Mount Gravatt State High School Archives

Mount Gravatt State High School Wins 2022 WasteSMART Schools Award

Mount Gravatt State High School has been recognised at Brisbane’s 2022 WasteSMART Awards for its long-term commitment to waste prevention.

Read: Mt Gravatt State School Receives Grant For New Greenhouse

The school won this year’s WasteSMART People’s Choice Award, which is voted on by the public, based on all the finalists shortlisted by the judges across all categories; and the WasteSMART Schools Award sponsored by Containers for Change.

WasteSMART Schools Award is given to schools to encourage and recognise implemented environmental initiatives in a school that has a focus on litter reduction, waste management and education.

Photo credit: Mount Gravatt State High School/Facebook

Mount Gravatt shared in more than $4,000 in prizes awarded by the program.

About the WasteSMART Brisbane Awards

WasteSMART Brisbane Awards was developed by Brisbane City Council as a way of recognising individuals and groups going above and beyond to help make Brisbane a clean, green and sustainable city.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner congratulated everyone who won this year’s award across all nine categories.

“We received a record 397 nominations this year, which shows our community’s incredible efforts in minimising waste and reducing items going to landfill,” said Cr Schrinner.

Mount Gravatt State High School’s ‘green culture’

The school has an Eco club which meets every Thursday to undertake a range of projects to improve student environmental outcomes.

Members of the Eco club tend to the vegetable gardens, remove weeds, and clean up environmental green zones. They also help in establishing chill out zones and improving students’ mental health through developing environmental skills and appreciation of their environmental areas.

In addition to this they also recycle throughout the school and seek to educate and improve environmental outcomes both in and out of the classroom.

Read: Upper Mount Gravatt State School: New Building Nears Completion

Every year, the school holds a National Tree Day. In July 2022, students helped plant over 200 native seedlings, donated by Mount Gravatt Environment Group and Bunnings Warehouse.

Mount Gravatt State High School Tops its own Record

With the release of the 2018 Year 12 Outcomes report, Mount Gravatt State High School has again topped its own record by achieving its best ever OP result, as four of its graduating Year 12 students landed on the list of OP1 achievers.

Year 12 Outcomes 2018 for Mt Gravatt State High School

*Photo Credit: Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority / qcaa.qld.edu.au*

Mount Gravatt State High School is one of the top schools in Brisbane as far as 2018 OP results. Data released from Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority show that there are 29 students from Mount Gravatt State High School who achieved OP1-5 or 23.20 percent of the 125 OP-eligible students. This OP 1-5 result marks an 8.9 percentage-point improvement from 2012 which was at 14.30 percent, according to Better Education website.

Better Education School Trend 2012 – 2018 for Mount Gravatt State High

*Photo Credit: Better Education / bettereducation.com.au*

Better Education OP/IBD School Ranking – 2018

Also, apart from achieving 100% QCE, the state school announced that their 2018 graduates completed Certificate II, III and IV courses and school based apprenticeships, among other academic highlights. The school also congratulated its elite OP1 achievers: Aidan Demmers, Lauren Ockendon, Jayden Webster, and Rebecca Gong.

Introduced in 1992, OP or Overall Position, is the statewide rank based on a student’s overall achievement in Authority subjects and is used for tertiary entrance purposes. OP measures a student’s performance as compared to other OP-eligible students, on a scale from 1 to 25 with 1 as the highest and 25 as the lowest.

Mount Gravatt State High to Build New Classrooms to be 2020 Ready

A new two-storey secondary learning centre with additional classrooms will be built at Mount Gravatt State High School as part of the ‘2020 Ready’ program of the State Government.

The Queensland Government is allocating $250 million for the 2020 Ready initiative, which it says will allow schools across the state to accommodate students joining high school in 2020 and beyond.

Joe Kelly, MP for Greenslopes, said that the funding would bring world-class education to students in the future.

“Our Government’s $250 million boost will ensure schools across Queensland can accommodate the additional students expected in our high schools in 2020 and into the future,” Mr Kelly said.

Education Minister Grace Grace said the program is intended to prepare the schools for the expected 17,000 new students in 2020.

The minister explained that from the present time until 2020, the state’s secondary schools are still cushioned from the impact of having six full year levels of students. However, the situation is set to change come 2020.

“With the original prep students set to graduate from high school at the end of 2019, we will have – for the very first time – six full year levels of students in Queensland secondary schools from 2020,” the minister said.

“This new $250 million investment for additional classrooms will prepare those schools identified as requiring additional capacity for the additional students expected in 2020.”

Mount Gravatt School Proves Itself Worthy

What do these high achievers have in common? Erika Yamasaki, weightlifting champion and holder of 23 Queensland, 15 Australian, and one Oceania record. Ross Clark, award-winning poet and recipient of the Centenary Medal. Dean Felton, senior journalist and presenter at Melbourne’s Seven Network.

They are all alumni of Mount Gravatt State High School, who have taken to heart the school’s motto, “Digna Petamus”, and gone on to “seek worthy things”.

A co-educational public secondary school along Loveburn Street with a strong tradition for academic excellence and well-rounded foundation for its graduates, Mount Gravatt State High School ranks ninth in Better Education Australia’s list of the Top Ten Public High Schools for 2016. Better Education Australia’s rankings consider English, Math and overall academic performance. Mount Gravatt State High School has consistently appeared in their Top Ten rankings for public high schools since 2010.

With a population of 1,500 students, the school is actively involved in promoting digital education as part of Queensland’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Industry Project. Currently one of six schools that have been chosen as “Gateway Schools to the ICT Industry”, Mount Gravatt State High School has a curriculum that promotes learning development through the use of appropriate technology in the school setting.

Also, as a Registered Training Organisation under the Australian Qualification Framework, the school is able to issue, deliver and assess associated training and qualifications in vocational education.

Over recent years, the Mount Gravatt area has seen high demand on real estate rentals and sales. Data from realestate.com.au shows a compound annual growth rate of 4.8%, when one considers that the median house sales price for houses in the area increased by 26.3% compared to the same period five years ago.

With access to better schools being one of the main motivations of people who are looking to buy property, proximity to a good public school with a strong, consistent record of excellence, such as Mount Gravatt State High School, certainly looks to boost the Mount Gravatt area’s growth prospects even more.

Photo from YouTube.