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James Ruse Agricultural High School is an agricultural and selective co-educational public high school in Carlingford, New South Wales, Australia. The school was founded as a comprehensive high school in 1958, but was changed into an agricultural high school a year later in 1959. James Ruse was also a boys' school until 1977, at which time the school began admitting girls.

The school is especially noted for excellent academic prowess and competitiveness, as well as the high percentage of its students entering universities. In recent years it has been the top-performing school in New South Wales in the Higher School Certificate, ranking first in number of merit list mentions for the past eleven consecutive years and having a median UAI of 99.55 among the 173 Year 12 students in 2004. In 2005 the median UAI was 99.20.

History

James Ruse Agricultural High School was originally named Carlingford Agricultural High School with James C. Hoskin as founding headmaster of the school in 1958. When Hoskin was studying Agricultural History in University, he had been interested in James Ruse due to his significance to the development of modern agriculture in Australia, and also because "both Ruse and I are of Cornish extraction".

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Mr Hoskin questioned the name of the school as he believed that it was inappropriate. The school was barely serving Carlingford where there were only a small number of students from Carlingford at that time. In April 1959, Mr. Hoskin put forward a proposal to the Department of Education and Training (DET) outlining two new names for the school: Sydney Agricultural High School and Ruse Agricultural High School; eventually, the DET agreed to a modification of the latter. Hoskin's namesake at the school is the J.C. Hoskin Performing Arts Centre (formerly the J.C. Hoskin Auditorium), the school's main assembly hall.

James Ruse was originally a boys only school, but became co-educational in 1977. The initial intake that year numbered about 14. Years 7 to 11 (known then as first form to sixth form) comprised four classes of 40 boys, so the first female students began as seniors in Year 11.

1990s-2000s

Since the mid-90s, James Ruse has undergone an extensive building works program funded by both parents of students and the State and Federal Governments. 1997 saw the completion of Stage 1 of the building program encompassing a new Library block and English classrooms which replaced the old Anderson building, a new block containing Art and HSIE classrooms, the renovation of the existing Powe block with the former library into a science block and the installation of an elevator in the Perrau block to improve wheelchair accessibility.

Stage 2 of the program began in 2000, with the first building- a 180-seat lecture theatre named the M.A. Canty Lecture Theatre after a long serving teacher and deputy principal- completed in early 2001. The Schofield block became part of the program in 2002 after the building was damaged by arson; during the next two years the old Technology Block, the Francis block, was demolished due to a white ant infestation, with both blocks being rebuilt and refurnished in 2004- the Schofield Block as the Senior Common Room and English/Drama staffroom, and the Francis block as the new canteen replacing the demountable canteen on the oval. The industrial arts workshops from the old Francis block, as well as PE, Agriculture and LOTE classes, which had previously used the demountables, were also relocated that same year to the newly built Technology Block. This finally allowed the last of the school's demountable classrooms to be removed, allowing for full recreational use of the oval.

The school is currently in a period of transition, with the final stage of the building works underway and with the departure of long-serving principal Michael Quinlan, retiring in 2006 after having been principal since 1992. The final stage of the building works program is the gymnasium, on which work will begin at the end of 2006 after the raising of $900 000 from the school community in the Gymnasium Fund, and a $450 000 contribution from the NSW State Government.

Michael Quinlan's replacement as principal, Larissa Treskin, has formally taken up her position as of March 21.

Mission and vision

The school's mission statement is "James Ruse Agricultural High School seeks to provide a friendly, caring and challenging educational environment in which each student is encouraged towards self-development, concern for others and the cooperative pursuit of excellence", with the school's slogan being "In pursuit of excellence". It has also recently released its Vision 2010 statement, in which it aims to promote the growth and development of educational excellence, a dynamic curriculum, new Information and Communication Technologies, a strong student leadership, welfare and community network, as well as to promote the school itself as a leader in public education.

Campus

The school is situated on the corner of Baker Street and Felton Road in Carlingford, a suburb of western Sydney. Its main entrance is located on the southeast corner of the school, with a number of smaller entrances on its southern and eastern boundaries. The campus is focused on a main quadrangle, with another cluster of buildings centered around a smaller quadrangle, and an oval, sporting facilities and the farm to the north of these.

Barrengarry House

Barrengarry House, the school's main administration block is located near the southeast entrance of the school, adjoining the Senior Common Room and the Library and housing the offices of the principal, deputy prinicpals, head teacher of administration and the administration staff on the lower floor, and the counsellor's office, uniform shop and function rooms on the upper floor. It was originally the home and property of the Felton family, and was built in 1885, with the architect thought to have been Charles Slatyer. The block adjoins a roadway of the same name, both of which are named after the Feltons' estate.

