Wollongong High School of the Performing Arts
The Wollongong High School of the Performing Arts is a government-funded co-educational comprehensive and specialist secondary day school with speciality in performing arts, located in Fairy Meadow, a suburb of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.
Established in 1916, the school enrolled approximately 1,190 students in 2018, from Year 7 to Year 12, of whom five percent identified as Indigenous Australians and 25 per cent were from a language background other than English. The school is operated by the NSW Department of Education.
Approximately one-third of students gain entry through auditions.
History
The school was established in 1916 in Smith Street Wollongong as Wollongong Home Science School, for girls only. At the time it was the only high school between Sydney and the Victorian border.Notable alumni
- Natalie Bassingthwaightesinger and actress
- Ashley Fisherformer tennis player
- Nicholas Cowdery former New South Wales Director of Public Prosecutions
- Mark KerryOlympic gold medalist in swimming
- Peter MacKinnon and Peter Raengel, bandmates in the Sunday Painters
- Stephen Martinformer politician
- Evelyn Owen Inventor
- Mary Puckeyfirst female superintendent of an Australian hospital
- Mary Fowlerprofessional footballer
- DPR IanKorean-Australian singer, rapper and director