Marsden State High School named Australia’s best secondary school

A Queensland high school has swept the floor at the national education awards, including being named the country’s best secondary school. It is the third year running it has claimed top gong for principal of the year.

A Logan high school has swept the floor at the national education awards, including being named the country’s best secondary school.

Marsden State High School was a standout at the annual Australian Education Awards on Friday night, taking home Secondary School of the Year, Best Professional Learning Development Program and Principal of the Year for Alison Fahlbusch.

It is the third year running the school has taken out the top gong for principal of the year, with then-head of school Kylie Steinhardt winning in 2021 and executive principal Andrew Peach winning in 2020.

Marsden State High School has been named the best secondary school in Australia. File picture: AAP Image/Renae Droop

The win for government secondary school of the year was Marsden’s second in just three years.

Ms Fahlbusch told The Courier-Mail “what an honour to be part of such a great team”.

“For a school as large as ours - Australia’s largest ever school - to be successful requires high performance from every member of the team and at Marsden SHS we have just that, a high performing team of leaders, teachers, support staff and community working together to provide superior opportunities for our students.

“These awards are a reflection of this hard work and culture that has developed over a number of years.”

While long-recognised as a top-performing rugby league school - Cameron Smith and Israel Folau are just some of Marsden’s famous alumni to turn professional - over the past few years the school has also cemented its reputation as a top academic performer.

Marsden’s strong focus on staff development and performance has also seen its previous issues with high staff turnover develop into a 94 per cent retention rate, with the school taking more than 400 pre-service teachers every year.

Andrew Peach, who is on leave from his role as principal at Marsden State High, had previously been named principal of the year. File picture: Sarah Marshall

Under the leadership of the highly-respected Mr Peach, who began at MSHS in late 2014, the school has seen enrolments boom to more than 3600 students to make it the largest school in the country.

Mr Peach is currently on leave from his position to take up a general manager gig at the NRL encouraging young school kids into the code, with Ms Steinhardt serving as executive principal.

She said the accolades were a “great recognition of the wonderful work of our students, staff and wider community”.

“Marsden SHS is really proud of the opportunities we provide, and to be recognised on a national level like this once again is great for all of Logan,” she said.

Senior school principal Michael Smith leads the school’s professional learning programs, and said building the best offering for staff as possible had been a key focus.

“This is the third year in a row we’ve had this recognition, on top of the recent announcement that our head of department for teaching and learning, Jenna Cullen, was named as a prestigious Commonwealth Bank teaching fellow,” he said.

“Our success as a school is built on the great support and opportunities for our staff to grow, develop and learn.”