A Brief history of Dapto High School

In 1952, 32 acres of land which were to become the site of Dapto High School, were part of a farming property in the possession of the Amaral family. In our present period of vastly inflated land prices, it seems amazing that such a good site could have been acquired for the very small sum of $2,200. One wonders what its present value must be, with a normal building block in the Dapto area costing in the vicinity of $60,000.

In 1958, Dapto High School officially began operations, and was housed initially in buildings in Smith Street, Wollongong, while construction of the school proceeded on the site.

Someone on the staff, with understanding and foresight, put together the words of the School Song:

Brave words indeed, written and sung no doubt with hope that the new school would eventually rise in esteem and reputation.

Forty-eight years later, the scene is a little different at Cleveland Road. Physically the buildings have long been completed. The grounds have all been laid out and a place of great beauty has happily been created where students can work and play, no longer only in the vague hope of accomplishing something worthwhile, but in the certain knowledge that they are surrounded by a solid tradition of academic, cultural and sporting success.

In the bare paddocks from which this school began, it was always easy to imagine that the Phoenix in the school badge was not really too far away. He rose from the paddocks years ago, and has been flying high ever since.