Victoria's first state secondary school, the Melbourne Continuation School in the building in Spring Street that had housed the Model School. Until the opening of the Melbourne Continuation School, secondary education in Victoria was provided by non-government schools. The term "Continuation" was used to indicate the school would continue the education provided by government primary schools and to bypass legal blockages of government secondary education. Criticisms of the school were that it was to be secular, and it would not be single-sex.
The school was renamed Melbourne High School in 1912. In 1913, it reached capacity and senior students moved into a building in Victoria Street. By 1919 the Spring Street building was in poor condition and the Department of Education decided to split the school into separate single-sex schools. On the 3rd of October 1927, the boys moved to a new building in South Yarra which was named Melbourne Boys' High School. The girls remained in the building at Spring Street which was renamed Melbourne Girls' High School.
In 1930 the girls moved to the vacant Government House and in 1930 to State School No. 1689 in King Street. In 1934 they moved to a new building on Kings Way, Albert Park which, in recognition of a donation from Sir Macpherson Robertson, was named the Mac.Robertson Girls' High School.
In 1949, Melbourne Boys' High School was renamed Melbourne High School.
Joseph Hocking, an inspector of schools, was appointed as the first principal. Hocking's temporary assistant was Margery Fraser Robertson. In 1907 she became senior mistress and in 1909, the headmistress.
In 1910, the first sporting exchange with Adelaide High School occurred. This was later followed by an exchange with North Sydney Boys' High School. In 1914, the school's growth and development was disrupted by World War I, in which over 500 Melbourne High students served. The school has since developed a special association with Anzac Cove and has sent cadets and students to participate in ANZAC Day ceremonies.
Hocking spoke of the students as:
By 1919, it had the greatest number of students at Melbourne University from any school.
Old traditions in music and debating continued, with the addition of house chorals, which remains an important event in the school calendar.
New traditions emerged, such as a house system, with competition in various sports and debating. A Memorial Hall paid for by past students was a feature of the new school.
As had occurred in World War I, World War II greatly disrupted the school's proceedings. The school building was requisitioned by the Royal Australian Navy and the students moved to either the new Camberwell High School or the Tooronga Road State School. In 1944 students returned to Forrest Hill under the new principal Major-General Alan Ramsay. Ramsay was the first 'Old Boy', or former student, to become principal. Since then, all but two of his successors have been Old Boys.
In the 1950s, Brigadier George Langley set about reviving the school, laying down plans for a swimming pool and physical education centre and reestablishing the Tecoma camp. The physical education centre and swimming pool opened in 1960 and in 1965, a new library was built. In 1968, portable classrooms were installed. In 1970, the Junior Science Block was opened.
In 1974 Molly Brennan applied to be principal. Despite making an appeal citing discrimination a less qualified man was appointed.
In the 1980s, the buildings needed refurbishment and new facilities were needed to meet the rapidly changing demands of a modern education, most notably the need for computers. Neville Drohan, principal from 1987 to 1991, combined government funding with donations from the school community to construct a new four-storey building: the 'Nineties' building.
In 1992, Raymond Willis became principal and in 1995 he oversaw a refurbishment of the original building and the addition of new rooms including a computer suite, dark room and an upgraded canteen. The original grass hockey field was replaced with a synthetic one and, next to the hockey field, two plexipave basketball courts were built.
The school oval was the next to be revamped. In 1999 new turf wickets which would be maintained by a curator were added, along with new drainage and watering as well as an upgrade to the lighting. The new oval was named the Woodfull-Miller Oval in honour of Bill Woodfull, a former student and principal, and Keith Miller, another former student, both highly regarded Australian Test cricketers.
Willis continued to upgrade the school's facilities with the construction of a cardio room in the Nineties building, and the addition of four junior science classrooms.
In 2002 the Army Cadets and Air Force Cadets received a new building which included orderly rooms, meeting rooms, seminar rooms, display areas, kitchen and toilets. In 2002, new change rooms were also constructed in the Old Boys Pavilion, along with the a hockey pavilion overlooking the synthetic hockey field.
The school increased its enrolment to 1,366. This meant a lower cutoff in the entrance exam, which led to the school's median ENTER dropping to second in the state. The median returned to first place in 2009.
Ray Willis died in July 2004 as the school's longest serving principal, at the time of his death.
In January 2005, Jeremy Ludowyke was appointed principal. In 2007 a new Arts Centre began construction and after nearly two years was officially opened by Lindsay Fox, a major donor and 'old boy' who had been asked to leave during his time as a student.
In 2007, Year 9 students were assigned to produce their own 'Citizenship Statement'. The results were collated to create an official 'MHS Citizenship Statement' that details the school's expectations of its students and now appears in the student planner.
The school admits that it is primarily seen as an academic school, but it also has a wide range of co-curricular traditions of music, with massed singing, formal assemblies and speech nights, intra and inter school sporting competitions, house choral competition, Army and Air Force cadet corps, and current affairs groups.
During the 2020–21 COVID-19 pandemic, Melbourne High, along with every other school in Victoria, shifted to online learning from week 9 of term 1. While senior school students returned temporarily at the end of term 2, the majority of the school remained in online learning for an unprecedented 16 school weeks. School Assessed Coursework, required for the VCE was conducted via proctorship and a large portion of unit 4 of all subjects were omitted from the study design to alleviate pressure. All extra-curricular activities, as well as many house events which are critical to school culture, did not run during this period.
In November 2020, Tony Mordini was appointed school principal.

