Student opportunities and activities

Student Representative Council (SRC)

What is the Student Representative Council?

The Student Representative Council (SRC) is a student based group designed to help promote leadership among students and our school values of success, responsibility and respect. They promote a positive school environment through the various events they organise. Students participating in the SRC maintain a high standard of personal conduct. SRC members demonstrate leadership qualities by serving as good examples of behaviour through their words and actions. The SRC consists of students from Year 8-12, including our school leadership team.

As well as being a voice for the student body, the SRC organise, coordinate and participate in a variety of leadership activities throughout the year including:

• Supporting school events such as Information Evening, Parent Teacher Night, Alumni Evening and Orientation Day
• Organising Multicultural Day, Valentines Day, International Women’s Day, World Teacher’s Day and supporting events such as RUOK Day and NAIDOC week
• James Martin Children’s Walk
• Prefect Afternoon Tea - hosting students from other schools for a networking event
• Attending leadership conferences
• Fundraising events
• Community events such as youth consultation with Parramatta Council

Goals of the SRC

To be a voice of the student body and to speak on behalf of the school as a representative

To provide a forum for student opinions

To develop leadership skills of members

To promote school spirit and improvement of student experience within the school

Responsibilities of SRC Members

Required to attend regular meetings.

To participate and support school events and activities as a collective.

To initiate, plan, organise and deliver a variety of school-based activities that fulfil the goals of the SRC.

Participate in leadership opportunities both within school and in the wider community.

Participate and organise a variety of fundraising events for SRC projects.

Support school assemblies and programs that run within the school.

Embody the STRIVE values of APHS as a role model.

Take pride in the school and wear your uniform correctly at all times

Duke of Edinburgh

The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award at Arthur Phillip High School

The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award is a globally recognised framework for non-formal education that inspires young people to set ambitious goals, celebrate personal milestones, and make a meaningful impact in their communities. By building practical and transferable skills, improving physical fitness, embracing adventure, and volunteering, participants discover their passion, purpose, and place in the world—ultimately becoming ready to have a full, exciting life!

Why Arthur Phillip High School Offers the Duke of Ed

At Arthur Phillip High School, we are proud to offer the Duke of Ed program as it reflects our core values of Respect, Responsibility, and Engagement. The Award challenges students to step beyond their comfort zones, embrace growth through new experiences, and develop resilience. It is not about competing with others, but about taking on a personal journey of self-improvement. Each student has the opportunity to shape their own unique experience based on their interests, skills, and passions.

Participation is entirely voluntary and designed to be flexible, allowing students to work individually while also collaborating with peers. This balance fosters self-confidence and teamwork as students pursue goals in an encouraging and supportive environment.

Building Skills for Life

The Duke of Ed promotes meaningful social, emotional, and behavioural development through collaborative projects and community service. These experiences help strengthen relationships within the school and broader community, while nurturing key life skills such as empathy, communication, and perseverance.

Students engage in activities that demand dedication, teamwork, and self-reflection, helping them become more capable of managing real-world challenges both independently and as part of a group.

Empowering Student Voice and Leadership

The Award empowers students to take ownership of their learning and decision-making. It encourages them to set personal goals and take initiative in their development. Participants also have opportunities to lead and inspire others, taking on roles that promote responsibility and influence within the school community.

Through these experiences, the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award supports the growth of confident, compassionate, and future-ready leaders who are committed to making a positive difference.

Award Levels

The Duke of Ed is offered at three progressive levels:

• Bronze
• Silver
• Gold

Each level provides a deeper, more challenging experience, building on the skills and achievements gained at the previous stage.

Ensembles

The school runs a number of ensembles as required and depending on student interest, these include:

• Clarinet Ensemble
• Indian Classical Music Ensemble
• Saxophone Ensemble

Gifted & Talented Band

Our most outstanding musicians are invited to participate in the gifted and talented band who perform on significant school days such as presentation days and for our local primary schools.

Concert Band

Our expanded concert band provides an opportunity for a wide variety of musicians and instruments to play crowd pleasing music in a relaxed and supportive environment.

Junior Choir

The junior choir provides the opportunity for students demonstrating vocal talent to join together with others and perform on special occasions.

PULSE/Schools Spectacular

PULSE and Schools Spectacular are large scale performing arts events for students of NSW Public schools to share their talents in music, dance and drama.  Arthur Phillip Students are regular participants in these events auspiced by the CAPA faculty.

Extracurricular Dance

Extracurricular dance group is a group for students demonstrating talent in dancing.  The group performs often for the Arthur Phillip High School community in a variety of contemporary and modern styles.

Bi-Annual Performing Arts Night

Our bi-annual performing arts night is a highly acclaimed ticketed event, usually held at the Riverside Theatre where parents and the wider school community witness the talented music, dance and drama students perform.

