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James Ruse Agricultural High School is an agricultural and selective co-educational public high school in Carlingford, New South Wales, Australia.

The school is especially noted for its excellent academic prowess and competitiveness, as well as the high percentage of its students entering universities. In recent years it has been the top-performing school in New South Wales in the Higher School Certificate, ranking first in number of merit list mentions for the past twelve consecutive years and having a median UAI of 99.55 among the 173 Year 12 students in 2004. Subsequently, in 2005 and 2006 the median UAI was 99.20.

History

The school commenced as an annex of Carlingford District Rural School in 1956 with Charles Mullavey as the Master in Charge. By the start of 1958 the school was independent of Carlingford District Rural School and named the "Carlingford Junior Agricultural High School". In 1959 the name was changed to "Carlingford Agricultural High School". The first Headmaster, James C. Hoskin, and his Deputy Headmaster, Charles Mullavey, were appointed at the start of 1959. Later that year, the name was changed again - this time to "James Ruse Agricultural High School". The first group of students to sit for the Leaving Certificate did so in 1961. James Ruse AHS was originally a boys only school, but gradually became co-educational after an initial intake of 24 female students into year 11 in 1977.

James Hoskin

When Hoskin was studying Agricultural History in University, he had been interested in James Ruse due to his significance to the development of modern agriculture in Australia, and also because "both Ruse and I [Hoskin] are of Cornish extraction". Mr Hoskin questioned the name of the school (Carlingford Agricultural High School) as he believed that it was inappropriate. The school was not serving just the Carlingford area and in fact there were only a small number of students from Carlingford. In April 1959, Mr. Hoskin put forward a proposal to the then New South Wales Department of Education outlining two new names for the school: Sydney Agricultural High School and Ruse Agricultural High School; eventually, the Department agreed to a modification of the latter.

Known affectionately as 'The Boss', Hoskin's name became synonymous with the school, as he served as headmaster until his retirement at age of 65 in 1978. During this time, the school became established as one of the few public schools that were selective; initially because of its agricultural speciality, then for its reputation as a quality school. For his efforts, Hoskin was awarded the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977 and the Order of Australia for Services to Education in 1990. Hoskin's namesake at the school is the J.C. Hoskin Performing Arts Centre (formerly the J.C. Hoskin Auditorium), the school's main assembly hall.

1990s – present

Template:HSC Merit List Mentions Since the mid-90s, James Ruse has undergone an extensive building works program funded by both parents of students and the State and Federal Governments. 1997 saw the completion of Stage 1 of the building program encompassing a new Library block and English classrooms which replaced the old Anderson building, a new block containing Art and HSIE classrooms, the integration of the existing Powe block and the former library into a science block, and the installation of an elevator in the Perrau block to improve wheelchair accessibility.

Stage 2 of the program began in 2000, with the first building—a 180-seat lecture theatre named the M.A. Canty Lecture Theatre after a long serving teacher and deputy principal—completed in early 2001. The Schofield block became part of the program in 2002 after the building was damaged by arson; during the next two years the old Technology Block and the Francis block were demolished due to a white ant infestation, with both blocks being rebuilt and refurnished in 2004. The Schofield Block became the Senior Common Room and English/Drama staffroom, and the Francis block the new canteen, replacing the demountable canteen on the oval. The industrial arts workshops from the old Francis block, as well as PE, Agriculture and LOTE classes, which had previously used the demountables, were also relocated that same year to the newly built Technology Block. This finally allowed the last of the school's demountable classrooms to be removed, allowing for full recreational use of the oval.

The school is currently in a period of transition, with the final stage of the building works underway and with the departure of long-serving principal Michael Quinlan, retiring in 2006 after having been principal since 1992. The final stage of the building works program is the Gymnasium, on which work will begin with the raising of $900,000 from the school community in the Gymnasium fund, and a $450,000 contribution from the NSW State Government.

Michael Quinlan's replacement as principal, Larissa Treskin, formally took up her position on March 212007.

Mission and vision

The school's mission statement is "James Ruse Agricultural High School seeks to provide a friendly, caring and challenging educational environment in which each student is encouraged towards self-development, concern for others and the cooperative pursuit of excellence", with the school's motto being "Gesta non Verba" (translation: "actions not words"). It has also recently released its Vision 2010 statement, in which it aims to promote the growth and development of educational excellence, a dynamic curriculum, new Information and Communication Technologies, a strong student leadership, welfare and community network, as well as to promote the school itself as a leader in public education.

Campus

The school is situated on the corner of Baker Street and Felton Road in Carlingford, a suburb of western Sydney. Its main entrance is located on the southwest corner of the school, with a number of smaller entrances on its southern and western boundaries. The campus is focused on a main quadrangle, with another cluster of buildings centered around a smaller quadrangle, and an oval, sporting facilities and the farm to the north of these.

File:JRAHS Barrengarry House.jpg

Barrengarry House, the administration block

Barrengarry House

Barrengarry House, the school's main administration block is located near the southwest entrance of the school, adjoining the Senior Common Room and the Library and housing the offices of the principal, deputy prinicpals, head teacher of administration and the administration staff on the lower floor, and the counsellor's office, uniform shop and function rooms on the upper floor. It was originally the home and property of the Felton family, and was built in 1885, with the architect thought to have been Charles Slatyer. The block adjoins a roadway of the same name, both of which are named after the Feltons' estate.

J.C. Hoskin Performing Arts Centre

More commonly known as the "school hall", the J.C. Hoskin Performing Arts Centre, named after the school's founding principal (see history above), is used as a multi-purpose facility. Along with holding important school assemblies, concerts and the school musical, the hall is also used for examinations (primarily government and senior exams) and PE classes- although this function will be largely removed with the construction of the proposed gymnasium.

File:JRAHS Technology Wing.jpg

Exterior of the Technology Block, opened in 2004

Library Block

The Library Block (or "L-Block") was built in 1997 and opened by then NSW Premier Bob Carr as part of the school's building works program, to provide a larger, and more modern and well-equipped library to replace the smaller Shearman Block (now the school's Music block). The block is a two-storey building, with the library occupying the top floor and English classrooms and offices on the bottom floor. It has also recently become the focal point of the school's new Knitting Club, a popular school organisation with over 130 students and teachers involved that has most notably participated in the 'Wrap With Love' charity project to provide blankets for the needy overseas and in Australia.

Technology Wing

The Technology Wing (or "T-Block") is the most recent addition to the school campus along with the new Canteen Block, with construction finished in 2005. The wing is a two-storey building with a mix of classrooms and modern computer labs, and overlooks the farm on its northern side. It was officially opened in early September by Senator for New South Wales Marise Payne and the State Member for Parramatta Tanya Gadiel.

Students

There are currently 845 students enrolled at James Ruse in Years 7 through to 12. James Ruse is an academically selective high school; admission to James Ruse in Year 7 is by a government examination, the Selective High Schools Test, which is open to all Year 6 students in NSW. A small number of students from other high schools are accepted into years 8 to 11, with application made directly to the school; however, no year 11 students from other schools are accepted into James Ruse in the final year (year 12). Of the student population, over 90% are from a non-English-speaking background, predominantly Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean language groups, as well as a substantial minority of Indian and Sri Lankan descent.

Much of the attractiveness of James Ruse to many students comes from the school's ability to cater for their academic talents and provide a scholastic environment in which they can thrive.

The 120 students entering Year 7 are split into four classes of 30 students each, each of which also determine the student's placement into one of the sporting houses - Jones, Rassack, Mullavey and Toft. As the school receives a steady intake of students for each successive year from Year 9 onwards, the form year is split into five classes in Year 9, and six classes in Year 11.

