School History

History

Our school has a proud history of achievement and success which dates back to its beginnings in 1962.

60th Anniversary

A ride through the years - key facts

1960s
  • 1962 – Inaugural P&C meeting held in September; Parents voted unanimously that the name Churchlands be retained as the name of the School
  • 1963 – School transferred to its present site at Churchlands
  • 1963 – School crest designed

    1963 – Students attended Perry Lakes Stadium for the Queen’s visit

    • 1964 – First school magazine “Retrospect”
    • 1964 – First school production “Trial by Jury”
    • 1964 – Swimming Carnival first win
    • 1966 – 43 Commonwealth Scholarships
    • 1967 – Churchlands became a 5-year Senior High School
    • 1968 – Athletics Carnival first win
    • 1968 – Inaugural "Prefects Ball"
    1970s
    • 1970 – Storm destroyed many trees in front of the school
    • 1971 – New school library building commenced
    • 1971 – Language laboratory established
    • 1972 – Commonwealth Library opened
    • 1972 – Swimming pool opened - cost $37,210
    • 1972 – Prefect system replaced by Student Council
    • 1972 – “Music School” commenced at Churchlands SHS - 35 gifted music students
    • 1974 – Gymnasium / Hall opened
    • 1974 – Pre-vocational centre opened
    • 1974 – Michael Fitzpatrick awarded a Rhodes Scholarship
    • 1975 – New school windcheater designed
    • 1975 – First year of work experience scheme
    • 1977 – Introduction of Certificate of Secondary Education
    • 1977 – Medical Centre opened
    1980s
    • 1980 – First computer purchased
    • 1980 – First graduation ceremony
    • 1981 – Concert band performed for Royal visitors Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh
    • 1981 – 40-hour famine raised $2100
    • 1982 – South Pacific Games in Brisbane – 7 students represented WA
    • 1982 – Music Tour to Tasmania
    • 1983 – International Mathematical Olympiad in Paris – Australia represented by Andrew Kepert who gained a bronze medal
    • 1984 – Olympic Games – 6 past students represented Australia
    • 1985 – New navy blue Upper School jumper
    • 1985 – Music students travelled to Geneva for the 5th World Youth Music Festival. Concert Band won 2nd place
    • 1986 – Churchlands SHS Jubilee Celebrations 11-17th August
    • 1986 – Paul Latham Auditorium was opened
    • 1986 – Stephen Jones won medals at the World Youth Disabled Games
    • 1988 – 100 music students travelled to Singapore to participate in the
      World Festival of Art
    • 1989 – Exchange visits with Japanese sister school Akashi Nishi
    • 1989 – Howard Yip won the Beazley Medal
    1990s
    • 1992 – Jonathon Paget won the Beazley Medal
    • 1992 – Year 8 Football team undefeated all season
    • 1993 – Library plans for automation developed
    • 1994 – 95 music students tour Los Angeles, New Orleans and Florida
    • 1995 – CSHS on the web
    • 1996 – 10th Anniversary of Churchlands SHS and Akashi Nishi as sister schools
    • 1997 – In May, a fire destroyed much of the school
    • 1998 – Five trees planted at the corner of Hale Road and Pearson Street, 1st anniversary of fire
    • 1998 – Builders move onto school site for start of rebuilding programme
    • 1999 – Lisa Carter nominated to participate in Pierre de Coubertin Awards (made the final 20)
    2000s
    • 2000 – Exchange programme with French sister school, College Thiers
    • 2003 – Music Tour 124 students to London and Wales
    • 2004 – Beazley Medal Runner Up - Caroline Wong
    • 2005 – Carnivals; Swimming 1st place and Athletics 3rd place
    • 2007 – One million pool refurbishment programme completed
    • 2008 – Beazlely Medal Runner up; Quan Lau
    • 2009 – Beazley Medal Winner; Hayley Anderson (first public high school student to win the coveted medal in more than ten years then)
    2010s
    • 2010 - Commence of the Concert Hall construction
    • 2011 - Became an Independent Public School and established a School Board
    • 2012 - Celebrated its 50 years anniversary and the building of the 500 seat Concert Hall was completed
    • 2013 - Maintained its top 20 position in the academic league tables for the 10th consecutive year
    • 2014 - Trialled a full 'Bring your own device (BYOD)' approach of laptop program
    • 2014 - Churchlands Senior High School Foundation was incorporated in 2014 to support and enrich the school and its students
    • 2015 - First year of introducing Year 7 students into Churchlands SHS with 427 enrolments
    • 2016 - Enrolments gres to almost 2500 making Churchlands SHS the largest high school in Western Australia
    • 2017 - Newly constructed Sports Hall was handed over for use in mid-February
    • 2017 - For the first time, hosted a "Back to School" event to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of students to become members of "Churchlands Gold Class" - Class of 1967 was the first cohort to be invited.
    • 2018 - Won the All Schools Basketball competition for the first time
    • 2019 - Year 12 Kimberley Clifton became the first Churchlands SHS student to have attained the Gold Award of The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award
    2020s
    • 2020 - 1600 solar panels have been lifted on to the roofs of four major buildings as part of the Churchlands Foundation's 'Solar Power to Scholarships Project'
    • 2021 - Four Churchlands alumni represented Australia in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (was held in 2021 due to COVID-19 pandamic outbreak in 2020)
    • 2022 - Marks the 60th Anniversary of Churchlands SHS and 50th Anniversary of Churchlands Music Program.
    • 2022 - Churchlands SHS Concert Hall was named 'Taryn Fiebig Concert Hall'. Taryn was an internationally acclaimed saprano, member of the Class of 1989 GATE Music student, Head Girl and Helpmann Award-winning principal soprano at Opera Australia. (Sadly she passed away in 2021 after battling cancer.)
    • 2022 - Based on student feedback, beginning 2023, the school moved away from the traditional Head Boy/Head Girl. They are known as School Captains.
    • 2022 - New Churchlands SHS song was unveiled. Audio| Lyrics
    • 2023 - First Churchlands SHS student to receive the UWA Fogarty Foundation Scholarship: Shreeya Naroth
    Document Name Type Size
    Principals pdf0.1MB
    School Captains pdf0.16MB
    Head Boy and Head Girl (1962-2022) pdf0.14MB
    DUX of the Year pdf0.11MB