QUEANBEYAN High School's student population has exceeded 500 for the first time in almost a decade in what Principal John Clark is calling a "vote of confidence" in the local school.
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Growth of more than 20 per cent in grades 7 and 9 has pushed the school up to a total of 509 students with more new student interviews to come this week. Principal Clark told The Queanbeyan Age that the most pleasing thing about the growth was the developing reputation of the school among parents.
"We've had a 25pc increase in year sevens, and a 25pc increase in year nines coming in- new people moving into the district," Mr Clark said.
"Parents are saying that the school has been recommended to them, which is a good indication that the community is supporting what we're doing in the school.
"We're doing a lot of new things in the school, and we're making sure that what we're doing is quality work."
Crossing the 500 student threshold also means the school is eligible for more funding for teachers, more general assistant time (from half to a full-time position) and more support time.
Mr Clark credited new co-operative learning programs as well as well as tech-integrated learning programs like Bring Your Own Device as being attractive to local parents.