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Highgate School is a South Australian State school serving the suburbs of Highgate, Malvern and Urrbrae and situated on Hampstead Avenue. It currently has 745 enrolled students from Reception to Year 7. The school opened in 1923 with Mr. Josiah W. Odgers serving as Headmaster. The original school building remains to this day, with the Junior Primary School being built in 1958. Several other developments have occurred since then with the most recent development opening in 2022. A bilingual, binational program was established in 2017, with one class initially. In 2022 the program will have French classes in all year levels of the school.

History
Highgate school was built following a period of eight years effort, particularly by the mayor of Unley, Alderman A. E Morris, Alderman Williams and the Mayoress, Mrs. Morris. The first requests for a new school were made in 1915, when Crawford Vaughan was premier. If a petition bearing 50 signatures was presented, a new school would be built. In 1923, Highgate School was opened with Mr Josiah W. Odgers acting as headmaster. He continued in this role for 9 years.

Infant/Junior School

When opened, Highgate acted as one school, accepting enrolments of all school ages. However, in 1944 an 'Infant' school was established within the main building. On August 22nd 1968, the junior school was opened. The Primary and Junior schools had separate head masters/mistresses until 2010 when the school amalgamated.

Opie House

2007 Graduation Fire

On December 17th 2007, a fire in the school hall forced the evacuation of Year 7 students celebrating their graduation. Staff were praised by the Metropolitan Fire Service for the quick and safe evacuation of all persons inside at the time. The fire caused significant structural damage to the building and was demolished soon after making way for a new air-conditioned hall named the 'Peter Hansberry Hall'. Developments

Highgate has undergone several developments throughout it's history. Some key developments include:


 * 1957 - Junior School built and opened.
 * 1968 - School swimming pool built.
 * 1983 - New building added. This greatly expanded the school with several new classrooms spread over two levels, a gym and a library space.
 * 2013 -
 * 2021/22 - Construction began in 2021 for 2 new buildings which will house several classrooms, shared spaces and multi-purpose rooms. One building building is on the site of 'Opie House' and will share the same name, and the other replaces transportable classrooms in the Junior area of the school. In addition to the new buildings, the bitumen courts are undergoing a full re-development and the playground on the southern side will be replaced. A new senior play space on next to the canteen will also be opened in 2022.

French bilingual, binational program
In 2017 Highgate and nearby Unley High School became the first schools in the state to establish an R-12 French bilingual, binational program (FBBP). Reception students at Highgate who take up the French program initially receive 80 per cent of their lessons in French, before dropping back to 50 per cent from Year 3 - 6. The program coincided with, however was separate to the selection of French shipbuilder DCNS to help build Australia's future submarines in Adelaide. Despite the discontinuation of the submarine agreement in 2021, the FBBP will continue at Highgate.

Notable students
Alan Dowding

Jesse Aungles