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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - My name is Lillia Goutner.
00:07 - My name is Lucy McDonald.
00:09 - My name is Sophie Pilgrim.
00:10 - My name is Jacob Spruce,
00:12 and we are the school captains for 2023.
00:14 This year marks the 70th anniversary
00:16 of Belmont High School.
00:17 - Belmont High School is a comprehensive,
00:23 co-educational secondary school,
00:25 located in the eastern suburbs of Lake Macquarie.
00:27 The school was established as the first high school
00:29 outside of Newcastle in 1953,
00:32 and draws its enrolments from the Belmont,
00:33 Belmont North, Floroville, and Jools communities.
00:36 - There are now many second and third generation
00:49 family members attending Belmont High School.
00:51 - I came in '53, and then my four children have been here.
00:54 My granddaughter was in year 12.
00:58 It was a grey pleated uniform with a white blouse.
01:03 When it was the first co-ed,
01:06 oh, that'll be bad, that'll be bad.
01:09 But on the playground, the boys were one side
01:12 and the girls were the other.
01:14 And we were always throwing tennis balls
01:16 across to one another.
01:17 Yeah, no, I've got good memories.
01:21 I loved it.
01:26 I'm pretty proud of the school.
01:29 I think it's always been a lovely school.
01:33 And my three children went here,
01:35 and one of my grandsons went here.
01:38 I had a lot of fun at school.
01:40 I enjoyed it.
01:42 The sports uniform, for one thing,
01:44 they were pretty horrible.
01:45 They were like a sack.
01:47 It was just a bit of material, like a bag,
01:50 and you tied it around with a girdle.
01:55 (upbeat music)
01:57 Well, I don't know about the dusters,
01:59 except I used to go flying through the air.
02:01 One of our teachers, if they come down the hall
02:04 and heard the class talking,
02:08 they would throw dusters at you,
02:09 try and hit you on the head or something, I suppose.
02:13 Missy here is here at Belmont,
02:16 doing really well in year 12.
02:19 She loves the dancing,
02:20 and I hope that she can continue on with that too,
02:24 as well.
02:25 I'm proud of her.
02:26 They were very strict.
02:28 You had to get down and be measured
02:30 to make sure you always had the right length.
02:32 I just heard a tale from my friend.
02:35 They'd pull it down the front,
02:36 that the back was up,
02:38 and that this, in other words, was short.
02:42 But to make it look long when they got measured,
02:46 they'd pull it down.
02:49 But they were very strict with,
02:52 you had to wear the uniform.
02:54 There's heaps of new buildings,
02:56 but I know that this hall was original.
03:00 This was our dance floor.
03:03 They used to have dancers here on a Friday night.
03:19 I was a school assistant at Edinburgh High Science,
03:24 and I can't believe the improvement.
03:27 It's beautiful.
03:29 It's sick.
03:30 I started here at the beginning of term one, 1991.
03:55 It was a really interesting time to start, actually,
03:57 because it was a time, I think, in education
04:00 where there were a lot of possibilities
04:03 and there were a lot of changes.
04:04 We were looking forward to the 21st century.
04:07 And when I arrived, we just stopped calling the quad
04:10 girls' quad and boys' quad for playground duty.
04:13 It was still called that, but it was mixed.
04:14 And we just started modernizing the uniform
04:17 from the old gingham check dresses
04:19 to the more modern skirt and the blue blouse.
04:23 When I first came, it was very much the traditional setup
04:27 that we've got behind us,
04:28 like here at B Block with the buildings.
04:29 And we had the library,
04:30 which was kind of like the most modern building there in 1990.
04:34 We hadn't done a lot of upgrading to the fabric.
04:38 The long weekend of 2004 on a Saturday,
04:41 and all of a sudden the word went around the community,
04:44 the school's burning.
04:45 So a lot of us came down here and had a look,
04:48 but of course we couldn't get in.
04:49 It was quite shocking.