J.C. Hoskin Performing Arts Centre

More commonly known as the "school hall", the J.C. Hoskin Performing Arts Centre, named after Jim Hoskin (1913-1996) who was the principal of the school from 1958-78, is used as a multi-purpose facility. Along with holding important school assemblies, concerts and the school musical, the hall is also used for examinations (primarily government and senior exams) and PE classes- although this function will be largely removed with the construction of the proposed gymnasium.

Library Block

The Library Block (or "L-Block") was built in 1997 and opened by then NSW Premier Bob Carr as part of the school's building works program, to provide a larger, and more modern and well-equipped library to replace the smaller Shearman Block (now the school's Music block). The block is a two-storey building, with the library occupying the top floor and English classrooms and offices on the bottom floor. It has also recently become the focal point of the school's new Knitting Club, a popular school organisation with over 130 students and teachers involved that has most notably participated in the 'Wrap With Love' charity project to provide blankets for the needy overseas and in Australia.

Technology Wing

The Technology Wing (or "T-Block") is the most recent addition to the school campus along with the new Canteen Block, with construction finished in 2005. The wing is a two-storey building with a mix of classrooms and modern computer labs, and overlooks the farm on its northern side. It was officially opened in early September by Senator for New South Wales Marise Payne and the State Member for Parramatta Tanya Gadiel.

Transportation

Several bus services operate to and from the school. There are two main bus bays on Baker Street and Felton Road, with the former operating Sydney Buses services to Parramatta, Eastwood, Epping and West Ryde and the latter operating Westbus services to northwest Sydney areas, including Dural, Cherrybrook, Pennant Hills and Baulkham Hills. The school operates a system of transport prefects whose aim is to maintain behavioural conduct on buses.

Students

There are currently 846 students enrolled at James Ruse in Years 7 through to 12. James Ruse is an academically selective high school; admission to James Ruse in Year 7 is by a government examination, the Selective High Schools Test, which is open to all Year 6 students in NSW. A small number of students are accepted into years 8 to 11, with application must be made directly to the school; however, no students are accepted into year 12. Of the student population, over 90% are from a non-English-speaking background, predominantly Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean language groups, as well as a substantial minority of Indian and Sri Lankan descent.

Much of the attractiveness of James Ruse to many students comes from the school's ability to cater for their academic talents and provide a scholastic environment in which they can thrive. However, the school's academic reputation and competitive nature has also been seen as a deterrent to many students, with a decline in first-choice applications for the school over the past decade. ".

The 120 students entering Year 7 are split into four classes of 30 students each, each of which also determine the student's placement into one of the sporting houses - Jones, Rassack, Mullavey and Toft. As the school receives a steady intake of students for each successive year from Year 9 onwards, the form year is split into five classes in Year 9, and six classes in Year 11.

James Ruse has a prefect body elected from the Year 11 students by students and teachers to promote student welfare and organise popular social and sporting events, with some of the most significant of these being Valentine's Day, Daffodil Day, Games Day and 3-on-3 soccer and basketball. Their terms are served partially concurrently with their Year 12 colleagues.

Student Representative Council (SRC)

The school's Student Representative Council was inaugurated in 1960, making it among the first high schools in New South Wales to have such a body. Each year, each roll class elects a Class Captain and Vice-Captain who represent it on the SRC and elect a student executive, a system first inaugurated in 1990, which consists of a President, Treasurer, Secretary and Minutes Secretary. Through the SRC, students have a one-third representation on the seven school steering committees (along with parents and staff), and also play a major role in decision-making processes relating to curriculum, building plans, and resource allocation. It has also played a major part in the formation of the school's 2005 and recently formed 2010 Vision statements, through its role in canvassing the ideas and input of the student body.

Curriculum

Departments

Teaching at James Ruse is divided amongst 11 departments, each teaching one or a variety of related Board of Studies endorsed subjects. The departments are:

• Agriculture
• Art (Subjects: Visual Arts)
• Careers
• English (Subjects: English, Drama)
• HSIE (Subjects: Yr 7-10- Commerce, Geography, History; Yr 11-12- Economics, Geography, Modern History, Ancient History)
• Languages other than English (Subjects: French, German, Japanese)
• Mathematics
• Music
• Personal Development/Health/Physical Education
• Science (Subjects: Junior- Science; Senior- Biology, Chemistry, Physics)
• Technology (Subjects: Design and Technology, Information Processes and Technology, Software Design and Development, Multimedia)

Courses

While most courses operate as standard, acceleration is offered for Agriculture, Information Processes and Technology (IPT) and Software Design and Development (SDD), which allow the latter two to be completed in Year 10 and the former to be completed in Year 11. Enrichment programs are also offered for Mathematics and Science, for students in Years 7-10 and Years 7-8 respectively, with training for the International Science Olympiad National Qualifying Examinations also offered for students in Years 9-11.

