MacGregor State High School (MSHS) is a co-educational, state secondary school

Secondary school

Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...

, located in Macgregor

Macgregor, Queensland

Macgregor is a suburb in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Its postal code is 4109. It is in the Australian Federal electorate of Moreton and its current member is the Honourable Mr Graham Perrett MP. Most of Macgregor is in the Queensland state electorate of Sunnybank, with only the northern tip...

, a southeastern suburb of Brisbane, Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

 Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. The current principal is Karyn Hart and there are around 1600 students that are enrolled in this school. It is a multicultural school.

History

MacGregor State High School was opened in 1969 with nine teachers and 203 students. The first school principal was Mr. J.E.R. Pearson. The school was named for Sir William MacGregor

William MacGregor

Sir William MacGregor GCMG, CB was a Lieutenant-Governor of British New Guinea, Governor of Newfoundland and Governor of Queensland.-Early life:...

, governor of Queensland

Governors of Queensland

The Governor of Queensland is the representative in the state of Queensland of the Queen of Australia. The Governor performs the same constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level as does the Governor-General of Australia at the national level....

 from 1909 until 1914. The Clan MacGregor

Clan MacGregor

Clan Gregor, Clan McGregor, Clan MacGregor or Clan M'Gregor is a Highland Scottish clan. It is the most senior clan of Siol Alpin, translated as referring to King Kenneth I, descending from the ancient Kings of the Picts and Dál Riata...

's Australian Chieftain, Mrs Jean McGregor-Lowndes, was its first patron, and many of the school's icons and emblems reflect a Scottish theme. MacGregor State High School is proud of the diverse background of its students from Australia and overseas countries. As tradition they celebrate multiculturalism through an annual week of celebration.

On 4 November 1973 at 6:30 pm, a tornado

Tornado

A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...

 struck the school, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage which resulted in the rebuilding of a large proportion of the school.

Sports

MacGregor is well known for its numerous sports achievements. In 2007 the school won the district swimming carnival and district cross country carnival in the Karawatha District. The school has an excellent girls' volleyball team. They went to a capital city to represent the school in a tournament. The school is also well known in other sports such as basketball, soccer, touch and rugby league and has won many medals.

School clans

As with most Australian schools, MacGregor State High utilises a house system

House system

The house system is a traditional feature of British schools, and schools in the Commonwealth. Historically, it was associated with established public schools, where a 'house' refers to a boarding house or dormitory of a boarding school...

, of which is referred to as a 'clan system'. There are currently four clans:

• Alpin (Blue)
• Gregor (Green)
• Rob Roy (Red)
• Duncan (Yellow)

Awards

In recent years, the school has won awards in a variety of fields:

• Education Minister's Awards for Excellence in Art (2004, 2006)
• BHP Billiton Science Award (Physics, Engineering & Technology) (2001)
• Queensland Youth Music Awards (2006)

Academic

Macgregor have competed in Maths Team challenge every year placing 2nd in the 2007 Junior and Senior division. Macgregor State High School also competes in local academic competitions such as the Physics Olympiad and Big Science Challenge.

Notable alumni

• Daniel Amalm
  Daniel Amalm
  Daniel Amalm is an Australian actor and musician.-Early life:Daniel's mother is Maltese and his father is Swedish. Daniel's Father introduced Daniel to Guitar from an early age...
  
   - Guitarist and actor
• Sarah Fitz-Gerald
  Sarah Fitz-Gerald
  Sarah Elizabeth Fitz-Gerald AM is an Australian women's squash player who is perhaps the greatest of the 1990s, collecting five World Open titles – 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001 and 2002. She ranks alongside Susan Devoy, Michelle Martin and Heather McKay as the sport's greatest...
  
   AM
  Order of Australia
  The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
  
   - Professional Squash
  Squash (sport)
  Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...
  
   Player
• Gary Hardgrave
  Gary Hardgrave
  Gary Douglas Hardgrave , Australian politician, was the Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives from March 1996 until 2007, representing the Division of Moreton, Queensland. He was born in Sydney, New South Wales, and was educated at Griffith University, Queensland...
  
   - Former Federal Member for Moreton; member of the Liberal Party of Australia
  Liberal Party of Australia
  The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
  
  
• Sophie Monk
  Sophie Monk
  Sophie Charlene Akland Monk is a London-born Australian pop singer, actress and model. Monk was a member of female pop group Bardot and released a solo album Calendar Girl...
  
   - Singer, actress, and model.
• Nathan Ross - Rugby union
  Rugby union
  Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
  
   player
• Bronwyn Thompson
  Bronwyn Thompson
  Bronwyn Thompson is a long jumper from Australia. She holds the Commonwealth and Australian record for the long jump and has been ranked as high as number two in the world. Her greatest achievements include winning gold in the long jump at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and placing fourth at the 2004...
  
   - Athlete
• Jeong Ryeo Won - South Korea
  South Korea
  The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
  
  n singer and actress
• Valerie Foley - Writer

External links

• Official site
• School Listing - Department of Education (QLD)