Westfields Sports High School

Westfields Sports High School (abbreviated as WSHS) is a government-funded co-educational comprehensive and specialist secondary day school, with speciality in sports, located in Fairfield West, a western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Westfields Sports High School
Location
406A Hamilton Road, Fairfield West, Western Sydney, New South Wales Australia
Coordinates	33°52′00″S 150°55′12″E
Information
Type	Government-funded co-educational comprehensive and specialist secondary day school
Motto	Latin: Fortitudo (Courage and Valour)
Established	1963 (1963)
School district	Fairfield; Metropolitan South & West
Educational authority	New South Wales Department of Education
Specialist	Sports school
Principal	Andrew Rogers
Faculty	~115
Teaching staff	112.4 FTE (2018)
Years	7–12
Enrolment	1,662 (2018)
Area	7 hectares (17 acres)
Campus type	Suburban
Colour(s)	Blue and gold
Newspaper	Westnews
Affiliation	NSW Sports High Schools Association
Website	westfields-h.schools.nsw.gov.au

Established in 1963, the school caters for approximately 1,660 students in 2018, from Year 7 to Year 12, of whom three percent identified as Indigenous Australians and 66 percent were from a language background other than English. The school is operated by the NSW Department of Education; the principal is Andrew Rogers.

Westfields Sports High School is a member of the NSW Sports High Schools Association. The school sits on a total area of approximately seven hectares (seventeen acres).

History

A map of Westfields Sports, outlining the positions of each structure around the campus

The school was established in 1963 and opened by Edward Gough Whitlam, later Australian Prime Minister. The school's first Principal was J. P. Quinlan and its first year enrolment had 300 students. Principal Quinlan had originally wanted the school's motto to be ANZAC, but that was not allowed, so he then chose the Latin: Fortitudo, translated as "courage and valour", that remains the school's motto today. The school originally had four sporting houses: Prospect (team colours black and gold); Kanangra (red); Werriwa (blue) and Lansdowne (green).

In 1964 the new student intake was even larger than the previous year, with close to a thousand new students enrolled. Classes were listed alphabetically from A down to J to include them all. That year also saw a massive fire at the school that affected mainly the science block and the technical arts block, rendering many of the classrooms unusable. Classrooms were temporarily offered at the local primary school, Fairfield West Public School on Hamilton Road, until the burnt out classrooms could be restored. Each day for close to a year, around 100 or so new Year 7 students would attend assembly at Westfields, then march up the hill to classrooms at Fairfield West PS. The cause of the fire was never stated, but it was strongly suspected that the expulsion of several students earlier in the year had led to a grudge arson attack, since the words "N R gang" had been painted in large letters across the girls' and boys' toilet blocks.

From the 1960s to the 1980s the school achieved moderate success in sports and was on the rise during the late 1980s. The then principal, Philip Tucker, had wanted to establish Westfields as a school that could provide any sports person who attended, a pathway to the Australian Institute of Sport, and extend their possibilities beyond high school level sporting competition. The school was eventually officially declared a sports school on 24 April 1991.

Notable teachers who taught at the school in the early years of their careers include the artist Mary Shackman and the international concert pianist Michael Leslie.

Since 1997, there has been an annual student and teacher exchange scheme with Kasukabe High School, from Kasukabe, Saitama, Japan.

In 2008, the International Olympic Committee recognised Westfields Sports for their involvement in producing many Australian Olympians with a special Sport and Youth Trophy.

Enrolment policy

The school has a partially selective approach to enrolment, with students needing to either live within the relatively small catchment area of the school, or demonstrate their ability in sport. The school is very well regarded for having produced sporting talent in a number of different areas of sporting endeavour, and has received a range of grants to support its work with sporting talent.

Talented sports program

Sports offered at Westfields Sports High School include athletics, Australian rules football, baseball, basketball, boxing, cricket, dance, equestrian, golf, gymnastics, hockey, netball, rowing, rugby league, rugby union, soccer, softball, swimming, table tennis, tennis, volleyball, and wrestling.

Notable alumni

• Mustafa Amini – soccer player
• Chris Armit – rugby league player
• Terry Antonis – soccer player
• Michael Beauchamp – soccer player
• Leon Bott – rugby league player
• Alex Brosque – soccer player
• Michael Buettner – rugby league player
• Jacob Burns – soccer player
• Anthony Cáceres – soccer player
• Jason Cadee – basketball player
• David Carney – soccer player
• Ellie Carpenter – soccer player
• Connor Chapman – soccer player
• Michael Clarke – cricket player
• Jason Culina – soccer player
• Hannah Darlington – cricket player
• Miloš Degenek – soccer player
• Israel Folau – rugby union, rugby league, and Australian rules football player
• Liam Fulton – rugby league player
• Bryce Gibbs – rugby league player
• Kelly Golebiowski – soccer player
• Blake Green – rugby league player
• Michael Greenfield – rugby league player
• Eric Grothe Jr. – rugby league player
• Dene Halatau – rugby league player
• Amy Harrison – soccer player
• Jarryd Hayne – rugby league player
• Trent Hodkinson – rugby league player
• Justin Horo – rugby league player
• Bernie Ibini-Isei – soccer player
• Princess Ibini-Isei – soccer player
• Jamal Idris – rugby league player
• Krisnan Inu – rugby league player
• Luke Ivanovic – soccer player
• Scott Jamieson – soccer player
• Matthew Jurman – soccer player
• Billie Kay – professional wrestler
• Kris Keating – rugby league player
• Matt Keating – rugby league player
• Alanna Kennedy – soccer player
• Harry Kewell – soccer player
• Usman Khawaja – cricket player
• David Klemmer – rugby league player
• Tim Lafai – rugby league player
• Fabrice Lapierre – athlete
• Issac Luke – rugby league player
• Alfie Mafi – rugby union player
• Sitiveni Mafi – rugby union player
• Kristiana Manu'a – netball player
• Feleti Mateo – rugby league player
• Karl McNichol – rugby league player
• Mark Minichiello – rugby league player
• Aaron Mooy – soccer player
• Moudi Najjar – soccer player
• Ramy Najjarine – soccer player
• Heka Nanai – rugby league player
• Luke O'Donnell – rugby league player
• Helen Petinos – soccer player
• Corey Payne – rugby league player
• Kim Ravaillion – netball player
• Pat Richards – rugby league player
• Peyton Royce – professional wrestler
• Mathew Ryan – soccer player
• Jason Saab – rugby league player
• Dani Samuels – athlete
• Sam Silvera – soccer player
• Lindsay Smith – rugby league player
• Jeremy Su'a – rugby union player
• John Thornell – athlete
• Maria Tran – actress and filmmaker
• Stefano Utoikamanu – rugby league player
• Danny Vukovic – soccer player
• Amorette Wild – netball player
• Tony Williams – rugby league player
• Daniel Wilmering – soccer player
• Josh Schuster – rugby league player
• Lachlan Galvin – rugby league player

See also

• List of government schools in New South Wales: Q–Z
• Selective school (New South Wales)
• Education in Australia