Bush Studio Camp Yr 7 & 8 AND Yr 9 & 10

Provides an opportunity for public school students to be involved in an engaging, challenging and stimulating visual arts program led by an experienced visual arts teacher.  The camp aims to provide students with an opportunity to observe, interpret and respond to their immediate environment at Ku-ring-gai National Park, Bobbin Head. Students will learn strategies to explore their immediate experience of the landscape to create preliminary works as departure points for resolved studio-based artworks.

Art Unit - Senior MasterClass Yr 11

Students are given the opportunity to refine their skills in specific expressive forms as they work alongside carefully selected artists to observe, interpret and respond to their immediate environment at Ku-Ring-Gai National Park, Bobbin Head.

National Arts School - HSC Intensive Studio Study

A great opportunity for Year 11 Visual Arts students who are passionate about art and want to take their skills to the next level in the HSC and beyond. Endorsed by the NSW Education Standards Authority, the HSC Intensive has been offered since 2000 to students in both government and non-government high schools. The HSC intensive is unique as it is taught by professional artists who know what it takes to succeed. Students get to work in professional art studios, enhance their skills and build up their art portfolio. It’s not just about learning, as it’s also a chance to meet other art-loving students from all over the state. To apply for the course, you need to be a high achiever in your Preliminary Visual Arts Course and show that you’re serious about your studies. You also need an endorsement from your Visual Arts teacher.

National Arts School - Dobell School of Drawing Yr 11

The DOBELL SCHOOL at the NATIONAL ART SCHOOL offers 75 Year 11 students from government schools the opportunity to work in a tertiary setting in a visual arts program conducted by practising artists from the National Art School. The criteria for selecting students includes demonstrated high level of knowledge and skills in visual arts, committed to and involved in studying visual arts, capacity to work independently and with others over extended periods.

Art Matters Hawkesbury

Year 10 students attend Two-day workshops delivered in collaboration with artists and local/regional art galleries, utilising art education experts. Workshops may focus on painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, jewellery, ceramics, sculpture, textiles, mixed media, animation and digital media facilitated by professional artists and school teachers with specialised skills.

Art Club

Runs once a week in one of the VA learning spaces. Students are provided time and space to work on their own artworks, or artworks set for assessment. This time is also used to prepare artworks for competitions and exhibitions.

Public speaking

At APHS we offer students experiences in Public Speaking through in school competitions and where possible across different school networks through departmental Public Speaking competitions.

Through Public Speaking we wish to develop oral language and communication skills of students in Years 7-10. Public Speaking develops students’ self-confidence in presenting their ideas in front of an audience at class, stage, school, network and grand final level.

Debating

At APHS we explore debating through class experiences and school based inter-class debates. Debating offers students an opportunity to develop essential skills such as critical thinking, public speaking, research, teamwork and active listening.

Premier’s Reading Challenge

The Challenge aims to encourage a love of reading for leisure and pleasure in students, and to enable them to experience quality literature. It is not a competition but a challenge to each student to read, to read more and to read more widely.

At APHS the school Library offers a wide selection of the books from the Reading Lists for each year group from Yr 7- 9. Students are encouraged to participate in the competition each year.

Writing Competitions

Willing students are encouraged to participate in writing competitions such as those from the Whitlam Institute or Story Factory.

Book Week

The faculty leads celebrations of book week and celebrates and centres reading as a joyful and valuable activity for both academic pursuit and pleasure.

Multicultural Story Telling Project

This program supports secondary students in years 7 to 12 from refugee backgrounds and students who are culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD). Led by industry professionals, this program engages students in activities that develop language skills within the context of writing for theatre, and culminates in a performance that is live streamed to the student’s home countries.

AMC Mathematics Competition

Australian Mathematics Competition is Australia’s longest running, largest and most well-known maths competition for school students.  The AMC contains unique problems designed each year by leading educators and academics to challenge and extend your students’ problem-solving skills.

AMT Mathematics Olympiads

The Maths Olympiad is an inter-school competition that has been specifically designed to challenge and extend high potential/high achieving students in Years 7 and 8. All students in Q & T plus other willing students participate in these challenges over the course of the year.

ICAS Mathematics

ICAS is a historic academic competition that has been sat by over 10 million school students from 16,000 schools across 41 countries since 1981.  It offers fun questions designed by psychometricians, education measurement experts and experienced teachers to test students’ higher-order thinking skills.

Pi Day

The Mathematics faculty celebrates Pi Day each year on the 14th of March.  There are a number of activities organised both in class and lunch time for students to develop an appreciation for Mathematics as well as our premier Pi memorisation competition, where students compete to remember the digits of Pi.  The APHS current record holder is Mourya Mourya Nalamalapu at 481 digits.

Inquisitive minds

The inquisitive minds workshop exposes a group of your capable students to four hours of problem solving alongside like-minded peers. These workshops focus not only on teaching students advanced problem solving strategies, but also on having them consider the best way of solving a problem.

