13 Oct 2021
ORARA HIGH SCHOOL CELEBRATES 50 YEARS!
In 1971 Orara High School (originally due to be named Joyce Street High School) was established with only 176 Year 7 students and 7 teachers in a few demountable buildings on the grounds of Coffs Harbour Public School while the construction of the High School took place until its completion in 1972. The name ‘Orara High School’ was proposed because it was thought that a lot of its students would mainly be drawn from the Orara Valley area given the school’s location.
Last term, we celebrated the school's 50th Anniversary with current students and staff by way of a zoom assembly due to the COVID-19 restrictions in place at the time. The assembly was led by our 2021 School Captains; Manea Mousa (Boys Captain), Tiah Johnson (Girls Captain), Hamish Butcher (Boys Vice Captain) and Tanaya Sims (Girls Vice Captain).
Students and staff watched video messages from our Director, Educational Leadership, Jenny Murray, our first female Dux, Cheryl Cooper (nee Holmes) and our 2006 Boys School Captain and Dux, Luke Turner.
Our Captains, Vice Captains and a Year 12 student representative, Eleora Primmer gave speeches about what opportunities Orara High School has given to them and generational connections to the school.
Principal, Malcolm McFarlane addressed the assembly and Sue Kitcher, our Student Administrative Manager received a Lifetime of Service Award for her 40 year contribution to the school.
We finished the celebration with an inspirational slideshow of photos and video messages from former students detailing their amazing achievements since finishing High School largely due to their time at Orara.
We hope to still celebrate this milestone with the community before the end of the year but in the meantime, please enjoy watching the video of the assembly by clicking on the following link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RdmSix7UkANocDErie4HM51r8rWhs2WP/view?usp=sharing
NB:
*If you are only interested in viewing the inspirational slideshow, please fast forward to 36mins and 50 seconds into the video.
*You may have to log into a gmail account to view the video or set up a gmail account if you can't view the video after clicking on the play button.