Sydney Technical High School

The school consistently achieves superior results in external assessments, such as the NAPLAN, the ICAS, the Record of School Achievement, and in particular, the Year 12 Higher School Certificate (HSC), where its students are regularly ranked in the top ten places in the state across a variety of subjects.[14] On average, over 80% of its students achieve in the top 20% of the state, with a majority gaining an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank of more than 90.[14]

In 2010, fifteen students from the school's graduating class received Premier's Awards for All-round Excellence in the NSW HSC.[15] The school won the national championship in the University of Newcastle Science and Engineering Challenge in 2010 (gold division) and 2011 (silver division).[15][16]

Sydney Technical High School building, 1925

One of the reforms advocated by the 1903 Royal Commission into NSW Education was the establishment of classes providing courses which would involve technical subjects. Consequently, Continuation classes for students interested in technical subjects commenced at the Sydney Technical College.[11]

In April 1911, these Continuation classes were given the status of a high school, and Sydney Technical High was established. Originally, the school was co-educational with 113 boys and 15 girls. In February 1913, the girls were transferred to Fort Street Girls' High; and, from then on, the school became for boys only.[11]

Since 1911, the school has been located at three Sydney sites:

• Ultimo House on Mary Ann Street: this was the "country" home of John Harris, Surgeon of the New South Wales Corps. The property was bought by the Government in 1899 and used by Technical Education for many years before being used by Sydney Tech High from 1911 to 1924.
• Paddington on Albion Street: in 1925, with an enrolment of 421, Sydney Tech High was transferred to Albion Street, Paddington. Although it was a note of expansion, it was a vigorous P&C campaign that encouraged the State Government to fund an entirely new site for the school.
• Bexley on Forest Road: the Old McConnachie's Paddock was occupied and first stone for the school's foundations was laid in March 1955, with the school completed and occupied by September 1956. The official opening for the school's new facilities was on 2 August 1958, with four units: the administration block, general classrooms ('A block'), manual training block and the auditorium and gymnasium. Throughout the years numerous additions have been made to the site. The School Pool was opened in 1966, the Kingston-David Library and Laboratories in 1975 and a brand-new administration block in 1998.[11]

The current grounds at Bexley include the following physical facilities:

• Upper courts and Lower Courts ("The Cage") – basketball courts for Years 7–9 and 10–12, respectively
• Elmo Landsberger Cricket nets – located between Lower courts and Back oval, 3 cricket batting nets & a plaque dedicated to Elmo Landsberger
• Anderson Street courts – A new basketball court as well as 3 small handball courts and a volleyball court has been put in, near the Anderson Street car park. The construction was completed in May 2009.
• Botanical and Rainforest area
• Sir Charles Kingsford Smith Memorial Library
• Auditorium for School Assemblies and performances
• Gymnasium with indoor basketball courts
• Matthew Goodall Memorial Garden[17] – Adjacent the library
• Sun Shelter between the Cafeteria and the industrial works classrooms. The shelter was completed as of March 2015.
• Vera's Gym – A physical gymnasium dedicated for outside classroom learning and relaxation. It is often used by PASS and SLR students as well as seniors.
• The passive – 3 table tennis tables and various benches outside the library. Completed recently in early 2018.

Extracurricular activities offered to Sydney Technical High School students include:

• P&C Association and Student Fundraising
• Debating Teams
• Student Representative Council (SRC)
• Interact – A group dedicated to charity fundraising
• Sound and Lighting Crew – A group of students who, under teacher supervision, dedicate their time to the continued maintenance and functioning of the auditorium and drama studio systems.
• FRED – The former, award-winning school newspaper run solely by students at the school. FRED returned temporarily after remaining dormant from 2005 to 2007. There was a temporary revival with the release of editions between 2008 and 2009; and once again in 2013 and 2014. FRED is no longer the school newspaper and has been, for all intents and purposes, replaced by the Tech High Times. However, there are talks of a relaunch for year 11&12 students as a senior alternative to the junior paper.
• Tech High Times – A journalism society for students in years 7–10 that intends to produce tabloid editions each term.
• Digital Media Team – A film-making, photography group founded in 2018 by Nestor Harilaou, tasked with creating various multimedia presentations for school events. "A day at Tech." is regarded as their debut video, showing future Techies what school will be like. The leader of the DMT as of 2019 is Emmanuel Takla.
• Public speaking – including Inter-School and grade-wide competitions
• Links Program – A group of year 9 students work with students from Hurstville Primary School, to show them what happens in high school and create links between the two schools. It is run by the history, science, creative arts/LOTE faculties.
• ISCF – Inter-School Christian Fellowship run by the students under teacher supervision[18][19]
• Chess – Inter-School Chess Competition also in session.
• Committees of Year 12 organisation – for collaborating the Year 12 Yearbook, Formal, Year 12 End of Year Video and Jerseys
• School Bands – Beginner, Intermediate, Concert, Stage, String Ensemble, Choir[20]
• Environment Team
• Centenary School Scholarships – Senior, Intermediate and Junior categories
• Department of Education's Great Schools Showoff short film competition – 2012 Sydney Regional winners and 2nd at State Finals
• Chemistry Titration Competition
• ICAS competitions
• Rio Tinto Big Science Competition

