Pasadena High changes its name as school focus shifts
PASADENA High will change its name next term as the once-struggling school, on the brink of a merger two years ago, prepares to expand its classes next year.
- Parents fight proposed merger with Unley High
- Principal Wendy House vows to keep Pasadena alive
- Pasadena offers its first stand-alone Year 8 class in years
PASADENA High will change its name to Springbank Secondary College from the start of term four.
And the school is set to offer two Year 8 classes next year – after offering a single Year 8 class this year and a combined Year 8/9 class previously.
Enrolments in higher year levels are also increasing and the school’s disability unit is at capacity.
The name change will be the second in the high school’s history, following a move from Daws Road High in 2001.
Principal Wendy House told the HillsValley Weekly the latest name change would provide an official acknowledgment of a shift in the school’s focus.
“What we’re creating here is a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and maths) focused school,” Ms House said.
“Inquiry-based learning … is all part of the way we operate now. That means a complete restructure of timetables, schedules and a whole range of ways we work so teachers and students work together quite collaboratively across the school.”
The school was also about to undertake a significant redevelopment that would include demolishing and refurbishing buildings.
“We’ve achieved quite a few of the significant milestones … we identified we would undertake and it became clear we wanted to acknowledge it was a new entity here.”
Springbank Secondary College would take its name from the Springbank RAAF Camp which existed on the school site during World War II.
Servicemen were transferred to the camp after being treated or rehabilitated at the Repatriation General Hospital across the road.
The suburb of Pasadena was once named Springbank and, earlier, Springbank Gardens.
The name was chosen in consultation with current students and received wide support.
Ms House said the history of the school under its previous two names would still be acknowledged.
Pasadena was one of nine local schools to last year be awarded a combined $72 million, part of a $690 million State Government funding package.
Parents at the Daws Rd school in 2016 overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to merge with nearby Unley High amid falling enrolments.
Since then, the school has embarked on an ambitious rebuilding program, aiming to increase student numbers to 300 within the next four years.