Benowa State High School

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Benowa State High School
Address
Wikimedia | © OpenStreetMap
Mediterranean Drive, Benowa

Gold Coast
,
Queensland
Coordinates28°00′21″S 153°23′20″E / 28.005743°S 153.388771°E / -28.005743; 153.388771Coordinates: 28°00′21″S 153°23′20″E / 28.005743°S 153.388771°E / -28.005743; 153.388771
Information
School typeIndependent Public
Established1980; 40 years ago
PrincipalMark Rickard
Grades7–12
Colour(s)     Grey, Red, White and Black
Websitebenowashs.eq.edu.au

Benowa State High School (BSHS) is an independent, co-educational school, founded in 1980,located on the Gold Coast, Australia, .[1] It is part of the Council of International Schools (CIS) and hosts exchange students from Asia, America, Africa and Europe.[2][3] It started a French Immersion program in 1985 and was the first school to offer Marine Biology as a subject in the Queensland curriculum.[citation needed] In 2015, they commenced their Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) based educational program.

Academic[]

Benowa's French Immersion programme is a four-year course offered in years 7 to 10, where students are taught four of their six subjects in French: these being mathematics, French, society & environment and science. The school has recorded 11 OP1s (Overall Position) each year from 2004 to 2007, which ranks it ahead of all other secondary schools in the Gold Coast region.[citation needed][4]

Another stream in Benowa SHS is the Waldorf education Programme which aims to develop independent and "natural" learning in students, who learn at their own pace. Unlike most state schools, but like some private schools, Benowa State High School groups year 10–12 as senior school, and offers Mathematics C as a subject to the year 10 students.

Another offered stream from Benowa is the STEM Learning programme which aims students to excel in the areas of Science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It is a four-year program from years 7–10 which ends with an excursion to the NASA launch site at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Each and every STEM student receives extra lessons in those categories and various opportunities including 3D printing, Rocket Launching, Coding, and more.

Benowa is known for having a large range of subjects. It has over 30 subjects which students can choose in years 10, 11 and 12.

Along with Benowa holding ATAR classes, TAFE courses and apprenticeships, Benowa is one of 76 schools in Australia to offer the International Baccalaureate program.[5] The course is offered through grade 10, 11 and 12 and offers a wide range of subjects to choose from.

Sports[]

Benowa is a constant achiever at volleyball tournaments, placing highly in most of the competitions they enter, and some students have entered the national level of competition in the event. Students also achieve high in many other sports, including tennis, swimming, athletics and touch. The school also has an athletics-inclined stream called 'Sports Excellence' which is aimed at year 7, 8 and 9 students who wish to pursue a career in athletics. It has produced athletes who have gone on to represent both state and country in a variety of sports such as: swimming, volleyball, rugby, Australian rules football, football and track & field.[citation needed]

Arts[]

Benowa has created an advanced curriculum in the arts, ranging from music to drama to the visual arts. To accompany these subjects is a 'Music Excellence' program which allows students to develop their own musical talent. Art workshops are offered to complement formal classes.[6][7][8][9][10]

Use of technology[]

Benowa has projectors and speakers in all classrooms, allowing students to have an enhanced learning experience. Benowa has a complex network system called BYOX, a Bring Your Own Device Program which allows students to access documents and files uploaded by their teachers via a G: Drive as well as function as a wifi network. Teachers are encouraged to use applications such as OneNote and Education Perfect for classwork, and sites such as TurnItIn are used for assessment.

House system[]

Benowa State High School puts students into eight different houses when they start the school. Students can gain points for their house during sporting events, public speaking and drama competitions, and more. As of January 2018, students are also placed into groups called House Groups which have 4 students from each level in the same group. Each house has 10 groups, and students will no longer have Care classes, but now attend House groups in the morning. Example: the ninth group of Florey will be FLR 09 and will appear as such on timetables and notes. The eight houses, named after Australian Pioneers are:

Current House System in Benowa SHS (2018)
House Name Colour Mascot Australian Based Pioneer
Bandler   Red Dragon Faith Bandler- Indigenous and Civil Rights Activist
Florey   Purple Phoenix Howard Florey- Nobel Prize winning Pharmacologist involved in the development of Penicillin
Hinkler   Pink Flamingo Herbert Hinkler- Aviator and Inventor, first to fly solo from England to Australia and across the Southern Atlantic Ocean
Hollows   Orange Owl Fred Hollows- Ophthalmologist and Humanitarian involved in restoring thousands of Australian's eyesight
Laver   Blue Lion Rod Laver- Tennis Player
Murdoch   Green Minotaur Elisabeth Murdoch- Philanthropist
Wake   Aqua Wolverine Nancy Wake- Nurse, Journalist, Special Operations Executive and Intelligence Officer for the French in WWII
Wright   Yellow Griffin Judith Wright- Award winning Poet, environmentalist and Indigenous land rights activist

Something to make note of is that predating 2018 the original 4 homesteads (Carnarvon, Lindemann, Moreton and Girraween) had a system in which siblings were in the same homestead. This is no longer the case.

Notable alumni[]

Entertainment[]

Sport[]

Name Sport Top Level Team/Affiliation
Daniel Merrett[13] Australian rules football Brisbane
Brent Renouf[14] Australian rules football Hawthorn, Port Adelaide
Dayne Zorko[15] Australian rules football Brisbane

References[]

  1. ^ "Opening and closing dates of Queensland Schools". Queensland Government. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  2. ^ Benowa State High School
  3. ^ Prospectus Archived 29 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ http://media01.couriermail.com.au/multimedia/2007/04/op/op.htm
  5. ^ "Benowa State High School". International Baccalaureate®. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  6. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 15 May 2008. Retrieved 28 March 2008.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 12 September 2007. Retrieved 7 January 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. ^ education.qld.gov.au/schools/catchment/benowa-ss.html
  9. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 19 July 2008. Retrieved 7 January 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. ^ http://www.mltaq.asn.au/goldcoast/speech%20comp/2007/Speech%20contest%20info/French_2007_Lrg_SECONDARY_SCHOOLS.doc
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b "Alumni". benowashs.eq.edu.au. Benowa State High School. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  12. ^ Rogers, Jenny (3 October 2012). "Pimpama estate uses star power". The Gold Coast Bulletin. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  13. ^ Blucher, Peter (24 August 2016). "Dan Merrett: 200 over and out". AFL Queensland. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  14. ^ "Brent Renouf makes 22 Queenslanders". AFL Queensland. 13 June 2008. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  15. ^ Merrett, Daniel. "In the bottle – the Great Zorko". AFL Players. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
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