04:50 And that was probably one of the things
04:52 that had the biggest impact.
04:55 The school has recently been transformed
04:57 through a 30 million upgrade completed in 2019
05:01 and continues to develop and grow
05:02 as a modern learning environment.
05:04 I think to the building of the gym was another thing
05:07 that we'd been really pushing for for a long time,
05:10 because we didn't really have an indoor learning space
05:13 that could be flexible for those things.
05:15 Like, as the school grew,
05:18 we outgrew the hall for the assemblies
05:20 and we used to have them in the quad
05:22 and we outgrew the quad for the assembly.
05:23 So having that space that is flexible.
05:26 The school has always strongly supported
05:36 student welfare and wellbeing,
05:38 receiving recognition,
05:40 including significant awards over many years.
05:43 In recent years,
05:44 the Positive Behaviour for Learning Programme
05:47 has focused on developing the qualities of respect,
05:50 responsibility and resilience in our students.
05:54 Wellbeing certainly is an area
05:56 of astronomical growth in schools.
05:58 And we're finding that there's just so many challenges
06:00 in life outside of school.
06:02 Students are really having to juggle with a lot.
06:06 Back 70 years ago,
06:07 I know there would have been still challenges,
06:09 very different ones.
06:10 Sometimes students might talk about various aspects
06:14 of what's going on for them
06:15 and that can help them remain calm
06:18 if they're patting Alfred at that time.
06:21 (upbeat music)
06:23 Art therapy, it's just about capturing students
06:28 in what they're really enjoying doing
06:30 and lets their minds relax.
06:32 And while doing that, conversations can begin
06:35 and those conversations can be really important
06:37 in helping us understand what's going on for the student
06:40 and how we can best help.
06:42 Many of the current school staff members
06:45 were once themselves students at Belmont High School.
06:50 When I was here as a student,
06:51 I was very, very into baseball.
06:53 And so I represented New South Wales
06:55 in the public schools team for two years.
06:57 Belmont High School has a culture of success in sport,
07:00 particularly in the area of trampolining,
07:01 led by Brett Austin,
07:03 teacher and former world champion trampoliner,
07:05 Australian coach and Olympic judge.
07:07 The school has been the combined high school state champions
07:10 since 1994,
07:11 which is believed to be the longest winning streak
07:13 by any school in any CHS sport.
07:15 It started off really
07:18 with the combined high school state championships.
07:20 The first year I came to Belmont High was 1993.
07:23 So I'm into my 31st year here and loving it still.
07:27 But when I first came,
07:28 we got second in the state championship
07:30 and was only beating by two points.
07:33 The following year, we won by about 200 points.
07:35 Our trampoline team has had a really long history.
07:39 We've won 27 consecutive state championships.
07:42 So it's a very long winning streak.
07:44 (upbeat music)
07:47 We've excelled in several other areas.
07:58 I know at times we've had strong water polo teams,
08:00 we've had strong cricket teams,
08:02 we've had some very strong girls football teams,
08:05 and by football, I mean soccer.
08:07 We've done well with our diving.
08:10 In the past, we've had strong teams go away surfing.
08:13 (upbeat music)
08:15 - The school boasts a highly impressive alumni.
08:17 - Outstanding athletes such as soccer, Horst Snyder,
08:21 Olympic swimmer, Lynette Bell,
08:23 famous rugby league players, Paul the Chief Harrigan.
08:27 - And Brett Noddy-Kamali,
08:29 champion sailing brothers, Chris and Darren Nicholson,
08:32 world champion cliff diver, Rianna Nifflin,
08:35 and Olympic trampolinist, Jessica Pickering
08:38 have all been educated at Belmont High School.
08:41 - Former students have also excelled
08:43 in other fields of endeavor,
08:45 including Jane Diplock,
08:46 a barrister for the New South Wales Supreme Court
08:49 and High Court of Australia,
08:51 philosopher and author Russell Blackford,
08:54 principal research fellow in cancer immunotherapies,
08:57 Professor Kristin Radford.