The SRC also organise various activities throughout the year, including:

• Pizza Day
• Talent Quest
• Family Feud (c. 2019)
• Years 7–10 Scavenger Hunt

There has been a reintroduced house system, consisting of 6 houses. These correlate with the six Roll Call classes and are named, Williams, Turner, McMullen, MacKinnon, Broome and Gotto. The House Captains are elected from Years 10 and 12. The roll call classes are arranged according to the students' surnames. Students compete together in their houses at the Athletics carnivals, Cross country carnivals, and Swimming carnivals. The winning house is the one with the most points gathered from participating and placing in the top 3 in various carnival events, and receives a sausage sizzle at the end of the year.

St George Girls High School is considered to be the female counterpart or 'sister school' of Sydney Technical High School, and often engages in Student Representative Council activities, as well as Combined Parents & Citizens meetings.[4]

The school has a relationship with Nanzan High School in Japan, with a two-week exchange program in place.[26]

Alumni are referred to as Old Boys. Alumni are part of the "STHS Old Boys Union".

Aviation

• Sir Charles Kingsford Smith – pioneering aviator

Entertainment and the arts

• Trevor Ashley – entertainer
• Carey Beebe – harpsichord maker and technician[27]
• Warren Daly OAM – drummer, co-founder Daly-Wilson Big Band[28]
• Alex Dimitriades – actor
• Stephen Edgar – poet
• Les Gock – musician[29]
• Mark Isaacs – classical and jazz pianist, composer[30]
• Clive James – author, critic, broadcaster, poet and translator[31]
• Patrick Matthews – musician
• Leo McKern – actor[32]
• Leonardo Nam – actor
• William Pidgeon – artist and Archibald Prize winner
• Imants Tillers – artist and Class of 1968
• Mike Tomalaris – journalist, TV presenter

Politics, religion and law

• Cecil Abbott AO, QPM – Commissioner of the New South Wales Police (1981–1984)
• Sir Robert Askin – Premier of New South Wales[33]
• Francis Oag Hulme-Moir – 7th Bishop of Nelson
• Stephen Loosley – Former ALP Senator[34]
• Sir John Leslie Carrick – Former NSW Liberal Senator[35]
• Bruce Kenneth Childs – Former NSW Labor Senator[36]
• Scott Farlow – Current Member of the Legislative Council in NSW[37]
• Wes Davoren – Former Labor MP for New South Wales[38]
• Bruce McDonald – former Leader of the Opposition of New South Wales (1981)
• Graham Richardson – former Senator (ALP) (1983–1994); Environment Minister (1987–1993); Health Minister (1992) during Bob Hawke's term of office as Prime Minister.[39]
• Eugene Kamenka – political philosopher and Marxist scholar.[40]

Sport

• Dick Crealy – Grand Slam-winning tennis player and Australia Davis Cup team member
• Reg Gasnier – Rugby league player
• John Konrads – Olympic gold-medallist swimmer and businessman
• Greg Pierce – Rugby League Australian Captain

Others

• Saul Griffith – Australian-American inventor
• Max Howell – educator and rugby union player
• Victor Trikojus - professor of biochemistry

• Rod Carter – former AFL player with Fitzroy and South Melbourne/Sydney
• Kelver Hartley – modern languages and classics teacher (1948–55)
• Patrick Matthews – musician

• List of government schools in New South Wales
• List of selective high schools in New South Wales

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sydney Technical High School.

• Official website
• Official Sydney Technical High School FRED Facebook Page
• Official site of STHS FRED digital publications
• Official Site of Tech High Times digital publications
• Class of 1984 web site (includes many documents and photographs to do with Sydney Technical High School from 1979 to 1984).