Academics

Enrolment

Melbourne High School is the only single-sex education selective state school for boys in Victoria which selects Year 9 students solely on the basis of performance in an entrance examination. Every year, over 1,400 apply to enter Year 9 for 336 places. These placements are based on their raw results in the entrance exam. Those who were within 5 marks of the cut-off-score or did not receive a place due to the "4% rule", which prevents more than 4% of another school's cohort entering Melbourne High, are eligible to apply in the Principal's Discretionary Category.
Usually 180 students are eligible to apply in this category and compete for 15 places. Students choosing to participate follow a complete application process involving:

The submission of a portfolio demonstrating academic and co-curricular achievements;
The student's most recent school report; and,
A personal statement on why the student wishes to attend Melbourne High School.

A small number of students are then short-listed and interviewed. Places are also available in Year 10; in 2007, 28 students were accepted into Year 10; in 2008, 29 students were accepted after undergoing a similar process to the Principals Discretionary Category. Fewer places again are available at Year 11, these places being given based on an interview and application form. No further enrolment is available in Year 12.
The rules for entry are equal for all students during "examination entry" into the school. Students who live in nearby areas are not treated any differently from those from outer suburbs or regional areas.
The school also offers places via an arts and humanities intake, where students who can demonstrate an active interest in the arts and humanities can apply for entry at Year 11. Applicants are shortlisted then follow an interview process where they present their portfolio of work and present a statement on why they wish to attend Melbourne High School.

Academic results

Past students have achieved very strong results in the Victorian Certificate of Education examinations. Over 99% of students pursue a tertiary education, and the school has the largest intake into Monash University and the University of Melbourne out of all schools.

Year	Median ENTER/ ATAR	% ENTER/ ATAR of 90 or more	% ENTER/ ATAR of 99 or more	Number of perfect ENTER/ ATAR scores of 99.95	Number of perfect subject study scores of 50
2024	95.45	71.89	19.3	4
2020	94.8	68.69	15.5	4	24
2019	94.15	67.6	14.6	1	19
2018	95.10				16
2017	94.15				13
2016	95.15				13
2015	95.40	72.10	16.02	0	19
2014	95.80	73.96	16.27	0	25
2013	95.45	75.97	13.69	2	21
2012	95.45	71.9	16.1	5	33
2011	94.25	70.7	12.2	3	32
2010	95.15	69.5	15.4	0	31
2009	95.85	75.0	19.0	3	40
2008	94.65	67.7	14.7	1	32
2007	95.35		19.4	0	47
2006	95.35		17.0	1	38
2005	94.70		12.6	1	25
2004	94.40		13.5	0	41
2003	93.85		14.0	2	34
2002	94.60		14.9	0	32
2001	95.00		14.9	3	42
2000	94.10		13.0	-	30
1999	94.30		12.1	-	31
1998	94.20		13.0	-	36