Dandenong High School

The Ann Street Campus (37°58′40″S 145°12′48″E), formerly the Cleeland Secondary College (named after the nearby Cleeland Street), is situated about 200 m (660 ft) directly east of the Dandenong Main Campus, with the entrance down on Ann Street about halfway between Herbert Street and Cleeland Street, with a campus area about twice the size of the Dandenong main site. It was originally built in 1957 as a girls' school, the Dandenong Girls High School, with the motto Above Renown and the Olympic torch as its school logo to commemorate the Melbourne Olympics. The student population at Cleeland reflected the local cultural diversity and it was for some time the most ethnically diverse school in the state. The college established Literacy and Numeracy Centres to promote crucial educational skills to its mainstream and many special needs students. Cleeland Secondary College was the first school to offer, in conjunction with Chisholm Institute, the new Vocational Education Training (VET) course in Information Technology/Multimedia.

After the school merger, the original Cleeland school buildings will be demolished after Stage Two building works are complete. A new double-gymnasium, performing arts/drama centre, 350-seat auditorium and sporting ovals/fields will be constructed on the site, as part of the Stage 3 building works. The construction of a federally funded Language Centre is nearing completion on the Ann Street site.

The Victorian Education Department anticipated an increasing demand for technical school education in areas surrounding Dandenong when it decided to establish Doveton Technical School at the beginning of 1963. Temporarily housed in Dandenong Technical School, it began with 115 boys in Form 1. The new school, built in cement tile veneer on the 14.5-acre (59,000 m²) site in Box Street, became available at the beginning of 1964. The Principal W. J. H. Smith was joined by a staff of six. The Parents' Association formed in early 2010 was led by W. Montagne as president and B. King as Secretary. The Chief Inspector of Technical Schools, J.L. Kepert. attended the inaugural meeting of the Advisory Council when Cr G.F. Knowles was elected president. On 5 April 1968 the Minister, the Hon. L.H.S. Thompson, MLC, officially opened the school of which the first three stages had been completed. Enrolments from 1963 to 1968 included students from Doveton (the area east of the Frankston-Dandenong Road), Narre Warren North, Beaconsfield, Pakenham East, Koo-Wee-Rup, Korumburra, Lang Lang and Cranbourne. Subsidised bus services, trains and school buses from Dandenong railway station brought children to Doveton. In 1967, girls' courses at Form 1 level were introduced.

The former Doveton Campus, or Doveton Secondary College officially closed down 1 December 2008. Doveton Campus students joined students on the Dandenong Site for the remainder of the 2008 school year.[5] The buildings on the Doveton Campus have now been demolished. A new P-9 government school called Doveton College opened in 2012 1.5 km (0.93 mi) east of the old Doveton Secondary location.[6]

The Dandenong Education Precinct Project is a major regeneration project funded under the Federal Government's Building the Education Revolution. The previous three separate schools were officially merged under the one name of Dandenong High School in 2007. The amalgamation of the campuses will cost the Victorian Government $45 million and will be completed in stages. Stage 1 of the building program was completed in early 2009, including the construction of Banksia, Darwinia and Callistemon Houses, and also the extension and refurbishment of the current Library Resource Centre. Stage 2 of the building program consisted of the constructing of the remaining 4 Houses: Fern, Hakea, Grevillea and Eucalyptus, as well as the construction of a Commonwealth-funded Language Centre on the Ann Street Site, costing $2 million. The school architecture designed by Hayball involves "green" and environmental aspects and incorporates Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD) principles, including passive solar building design and natural light penetration.

Each House or SWIS (School-With-In-School) building houses 300 students and a core of 25 teachers. There are 50 students from each year level in each house. Students from years 7 through to year 12 are based in the same House for their whole six years of secondary schooling. From years 7 to 10, three teachers conduct a class of 50 students. However, because the new buildings can cater for both collaborative and independent learning, these classes usually break off into groups of 16-17 to one teacher. Thus, whilst Dandenong High School is one of the largest public schools in Australia, it also has one of the lowest student-to-teacher ratios. In years 11 and 12, however, class sizes are capped at 25 students to one teacher, due to the complexity of the VCE, VCAL and VET elective programs. The House buildings resemble a mini-school because of the administrative structure in each House. Each of the seven Houses is led by a House Leader (or Assistant Principal), along with an Assistant House Leader and a House Student Coordinator. An Attendance Officer/Receptionist assists with attendance and general tracking of student records. All seven Houses are overseen by the two Associate principals and the Principal.

Stage 3 of the building project, which is yet to be funded, will consist of a Performing Arts Centre, a 350-seat auditorium, additional Physical Education Centre (with a double-gymnasium), Fine Arts Wing, Design Technology Wing, Senior Chemistry/Physics Laboratories, Food Technology Centre, cafeteria, and Fabrics/Media/ICT Wing. Students will be based in their Houses for around 65% of the time, whilst specialty subjects such as Food Technology and Art will be conducted in their respective wings and buildings. The first half of Stage 3, totalling $10M, was funded in the 2011-12 State Budget, and the second half of Stage 3, totalling $9.4M, was funded in the 2012-13 State Budget.

The new Alkira Secondary College in Cranbourne North and William Ruthven Secondary College in Reservoir are following a similar architectural concept as Dandenong High School with the SWIS approach.

The new Dandenong High School Houses, or Learning Centres, are named after Australian native plants. These Houses are also the same student bodies used for school curricular activities, such as sporting and music chorals events. The seven new houses, which consist of 300 students each, are: