James Meehan High School in Macquarie Fields helps to change the face of once-troubled suburb

A school in Sydney’s southwest has become a thriving hub of learning and education. Find out how innovative teaching methods have seen enrolments soar.

Tijana Kasic, 17 Sienna Adams 17, Mahina Johnvaru, 17 and teacher Matt Dalmasso at James Meehan High School in Macquarie Fields. Picture: David Swift

Less than a generation ago Macquarie Fields was literally a crime scene. Today its kids are crime scene investigators.

In 2005 the Western Sydney suburb was infamous for the riots that consumed it but today a revolution of a very different kind is transforming the community.

The turnaround is nothing short of staggering and at the heart of it is James Meehan High School, a unique public school whose entire catchment is public housing.

For years the school was literally a no-go zone. Kids simply didn’t show up for class.

Now they are champing at the bit to come because the classes are like no other. Enrolments have shot up by more than 50 per cent in just three years, from 286 to 436.

Even when Principal Tim Bordado arrived at James Meehan in 2021 it was described as “a zoo”. The school had been through an astonishing seven principals in five years.

Youths riot in the streets of Macquarie Fields after the police-chase death of two teens. Picture: Adam Ward

The problem, he quickly realised, was that they had been coming in with outside ready-made plans, that effectively shattered on impact. Instead, he turned the place inside out, shredding his preconceived ideas and listening to what teachers on the ground had to say.

“If you were to come with a solution, people say that’s another idea coming in that is not going to work,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

The Macquarie Fields riots in 2005.

“If you don’t go back to basics, if you don’t do something, go inside out, rather than top down, it will not work.”

And boy has it worked.

The whole image and purpose and practice of the school was turned around. It was physically transformed with fresh paint and new furnishings to provide a bright, clean and positive atmosphere.

Any graffiti disappears instantly, any vandalism is immediately repaired.

The school mission was elevated from survival to victory — standards and expectations were raised, starting with a new school motto: “Learn today. Lead tomorrow.”

These are kids that come from some of the most disadvantaged homes and backgrounds in Sydney.

James Meehan High School principal Principal Tim Bordado. Picture: David Swift

Low literacy rates, high welfare dependency and “a huge prevalence of domestic violence”, as Bordado says matter-of-factly.

Yet emblazoned on buildings and reinforced in every lesson is the message that if they are prepared to come to school and learn they can not just get by but be the leaders of tomorrow. For many this will be the first time anyone has ever told them that.

The school uniform reflects that new sense of pride — good old fashioned blazers and ties — but there is also something much more radical at work.

With students struggling to make the academic leap from the early years of high school to the senior levels and readiness for the outside world, a “head of learning innovation” is at the school to come up with new ways to teach the kids the skills they need in a language they can understand.

Paige Morel, 18 and Amy Barr, 17 with their teacher Tara Reynolds, Head Teacher for Learning and Innovation. Picture: David Swift

The answer? “Gamification” – make everything a competition.

Perhaps the most staggeringly groundbreaking was the development of “CSI: James Meehan” for Years 9 and 10.

Mimicking the hit TV show, a set of clues are plotted around the school grounds and teams of students need to use their maths and science skills to solve the crime.

Then they are asked to write up a report of the investigation, thus developing their English skills, with the whole project evaluated for assessment.

As a result not only are the kids not scared off by a more formal and foreign assessment process but they are flocking to the school they once shunned.

Even today, as veteran deputy principal Margaret Downey tells the Telegraph, the first week after school holidays is always the worst, with the lack of discipline at home being brought back through the school gate.

But by the end of the year these kids are ready to take on the world.

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The content summaries were created with the assistance of AI technology then edited and approved for publication by an editor.

Originally published as James Meehan High School in Macquarie Fields helps to change the face of once-troubled suburb