Since 1961, Blackwood High School has been part of the southern Adelaide landscape. We opened our doors to meet the growing needs of families in Eden Hills and the surrounding areas, and more than 60 years later, we're still here, still evolving, still deeply connected to this community.
Our Beginning
When Blackwood High School opened in 1961, it was built to serve families in southern Adelaide who needed a quality government secondary school close to home. From those early days, we've been co-educational, welcoming young people from across the foothills to learn together. The school quickly became more than just a building where classes happened. It became a hub for the local area, a source of community pride, and a place where generations of families would send their young people.
Growing With Our Community
Over the decades, we've developed strong traditions in academics, sport, and the arts. Our house teams (Ashby, Madigan, Mills, and Russell) carry names that connect us to our history, and students today still compete with the same passion as those early cohorts.
In 1994, we launched our Girls Special Interest Netball program with official backing from Netball South Australia. This program has become one of our defining features, alongside our specialist Australian Rules Football program for girls and boys. These programs attract students from well beyond our zone, and they're taught by teachers who've been here long enough to have coached parents before coaching their young people.
We've also built a reputation in athletics, music, and performing arts. Walk through our corridors and you'll find students preparing for state sporting competitions, rehearsing for musicals, or working on ambitious group projects. That range of opportunity has always been part of who we are.
Our facilities tell the story of a school that keeps investing in its future. In 2001, we opened our Performing Arts Centre, giving students and the wider community a professional-grade venue for productions. Three years later, we welcomed a co-located community recreation centre, strengthening those ties between school and neighbourhood.
Our canteen was recently redeveloped and now serves other local schools as well as our own students. It's another example of how we're woven into the fabric of this area. We're not separate from the Blackwood community. We're part of it.
Some of our former students have gone on to make their mark nationally. Members of the Hilltop Hoods, the renowned Australian hip hop group, are Blackwood High alumni. Matt Lambert (Suffa) and Dan Smith (Pressure) both walked these halls. Their success shows the kind of creative talent that's always flourished here.
In recent years, we've made deliberate choices about our educational direction. In 2022, we transitioned to teaching the Australian Curriculum and SACE exclusively, after years of offering the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme. This shift allows us to focus our expertise and ensure every teacher can deliver the highest quality learning experience.
What Endures
Sitting in the scenic foothills of Adelaide, Blackwood High School has always balanced strong academic expectations with vibrant arts and sporting life. We're known for our high standards and our diverse offerings. More importantly, we're known as a place where teachers stay for decades, where families choose to send multiple children, and where former students come back to tell current teachers about their pathways after graduation.
This school has evolved considerably since 1961. We've added programs, upgraded buildings, refined our approach to teaching and learning. Through all of that change, one thing remains constant: our commitment to this community and to every young person who walks through our gates.
We've spent six decades learning how to support different students in finding their own path forward. That's the tradition we're most proud of, and it's the one we'll carry into our next chapter.