ICAS Science Competition

The ICAS Science competition is designed to assess students’ key STEM skills, such as experimentation, empirical observation, logical reasoning, scientific analysis and critical thinking.  These skills not only help students do well in STEM subjects — they are critical components of humankind’s most successful system for pursuing knowledge: the scientific method.

STEM Club

Enrichment after school club for students with an interest in STEM.

Bayanami Science Day

HPGE Science students at APHS are involved in the delivery of science enrichment programs with Bayanami PS and have the opportunity to share their joy and passion for  science with younger students.

Australian Business Week

Australian Business Week (ABW) is a project-based learning program run over five days. Students work collaboratively in teams to launch a business idea.

Accelerated Business Studies

The social science faculty currently offer accelerated business studies for students in stage 5.  Subject to successful entrance exam, very able students have the opportunity to complete HSC Business Studies by year 10, providing a valuable opportunity to dedicate oneself to a challenging HSC subject as well as freeing up time in Stage 6 to pursue further extension subjects.

Great Barrier Reef Excursion

Students in Stage 6 Geography have the opportunity to conduct fieldwork as a class on the Great Barrier Reef in what is one of the most popular and memorable experiences for our senior students.

Australian History Competition

Our school offers the prestigious Australian History Competition, a national event designed to challenge and extend high-potential students in Years 7–10 through rigorous source analysis and critical thinking. This competition enables gifted learners to move beyond rote learning and demonstrate their ability to interpret complex historical data, benchmarking their skills against peers nationwide. Top performers have the opportunity to achieve academic distinction as State or National Champions, with winners receiving medallions and cash prizes to celebrate their excellence.

National History Challenge

APHS also invites our students to participate in the National History Challenge. This research-based competition empowers young historians to define their own inquiry topics and explore history beyond the curriculum. This initiative provides a platform for gifted learners to showcase their independent research skills and creativity through diverse presentation formats, ranging from essays to multimedia presentations. By engaging with complex historical themes, students compete for state and national honours, including the Young Historian of the Year award, thereby gaining recognition for their academic excellence.

Languages Club

The Languages Club provides a stimulating weekly environment for linguistically curious students to extend their engagement with Japanese and Korean culture beyond the standard curriculum. Through this enrichment program, students develop high-level intercultural skills by exploring complex cultural nuances and participating in dedicated language activities. A key feature of the club is the opportunity to apply these skills in real-world settings, building authentic international connections through direct correspondence with peers in Japan and Korea.

Health For Life

Year 10 and year 11 Food technology students have an opportunity to attend the USYD-Charles Perkins Centre - Health for Life Program working with Shadia Djakovic| Specialist Dietitian and Mark Hamilton - Professional Chef.

Textile and Design Fashion Workshops

Year 12 Textiles and Design students opportunity to do a workshop with Fashion Designer Mina Finery

STRIVE Assemblies

Whole year group assemblies, scheduled twice a term, which focus on the social and emotional needs of students. Class-sized wellbeing activities appropriate to their age occur following the assembly.

BlueTack

Social skills small group program aimed at strengthening capacity to form friendships.

New student Orientation Program

Newly enrolled students are taken on a tour of the school and paired up with a buddy student.

Lunch Program

Toasted sandwiches, fruit, snacks provided to students whose families are experiencing financial hardship.

Drumming with Evan Yako

Therapeutic music program to heal after exposure to trauma. Typically used with students from a refugee background.

Refugee Support Coordinator

Our staff Refugee Support Coordinator runs various small group programs to support students from a refugee background. These include Creating Chances Digital Futures, Community Migrant Resource Centre activities, and Football United.

Haka Warriors

Pasifika cultural mentors run a 20 week program to engage Pacific Islander students in culture to help them develop positive self-identity, engagement, and leadership in their learning to perform a Haka and other cultural dances and performances. Celebration of culture event with other schools takes place at the end of the program.

Glow Lab/Cosmetic Chemistry

Practical and scientific workshop that teaches female students how to make their own natural, organic cosmetics. Discussions around connection, empowerment, positive body image and self esteem take place during sessions.

Creating Chances (Perfect Presence)

Perfect Presence is a funded initiative to provide for programs that re-engage at risk teenagers. Creating Chances run this using sports coaching as a motivator. Students in Years 8, 9 and 10 can participate if they meet Department set criteria around attendance and engagement.

Peer Support Leaders program

Leadership program in Yr 9 for students to facilitate the Peer Support program in the following year with incoming Yr 7 students. In their Year 10 year, students strengthen and extend leadership skills by mentoring a group of Year 7 students to settle into high school, navigate friendships, set goals, and become more resilient.

Study Without Stress

Small group program to teach Year 11 and 12 students with above expected levels of stress to cope with examination pressure.

Life Ready / Love Bites

Customised program of events tailored to the needs of Year 11 and 12 students to prepare for life after school. Love Bites Respectful Relationships education is used as the central focus of the 2-day program, which focuses on consent and respect. Other workshops include mental health resiliency, sex education, and drug and alcohol awareness.