Years 7 & 8

All students in Years 7 & 8 do the same subjects, which are English, Mathematics, Science, Agriculture, History, Geography, Design & Technology, Visual Arts, Music, Languages (French, German, Japanese and Latin), PD/H/PE, Sport and Religious Education.

Years 9 & 10

In Years 9 & 10 the core subjects (English, Mathematics, History/Geography, Science, Agriculture, PD/H/PE) remain mandatory, with students allowed to choose two elective subjects (from Commerce, Visual Arts, Drama, French, German, Japanese, Music, Design & Technology, IPT, SDD).

Years 11 & 12

In Year 11, students are given a full range of subject choices in preparation for the HSC (with the exception of English, which is mandatory); however, the school does not offer many vocational or lower-grade subjects, such as Food Technology, Legal Studies and Standard English. The subjects offered are English (Advanced (mandatory minimum), Extension I), Mathematics (Advanced, Extension I), Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Economics, Ancient History, Modern History, Geography, French (Continuers), Japanese (Beginners, Continuers), Music, Visual Arts, Drama, PD/H/PE, IPT and SDD.

In Year 12, distinction courses (for students who have completed accelerated subjects) and additional extension courses are also available. The additional extension courses offered include Extension II English, Extension II Mathematics, History Extension, Japanese Extension and French Extension.

Agriculture

The school teaches agriculture as a compulsory subject from years 7 to 10. It was formerly compulsory for senior years, but this was changed with the introduction of a new HSC curriculum by the Board of Studies. However, the school accelerates students in this area so that they may finish the HSC course in Agriculture by the end of Year 11. Agriculture is a very significant part of the school's curriculum, with students undergoing intensive study of the subject both on and off-site, particularly in the junior school, where students study and visit agricultural enterprises both in the Greater Sydney region, with visits to regional dairy and horticultural farming enterprises and an annual Year 7 excursion to the Sydney Royal Easter Show, and in rural NSW, with Year 10 students studying and visiting farms in Bathurst and Gloucester. There is also great involvement in agricultural education and with other agricultural schools, with the school linked with Yanco Agricultural High School and the long-serving Head of Agriculture, Lisle Brown, being the co-author of the Dynamic Agriculture textbook series, which is extensively used in the study of agriculture in Australian schools.

The school leases approximately five hectares of land from the neighbouring electricity sub-station for use in practical agriculture lessons. The farm land is situated north of the general school buildings, extending north to Lynch Close and east to Jenkins Road. The farm is arranged to include a vegetable garden, a classroom, a glasshouse and nursery, a greenhouse, an orchard, experimental plots, an area for field crops and a livestock section, among others. It also contains some riparian land which is currently being monitored and undergoing rehabilitation to its native state by the Waterwatch group.

A significant amount of the farm land is set aside for student plots. Part of practical agriculture lessons involves students growing and maintaining their own crops. Mature crops in the students' assigned plots of land are then the students' to take home.

In addition to its use for educational purposes, the farm also supplies a wide variety of agricultural produce including:

• Aquaculture - Silver Perch
• Cattle - Angus stud, paraded annually at the Castle Hill Show by the Cattle Group
• Sheep - First-cross Ewes & Prime Lambs
• Eggs - Barn and Free-range eggs
• Poultry Meat - Broilers raised and sold onsite, but killed and frozen at Red Lea Blacktown.
• Oranges - Washington Navel
• Peaches - Flordagold and Sherman's Red varieties
• Sweet Corn - Shimmer variety
• James Ruse Gold Rose - A privately crossbred rose variety. The rights were donated to the school in 1999 in celebration of its 40 years of teaching.
• Apiary - Honey sold on-site in 500g jars.

Various groups of students have been set up to look after these usually during lunchtime, such as the Poultry Squad and a Weatherwatch group to maintain farm weather records.

In the past, the farm also housed Merino and Border Leicester sheep for wool-shearing, named the Sharlea Sheep. This aspect of the farm was closed down due to spiraling production costs. It was replaced by the Aquaculture venture, which has met with limited success.

Co-curricular activities

A variety of co-curricular and sporting activities are available to students, including:

Interact

The school's Interact club is noted for being the longest established club of its kind in a NSW high school. It is operated by the Rydalmere Rotary Club, with the school's association involved in many projects both inside and outside of the school, such as involvement in charity fundraisers including Red Nose Day.

