Cheltenham Girls High School

Cheltenham Girls High School, is a public, comprehensive, high school for girls, located in Cheltenham, a north-western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.Established in 1958 and operated by the New South Wales Department of Education and Training, the school has a non-selective enrolment policy and currently caters for approximately 1,340 students from Years 7 to 12.In the 2006 Higher School Certificate, the National Education Directory of Australia named Cheltenham Girls High School the sixth best performing school, and the best non-selective public school in Sydney's Hornsby region.The school is well known for the distinguished pink uniform.HistoryCheltenham Girls High School was founded in 1957–1958 by Bessie Mitchell who also acted as the first Principal. The School is located on the former residential estate of the Vicars family, who had donated the land for the only purpose of building a school. A leadlight window from the original house is now situated in the administration foyer, as well as a larger window of a ship being located in the E block. The ship is used in the header of the school newsletter, ''Yarrabee"The first students of the school were accommodated at Epping Boys' High School buildings during 1957, as the school was poor and had no money to buy their own property. The Epping boys playground was separated, one side for the girls, one for the boys. The boys were caned if they were seen in the girl's playground. These students finally moved to new buildings on the Cheltenham site in 1958, and comprised four classes of second year students and 10 classes of first year students. A common myth associated with the school is that the colour of the uniform comes from a bequest, the terms of which stated that the uniform must be pink. In fact, it was not Bessie Mitchell as some think, who decided the uniforms should be pink dresses, it was the Vicars family who previously owned the land. These dresses are still worn today and are noted throughout the area.