Sunnybank State High School, established in 1963, has grown to become a large urban high school servicing a complex and varied community. It has a long tradition of academic excellence, as well as supporting a range of inclusive programs for EALD (English as an additional Language or Dialect) and overseas students, and focusing on sporting excellence through special programs including a centre for athletic development.
Community and physical location
Sunnybank State High School is a coeducational school, which offers secondary education programs from Year 7 to Year 12. It opened at a time when secondary school education was expanding throughout Queensland and in Brisbane in particular, and has continued to provide a flexible curriculum which has adapted to the changing needs of individual students.
When the school was established Sunnybank was a farming area with rich sandy subsoils in the then southern outskirts of Brisbane. The school is situated between Turton and Lister Streets, which run into Mains Road, in one of the busiest parts of Brisbane.
The school is close to major commercial and business centres and the Brisbane City Centre is only 15 kilometres away via the Southeast Freeway. The school is well serviced by train (with Sunnybank Railway Station approximately half a kilometre from the school) and bus transport. Please visit the Translink website or the Bus Queensland website for all bus and train timetables that service this area.
With the school so close to bus and rail transport, it is readily accessible to all parts of southeast Brisbane. The suburbs of Logan, with their high concentrations of migrant families and range of socio-economic backgrounds are within a short train journey and the school draws a growing percentage of its students from this area.
Over the years the Sunnybank corridor has become popular with Chinese speaking families and businesses. By linking with local businesses, the community and school have worked together to offer cultural and other support for Chinese speaking students (Chinese restaurants and grocery shops, Chinese speaking doctors, dentists and other professionals). In recent years, the local community has continued to attract a range of non-English speaking families, creating a rich cultural diversity within the school population and the local community at large.
Sunnybank High is close to the identified growing areas of Logan City & Scenic Rim Shire. As the areas surrounding the school are still developing the potential for future enrolment growth is positive.
Griffith University, three kilometres from the school, has a reputation for Asian Studies, International Business Studies and Multi-Media Studies; this provides potential to access facilities for extension programs. Some students are involved in link programs with universities and TAFE .
Sixty-seven different languages other than English are spoken in the homes of our students. Students come from many countries and ethnic backgrounds including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, People's Republic of China, Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia, Britain, Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Yugoslavia, Romania, Hungry, Poland and many more.