James Ruse has a prefect body elected from the Year 11 students by students and teachers to promote student welfare and organise popular social and sporting events, with some of the most significant of these being Valentine's Day, Daffodil Day, Games Day and 3-on-3 soccer and basketball. Prefects also conduct the majority of regular School Assemblies as well as the school's annual Presentation Night. Their terms are served partially concurrently with their Year 12 colleagues.

Student Representative Council (SRC)

The school's Student Representative Council was inaugurated in 1960, making it among the first high schools in New South Wales to have such a body. Each year, each roll class elects a Class Captain and Vice-Captain who represent it on the SRC. Larger extracurricular organisations are also entitled to a representative. The SRC as a whole elect a student executive, which consists of a President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary and Minutes Secretary, by a system first inaugurated in 1990. Through the SRC, students have a one-third representation on the seven school steering committees (along with parents and staff), and also play a major role in decision-making processes relating to curriculum, building plans, and resource allocation. It has also played a major part in the formation of the school's 2005 and recently formed 2010 Vision statements, through its role in canvassing the ideas and input of the student body.

Agriculture

The school teaches agriculture as a compulsory subject from years 7 to 10. It was formerly compulsory for senior years, but this was changed with the introduction of a new HSC curriculum by the Board of Studies. However, the school accelerates students in this area so that they may finish the HSC course in Agriculture by the end of Year 11. Agriculture is a very significant part of the school's curriculum, with students undergoing intensive study of the subject both on and off-site, particularly in the junior school, where students study and visit agricultural enterprises both in the Greater Sydney region, with visits to regional dairy and horticultural farming enterprises and an annual Year 7 excursion to the Sydney Royal Easter Show, and in rural NSW, with Year 10 students studying and visiting farms in Bathurst and Gloucester. There is also great involvement in agricultural education and with other agricultural schools, with the school linked with Yanco Agricultural High School and the long-serving Head of Agriculture, Lisle Brown, being the co-author of the Dynamic Agriculture textbook series, which is extensively used in the study of agriculture in Australian schools.

The school leases approximately five hectares of land from the neighbouring electricity sub-station for use in practical agriculture lessons. The farm land is situated north of the general school buildings, extending north to Lynch Close and east to Jenkins Road. The farm is arranged to include a vegetable garden, a classroom, a glasshouse and nursery, a greenhouse, an orchard, experimental plots, an area for field crops and a livestock section, among others. It also contains some riparian land which is currently being monitored and undergoing rehabilitation to its native state by the Streamwatch group (currently working as part of Sydney Water Streamwatch after previously working as part of the now-defunct UPRCT Waterwatch program).

A significant amount of the farm land is set aside for student plots. Part of practical agriculture lessons involves students growing and maintaining their own crops. Mature crops in the students' assigned plots of land are then the students' to take home.

In addition to its use for educational purposes, the farm also supplies a wide variety of agricultural produce including:

• Aquaculture - Silver Perch (previously)
• Cattle - Angus stud, paraded annually at the Castle Hill Show by the Cattle Group
• Sheep - First-cross Ewes & Prime Lambs
• Eggs - Barn and Free-range eggs
• Poultry Meat - Broilers raised and sold onsite, but killed and frozen at Red Lea Blacktown.
• Oranges - Washington Navel
• Peaches - Flordagold and Sherman's Red varieties
• Sweet Corn - Shimmer variety
• James Ruse Gold Rose - A privately crossbred rose variety. The rights were donated to the school in 1999 in celebration of its 40 years of teaching.
• Apiary - Honey sold on-site in 500g jars.
• Macadamia Nuts

Various groups of students have been set up to look after these usually during lunchtime, such as the Poultry Squad and a Weatherwatch group to maintain farm weather records.

In the past, the farm also housed Merino and Border Leicester sheep for wool-shearing, named the Sharlea Sheep. This aspect of the farm was closed down due to spiraling production costs. It was replaced by the Aquaculture venture, which has met with limited success.