08:59 - Acclaimed photographer, Kurt Sneddon.
09:01 - And High Commissioner to South Africa, David Geyer,
09:04 a son of many ex-students of Belmont High School.
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09:25 (upbeat music)
09:26 - Belmont High is renowned for its strength
09:28 in creative and performing arts.
09:31 Belmont High School was the birthplace of Starstruck,
09:33 now an annual performing arts event
09:35 for the entire Newcastle, Hunter and Central Coast regions,
09:39 with over 3000 student participants.
09:42 - I was the first producer of Starstruck,
09:45 of which Belmont High played an integral part.
09:47 It was so different to Starstruck today,
09:50 because it started out with mainly Belmont High School
09:53 and Broadmeadow,
09:54 and a lot of Belmont staff who basically took major roles.
09:59 - I am feeling very excited to be part of Starstruck
10:03 with my school, Belmont High.
10:05 We are very happy to be here.
10:07 We have had such a great time so far.
10:09 We just could not be more excited.
10:11 Thank you, Belmont High.
10:15 - In music, students have excelled over the years
10:18 in a range of performing groups,
10:20 ensembles and bands winning countless awards and accolades.
10:24 As a result of this dedication and commitment
10:27 to development of students in music
10:29 and the performing arts,
10:31 HSC Music 1 results have been above
10:33 the New South Wales state average for 20 years.
10:37 - Vocal and music programs were up and running.
10:41 The band program at the time was very small though.
10:43 So that was something that I was very passionate
10:46 about wanting to build.
10:47 - This group is called the Belmont Community of School Singers
11:02 known as the Beecoff Singers.
11:04 These students are all our theatre school students
11:06 and they come up to Belmont High School
11:08 every Thursday afternoon to work with me
11:10 for some specialised choral instruction
11:13 and some music tuition as well,
11:15 just to develop their talents.
11:17 - This is probably one of the only schools in the world
11:21 with the unique geographical position
11:23 between a huge lake and the ocean.
11:25 So geographically, we've got a spectacular setting.
11:29 Just standing here at the moment,
11:32 looking around the grounds with all the native trees,
11:35 the native birds, the clean environment
11:38 present a great image to the school.
11:40 - The school logo and motto, Quantum Potaro,
11:44 which translates to, "I will achieve my potential,"
11:47 are enduring continuous connections
11:49 to the 70 year history of the school.
11:51 - We've had incredible support from parents
11:55 and volunteering and yeah, I've seen some amazing things
11:58 over the 20 odd years that I've worked here.
12:00 Belmont is a really tight community.
12:02 This community is very proud of Belmont High.
12:05 It's overseen Belmont for, well, seven decades.
12:09 - These days, Belmont High is very different
12:11 from when it was established 70 years ago.
12:14 Looking forward, the school is focused
12:18 on improving academic growth and achievement
12:21 and student wellbeing and belonging
12:23 with stronger connections to our local community.
12:26 However, Belmont High will continue to honour
12:28 the history of our school
12:30 and celebrate the rich traditions.
12:33 (upbeat music)
12:35 - Whilst the school song hasn't been heard
12:57 in assemblies for over 30 years,
13:00 the words of the song written in the first year
13:02 of our school, over seven decades ago,
13:05 still provide an important message
13:07 for modern day students
13:09 and have now been re-recorded for posterity.
13:12 ♪ The challenge take ♪
13:15 ♪ With all your might ♪
13:16 ♪ Finish your time and finish your life ♪
13:20 ♪ Do you strive to lift your utmost due ♪
13:23 ♪ Quantum Potaro, Quantum Potaro ♪
13:27 ♪ Stay on the field, we'll play the game ♪
13:31 ♪ Do we all lose, it's all the same ♪
13:35 ♪ Come on and do the school your part ♪
13:38 ♪ Play the game and you can part ♪