St Ives High School is one of this state's outstanding co-educational comprehensive, situated in leafy and spacious grounds on the upper north shore of Sydney. The school was established in 1964 and is one of only 16 in NSW to have a support unit (hearing).
The school's motto, 'Optima Optime', loosely translates to 'the best things in the best possible ways', and underpins the school's operation. The school emphasises the development of a well-rounded individual through an innovative curriculum, with leading edge technology, discovering, nurturing and developing student potential.
The school possesses high quality resources, and enjoys a reputation for academic and sporting achievement, participation in cultural activities, and holds high expectations of student excellence and intercultural understanding.
St Ives High School has a proud tradition of excellence in curricular and extra-curricular activities. Within our academic curriculum, students are offered a wide range of subjects across all key-learning areas. Special programs are offered for those from non-English speaking backgrounds, those with learning difficulties and physical disabilities.
Our school has a well-deserved reputation for academic and sporting excellence and is consistently a high performing comprehensive high school, which is evidenced in NAPLAN, School Certificate and HSC results that are demonstrably above State average in all areas. We were the first government high school in the state to establish a specially selected accelerated (High Potential Gifted and Talented) Year 7 class in 1993. This successful programme has enabled a number of students to accelerate and complete their Record of School Achievement (RoSA) and certain HSC subjects.
Our teaching and support staff's expertise is regularly called upon for School Certificate and Higher School Certificate marking, curriculum advice and regional workshops. Excellent technology resources, including 22 interactive whiteboards, DER laptop program and wireless computer network, support quality learning.
Students at St Ives High School are encouraged to be actively engaged within the wider school community and are constantly provided with opportunities for learning outside the classroom. In 2010, these included overseas excursions to Japan, London and Paris.