Co-curricular activities

A variety of co-curricular and sporting activities are available to students, including:

Cadets Interact Interschool Christian Fellowship (I.S.C.F) Musicals Rural Youth Informatics Anime Club Sport Knitting / Scrapbooking (knit wits) Poultry Squad Weather Watchers Cattle Showing Group Year 11 Drama Production Mentoring Mock Trial

Prefects Student Representative Council (S.R.C.) Peer Support Streamwatch Chess Club Puzzles Club Programming Club Music ensembles (Choir, Stage Band, Senior and Junior Concert Band, Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Drum Core, Woodwind Ensemble, Recorder Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble, Year 9 and 10 Vocal Groups and String Orchestra) Duke Of Edinburgh Award School Knockout Sports Teams Intraschool Public Speaking Inter-school Debating Peer Support Games Club

Interact

The school's Interact club is noted for being the longest established club of its kind in a NSW high school. It is operated by the Rydalmere Rotary Club, with the school's association involved in many projects both inside and outside of the school. Most recently, these have included involvement in charity fundraisers such as the Salvation Army's Red Shield Appeal and Red Nose Day, and the hosting of the Rotary district's Model United Nations Assembly .

Sport

The school's main sports program runs on Wednesday afternoons, during which students participate in either Grade Sport, in which a variety of sporting teams, such as Soccer, Cricket, Basketball, Touch (football) and Netball, compete in inter-school competitions with other public schools in the district, or Recreational Sport, where students unable to play for a Grade Team are involved in activities such as Tennis, Gym and a school-run sports program.

The school also holds annual sporting carnivals, including the Swimming, Cross-Country and Athletics Carnivals, where students can compete for participation in wider regional competitions, from Zone and Area carnivals to the CHS (Combined High Schools) competition for the top school teams and competitors in NSW.

Award scheme

The James Ruse Award Scheme is a system implemented to recognise all-round involvement and participation by students within the school community. The Awards are presented at a formal School Assembly.

There are 8 sections to this Award, and qualifying in 5 categories will earn the student a "Bronze" Award. If the student has already achieved the "Bronze" Award twice, then he or she is eligible to earn "Gold" Awards instead. Students who completely satisfy all 8 categories, are presented with a "Distinction" Award at the school's annual Presentation Night.

The 8 categories are Academic Excellence, School Curriculum Involvement, Inter-school Representation in Sport, Creative Arts, Music Activities, Involvement in School Life, School Service and Outdoor Activities.

In 2005, 20% of the students received an award.

Alumni

Notable James Ruse alumni include:

• Joh Bailey - Celebrity Hairdresser
• Antony Green (1971-77) - ABC Elections Psephologist
• Aravind Adiga (1991-92) - Journalist and author
• Major General Mark Kelly - Land Commander, Australian Army
• Greg Mail - Cricketer - NSW Blues opening batsman
• Andrew Leeds - Former Wallaby
• Dr. Katrina Warren - Television Veterinarian
• Jabba (Jason Davis) - Nova 96.9 Host
• Natalie Bates - Australian cycling gold medalist
• Richard Ings - Chairman: Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority
• Stefan Gregory - Guitarist from the rock band Faker
• Mike McClellan (JR teacher early 1970s) - Singer and Songwriter - "The Song and Dance Man"
• Kate O'Toole (1992-1997) - Journalist for Triple J's Hack
• Scott Farquhar (1992-1997) - Co-founder Atlassian, winner EY Entrepreneur of the year 2006
• Andrew Leigh - ANU Economist
• Colin Osborne - (1971-1977) President, Confederation of Australian Motor Sport
• Kate Fagan - (1985-1990) Folk singer
• Jasmine Yuen-Carrucan - (1988 - 1989) Film Writer and Director

See also

• NSW Government Selective Schools
• List of Government schools in New South Wales
• List of selective high schools in New South Wales

External links

• James Ruse Agricultural High School website
• NSW Department of Education and Training: James Ruse Agricultural High School
• James Ruse Union
• James Ruse Pioneers