Sport

The school's main sports program runs on Wednesday afternoons, during which students participate in either Grade Sport, in which a variety of sporting teams, such as Cricket, Basketball, Touch (football) and Netball, compete in inter-school competitions with other public schools in the district, or Recreational Sport, where students unable to play for a Grade Team are involved in activities such as Tennis, Gym and a school-run sports program.

The school also holds annual sporting carnivals, including the Swimming, Cross-Country and Athletics Carnivals, where students can compete for participation in wider regional competitions, from Zone and Area carnivals to the CHS (Combined High Schools) competition for the top school teams and competitors in NSW.

Award scheme

The James Ruse Award Scheme is a system implemented to recognise all-round involvement and participation by students within the school community. The Awards are presented at a Formal Assembly.

There are 8 sections to this Award, and qualifying in 5 categories will earn the student a "Bronze" Award. If the student has already achieved the "Bronze" Award twice, then he or she is eligible to earn "Gold" Awards instead. For those who completely satisfy all 8 categories, then the student will be presented with a "Distinction" Award at a special Presentation Ceremony.

The 8 categories are Academic Excellence, School Curriculum Involvement, Interschool Representation in Sport, Creative Arts, Music Activities, Involvement in School Life, School Service and Outdoor Activities.

In 2005, 20% of the students received an award.

Programming Club

The school's programming club is entered in the informatics competitions and olympiads.

Visiting speakers

James Ruse routinely has notable figures visiting the school or speaking at school assemblies, with some of these including current Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who visited the school in 2001, a former James Ruse student, Land Commander of the Australian Army Major-General Mark Kelly, who spoke at the school's recent Anzac Day commemorative assembly, and the head of the British Physics Olympiad team and Head of Physics at one of England's prestigious public schools, Winchester College, Dr John Cullerne, who taught and observed the school's senior science classes. In addition, Australian entrepreneur and adventurer Dick Smith visited the school in early August 2006 as guest speaker at a school assembly.

Alumni

Notable James Ruse alumni include:

• Joh Bailey - Celebrity Hairdresser
• Antony Green (1971-77) - ABC Elections Psephologist
• Major General Mark Kelly - Land Commander, Australian Army
• Greg Mail - Cricketer - NSW Blues opening batsman
• Andrew Leeds - Former Wallaby
• Dr. Katrina Warren - Television Veterinarian
• Jabba (Jason Davis) - Nova 96.9 Host
• Natalie Bates - Australian cycling gold medalist
• Stefan Gregory - Guitarist from the rock band Faker
• Mike McClellan (JR teacher early 1970's) - Singer and Songwriter - "The Song and Dance Man"
• Kate O'Toole (1992-1997) - Journalist for Triple J's Hack
• Scott Farquar (1992-1997) - Co-founder Atlassian, winner EY Entrepreneur of the year 2006

References

1. ^ "Only race that matters is the rush to the top". Sydney Morning Herald. 2005-11-26. Retrieved 2006-08-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
2. "Top marks again, but class is over for high-achieving principal". Sydney Morning Herald. 2006-12-08. Retrieved 2007-04-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
3. "Top marks again, but class is over for high-achieving principal". Sydney Morning Herald. 2006-12-08. Retrieved 2006-12-20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
4. "James Ruse Newsletter: Issue 4" (PDF). James Ruse Agricultural High School. 2007-02-23. Retrieved 2007-03-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
5. Pending publication of school newsletter on the internet
6. ^ "Prospectus 2006" (PDF). James Ruse Agricultural High School. 2005-10-15. Retrieved 2006-08-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
7. Student Guide- James Ruse Agricultural High School
8. "Sweeping Chinese revolution". Sydney Morning Herald. 2005-11-26. Retrieved 2006-08-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
9. "Drop in James Ruse popularity just natural selection". Sydney Morning Herald. 2003-12-01. Retrieved 2006-08-03. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
10. "History of the JRAHS SRC". James Ruse Agricultural High School. 2006-03-27. Retrieved 2006-08-03. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
11. "James Ruse Agricultural High School- Agriculture Staff". James Ruse Agricultural High School. 2004-09-12. Retrieved 2006-08-15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
12. "McGraw-Hill Education". McGraw-Hill Education. 2006-01-31. Retrieved 2006-08-15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

See also

• NSW Government Selective Schools
• List of Government schools in New South Wales
• List of selective high schools in New South Wales

External links

• James Ruse Agricultural High School website
• NSW Department of Education and Training: James Ruse Agricultural High School
• James Ruse Union

• Agricultural schools
• Educational institutions established in 1958
• Schools in New South Wales
• Schools in Sydney
• Public schools in New South Wales