Maitland High School

Maitland High School is situated in Maitland, New South Wales, Australia on High Street. Established in 1884 and operated by the New South Wales Department of Education and Training, the school currently caters for approximately 800 students from Years 7 to 12, and is situated near its sister school, Maitland Grossmann High School.The school offers a number of vocational education courses in years 10 to 12 relating to various industries, such as hospitality, retail and community services. In 2009, the efforts of the school were recognised by the Department of Education & Training a school achievement award citing the "consistent excellence in Vocational educational program delivery and quality Higher School Certificate educational outcomes".The school has adopted the colours of black and white, two of the northern region's three representative colours, and its mascot of a magpie, a popular and prolific bird of the area.The Maitland High Old Boys and Ex-students Union regularly assists the school with donations and scholarships for students.HistoryThe Public Instruction Act 1880 began a period described as the "great reforms". In 1883 the first six state high schools were opened: for boys and for girls at Sydney, Bathurst and Goulburn. The following year, in 1884, Maitland Boys High and Girls High were opened. The four schools at Sydney and Maitland succeeded but the other High Schools failed to compete with established local private schools and the Superior Public Schools ; at the end of 1886, the two Goulburn schools and Bathurst Boys' High School closed. By 1885, the Minister of Public Instruction could report that Maitland Boys’ High School had an average quarterly enrolment of 48 boys and in 1890, 45 . Since the High Schools were to prepare students for matriculation, "the University Manual of Public Examinations provided the basis of instruction."