Brisbane Water Secondary College is a two-campus college situated on the Woy Woy peninsula of the Central Coast. The college aims to create, at each campus, an age-appropriate environment, in which students’ talents and skills can be developed to the fullest. The Middle School Campus at Umina (Years 7 to 9) is a team-oriented environment, which smooths transition of students from primary school to high school, ensures the development of sound basics and learning, leadership, and team skills, and prepares students well for the certificate years at the Senior Campus. The Senior Campus at Woy Woy (Years 10 to 12) aims to provide a more adult, flexible learning environment with maximum curriculum choice, age-appropriate teaching, and thorough mentor support.
Facilities: Both campuses have undergone major capital works upgrades to provide specialist facilities for students. These include performance spaces, special education facilities, a careers centre, senior canteen, and outdoor hard courts. Both campuses are fully cabled for technology and the senior campus has a state-of-the-art technology/business centre for teaching of VET courses. The Middle school campus has a 4.85-hectare farm for teaching agriculture from Years 7 to 12.
Electives Years 7 to 10: Students are assured of being able to study the elective pattern of their choice due to a broad range of electives offered. Courses include Aboriginal Studies, Commerce, French, Japanese, Information Software and Technology, Agriculture, Design and Technology, Electronics, Food Technology, Metal and Wood Technology, Textiles Technology, Ceramics, Dance, Drama, Graphic Design, Music, Visual Arts, Photography, Bushcraft and Recreation Studies.
Electives Years 11 and 12: Includes more than 45 NSW Board of Studies courses, including all vocational education frameworks, a wide range of TAFE courses, and access to three university courses, which can be studied as part of the HSC and gain credit for future university study.
Sport: The college enters teams in most CHS knockout sports. Recent successes have been in rugby, rugby league, touch football, soccer, lawn bowls, baseball and swimming.
Extracurricular activities: The college provides a broad range of campus and whole college extracurricular activities for students. Performance is a strong focus of the college through choir, rock band, major musical production, dance and debating. The college has recorded a CD each year for inclusion in the past three national Kool Skools Awards and has won major awards each time. The cattle club exhibits beef cattle with great success at agricultural shows including Dubbo, Brisbane and the Sydney Royal.
Welfare and personal development: The Middle school campus has a house-based welfare system linked to teaching teams, ensuring that students quickly come to know each other and their teachers. The Senior Campus has a strong student mentor program, which assists students to cope with the demands of senior study.
Special features: The College is the sole provider of government education on the Peninsula and receives strong support from its partner primary schools and community. In 2004, the college launched academies in sport (rugby league, soccer and swimming) and performing arts (rock music, dance and vocal) where students will receive high level specialist coaching and training as part of their HSC studies and will graduate from the College with accreditation in a range of related fields.