Our History

Norwood District High School officially came into being on January 25 1910.
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From 1910 – 1915 the school was located in Osmond Terrace, Norwood. A more spacious setting during the next forty seven years was Lossie Street, Kensington Park.
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The formation of the first Old Scholars’ Association took place on July 24 1914. Through to 1920 there were dances, picnics and picture nights. The first Old Scholar ball took place in 1947 with over 300 present at the Norwood Town Hall. The Old Scholars’ Association still exists today and is playing an active part in the Centenary Celebrations in 2010.
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1930 – Establishment of the workshop; and in 1940, during the war, workshop boys made equipment for the Air Raid Precautions Service. Mostly manufactured were 1062 air raid wardens’ gas rattles. Following the war many ex-service men participated in classes in the workshop studying chemistry and physics.
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1947 – still at Lossie Street, the school name was changed to Norwood High School.
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1950 saw record enrolments at the School and the establishment of the school canteen.
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In 1952 the Debutante Ball was introduced and attended by many.
The new school moved to its current site in Magill in 1960. The move was completed in its entirety in 1962.
Since then the Senior Campus of the now Norwood Morialta High School has been located at Magill at the top of The Parade with the Middle Campus location on Morialta Road West, Rostrevor.
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In the early sixties, a sports field and a turfed oval were constructed. The German Exchange programme commenced in the 1970’s, as did the gradual phasing out of hats and gloves for the girls. 1977 was one of great importance in the history of Norwood High School. NHS was chosen as the only school in the state to be visited by His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales. About 6000 students were present from Norwood and surrounding schools that assembled on the main oval. The Prince spoke to the congregation about the Silver Jubilee Celebrations and the Youth Programme.
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1980 – Gymnasium was constructed on the south west corner occupying the site of the original basketball courts. Computers entered classrooms.

Norwood High School Principals

Norwood Morialta High School was an amalgamation of Norwood High School and Morialta High School, which occurred in 1993.

The staff and parents created a school which:

• combined the academic tradition of Norwood and the caring approach to education and creativity in the performing arts which were outstanding at Morialta.
• enabled the Norwood campus to develop senior schooling and flexible approaches to older students.
• enabled the Morialta campus to focus on new advances in middle schooling
• developed sub schools – created smaller ‘family’ units where students’ personal progress could be more readily monitored.
• increased enrolments across the combined school beyond the previous total of each individual school.
• enabled new concepts of leadership to be developed with staff.
• enabled the redevelopment of facilities.

Norwood Morialta High School was a dual campus high school of 1434 students (Years 8 to 13) and is located in the eastern suburbs of Adelaide. The school was one of the largest state secondary schools in South Australia and has a successful international program.
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Offering a high quality teaching and learning environment and with students from over 82 different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, not just an Australian experience but a truly international one.
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Our international programs include excellent English as a Second Language (ESL) and Language courses in Chinese, German, Greek, Italian and Japanese. The school is noted for high academic success and university entrance rankings.
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Norwood Morialta High School was an internationally accredited school by the Council of International Schools (CIS) organisation. Signalling to educators and parents that we are committed to continuous improvement and that we put ourselves up for scrutiny by a team of international educators every five years.

The Centenary Celebrations back in 2010, enabled us to highlight the successes of all the students whose lives have been shaped and enriched by this prestigious school. In addition, it enables us to acknowledge the great teachers who have cultivated young minds and attitudes. Our graduates have distinguished themselves and contributed not only at a high level in every sphere of life, whether this is in academic pursuits such as medicine and law, sports and the creative arts, but also as high achievers in voluntary and community based areas.

Norwood Morialta High School Principals