The school teaches from Years 7 to 12 and has a current population of 1,793 students.[2] Northcote High has a large music and science program, and has been recognised as a significant leader in the use of learning technologies in the classroom.[3]
Northcote High School was established in 1926 as a co-educational secondary school, one of the first six to be established in Melbourne by the Government of Victoria. The school owes its establishment largely to agitation led by John Cain, Northcote City Councillor and later Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for Jika Jika, with support from the headmasters of nearby Northcote (Helen Street) Primary School and Wales Street Primary School. Cain's repeated efforts to establish a school to provide secondary education for the then predominantly working class suburb of Northcote were finally successful, despite an environment of opposition from conservative politicians and independent principals.
Although Northcote High School was established as a co-educational school, it became a boys' school after 1928 when Preston Girls High School was established. Martin Hansen, the then Chief Inspector of Secondary Education, was convinced high schools should be segregated by gender after a tour of schools in the US and UK.[4] In the 1980s Northcote High School again began to enrol girls in response to community pressure, officially moving to co-education in 1989. In 2018 there were approximately 982 boys and 811 girls enrolled.[5]
Northcote High School first offered a limited Maths and Science Matriculation (final year certificate) in 1946.[4] Principal Alex Sutherland expanded Matriculation in the 1950s to include most subjects on the curriculum. The school continues this tradition today with a very broad range of Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) subjects on offer, including a relatively wide range of humanities subjects.
Northcote High School celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2016.
Northcote High School has a long tradition of developing ties with schools overseas. In the 1930s students at Northcote High School corresponded with a school in Poland, and in the early 1950s the school began the practice of enrolling and hosting students from overseas, partly under the auspices of the Colombo plan.[4] In 1999, a sister school agreement was made with Huaibei Number One High School in Anhui province, China and a second with Tienjin – Binhai Foreign Languages School in 2016. Regular exchanges are conducted with these schools. There is also a reciprocal exchange agreement with a school in France.
In 2015 Northcote High School had one of the state's largest International student programs (ISP) with more than 80 students from all five continents studying in the post-compulsory Years 10–12.[4] In 2017, the school became the first government school to deliver the VCE offshore, in partnership with Chinese schools. In 2018, the school was awarded the Department of Education's first award for Excellence in Global Learning.[7]
^ abcdefghijklmIsrael, Gary; Bereson, Itiel; Bridges, Robert; Gallagher, Hector (2010). The Green, The Purple and the Gold. A History of Northcote High School. Northcote, Victoria, Australia: Northcote High School. ISBN978-0-646-54341-3.[self-published source?]
^ abcdAndrews, John; Towns, Deborah (2017). A Secondary Education for All? A History of State Secondary Schooling in Victoria. North Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: Australian Scholarly Publishing. ISBN978-1-925588-49-1.
^"Northcote High School". Australian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (ACARA). Retrieved 2 May 2024.
Israel, Gary; Bereson, Itiel; Bridges, Robert; Gallagher, Hector (2010). The Green, The Purple and the Gold. A History of Northcote High School. Northcote, Victoria, Australia: Northcote High School. ISBN978-0-646-54341-3.[self-published source?]
Andrews, John; Towns, Deborah (2017). A Secondary Education for All? A History of State Secondary Schooling in Victoria. North Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: Australian Scholarly Publishing. ISBN978-1-925588-49-1.
