Broome Senior High School: Best secondary school in WA

Written on the 20 April 2016

Broome Senior High School, with 900 students, was last year named as one of three finalists in the Vocational Education and Training award for schools.

In 2012, the country school was named as WA's best secondary school at the WA Education Awards, beating some of Perth's 'super schools', including Shenton College, Lakeland Senior High School and Yulebrook College.

Mr Amin said the awards had been a result of sustained effort over a decade leading to a turnaround in achievement at the school, which had a significant Indigenous population.

"The school has just worked incredibly hard; it is not rocket science," he said.

"We have a basic philosophy that it is about getting kids across the line at the end of year 12.

"It is not about year seven, eight or nine it is a six-year journey for kids and our job is to prepare them for year 12."

Mr Amin said that in 2015, about half of the school's 97 year 12 graduates continued on to university, a record for the school.

"And we have got about 29 Indigenous graduates, which is the highest number ever," he said.

No need to leave country to get great education

As the only independent public secondary school in Broome, Mr Amin said the school's role within the community was incredibly important.

"Country towns often only have one high school and it is the number one reason why families stay or leave a town," he said.

"Our place as a school I feel is quite important; we have a far bigger impact than just teaching kids.

"It is about ensuring the community stays strong and it is about retaining families."

In 2004, Broome Senior High School had a 45 per cent retention rate in other words, 55 per cent of its students left town.

Now they have an 83 per cent retention rate.

"We run specialist maths for instance [and] this is the third year in a row we have done it," Mr Amin said.

"There are only four students doing it but we feel it is really important that we offer the highest level of courses because it is really important for parents who want to stay in Broome."

Source: ABC Kimberley

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Photo: Broome Senior High School is the largest school in the Kimberley. (ABC Kimberley: Ben Collins)