Established on its current spacious site in 1967 overlooking Passmore Reserve and near Manly Beach, Mackellar Girls’ Campus aims to develop independent, resourceful and tolerant young women equipped with the personal, social, academic and technological skills necessary for a changing world. In 2005 Mackellar won the Director General’s Award for its outstanding gifted and talented program, which features G&T academic extension classes and G&T programs for talented dancers, musicians, artists and athletes.
Facilities: Dance room, full commercial kitchen, design and technology centre, four language rooms, special needs resource room, digital photography room, careers education centre, simulated office and retail store.
Curriculum Years 7 and 8: Students follow a wide compulsory course in Years 7 and 8 consisting of English, Mathematics, Science, History, Geography, Languages, Technology, Music, Visual Arts, Thinking Skills, Religious Education, PD/H/PE, Sport and Dance.
Electives Years 9 and 10: In addition to the compulsory courses of English, Mathematics, Science, History, Geography, PD/H/PE and sport, the school offers courses in Commerce, Drama, Food Technology, French, German, Information and Software Technology, Japanese, Music, Physical and Sports Studies, Textiles Technology and Visual Arts. Careers Education is taught to all classes in Years 10 and 11.
Electives Years 11 and 12: English (Advanced, Extension 1 and 2, Standard and ESL), Ancient History, Modern History, History Extension, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, Chinese Background, Community and Family Studies, Construction, Dance, Design and Technology, Drama, Earth and Environmental Science, Economics, Engineering, Food Technology, French (Continuers, Extension), Geography, German (Beginners, Continuers, Extension), Information Technology, Italian (Continuers), Japanese (Beginners, Continuers, Extension), Legal Studies, Mathematics (also General and Extension 1 and 2), Music 1, Music 2, PD/H/PE, Physics, Senior Science, Society and Culture, Textiles and Design, Visual Arts. One-unit courses include Photography, Sport, Lifestyle and Recreation. Industry Framework Vocational Education and Training courses include Hospitality, Information Technology, Business Services, Entertainment and Retail Services. An extensive range of TAFE-delivered courses is also offered.
Religious education: There are timetabled lessons in Years 7 to 11.
Sport: Australian Rules football, athletics, basketball, cross-country, hockey, rugby union, soccer, snow skiing, softball, swimming, touch football, volleyball, water polo and many recreational sports. Teams enter regional, state and national competitions. Weekly night competitions in basketball and water polo take place and there are Saturday competitions in hockey and softball. Individual athletes have performed at national, international and Olympic levels.
Extracurricular activities: Dance ensembles, school musical and Shakespeare productions, Rock Eisteddfod, instrumental tuition, school bands, instrumental and choral groups, public speaking, debating, Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme and other competitions (English, Maths, Science, Chemistry, Poetry, Computing Studies, Languages), specialist camps, Streamwatch, city-country and international exchange programs. Mackellar Girls’ has sister schools in Japan and Germany.
Welfare and personal development: Student welfare is monitored through a series of staff committees, and discipline is managed as an integral part of the student welfare program. The school has a prefect and student leader system, SRC, peer support program, individual and group student welfare programs, overseas student exchanges and visits, and a student leadership structure.
Special features: The school enjoys strong parental support through its P&C Association and through parents’ involvement in specific school projects. Support for students includes learning support, ESL, gifted and talented provisions, maths support, lab and talented athlete, dance, music and art programs. The school consistently achieves outstanding results in HSC, SC and NAPLAN. The school has links with Northern Beaches Institute of TAFE, University of Technology Sydney and other campuses of Northern Beaches Secondary College.
Famous ex-students: Layne Beachley, Debbie Watson, Elka Graham.