School history

In 1865, the first public school in Gosford, known as the Catholic Chapel School, was established by the Council of Education. Miss McGrath, aged 18, became the Head Mistress and taught 28 students in a single room. Classes were held in the Catholic Chapel, an old timber slab hut with a shingle roof, located near the corner of Donnison Street and Dane Drive.

In 1877, the school was relocated to Georgiana Terrace, into a sandstone building that now forms part of the TAFE. It became known as the "School on the Hill." By 1878, the average daily attendance had risen to 70 pupils, and the following year, Gosford was officially declared a town.

When Compulsory Education was legislated in 1901, the school grew dramatically as all children in the district were required to attend. By 1917, the P&C had appealed to the Minister of Education for a new school site, as additional buildings were being used to accommodate some classes. In 1920, Gosford Public School became a District School (incorporating high school students), and timber classrooms were constructed to handle the increasing enrolments each year. Some of these classrooms were later relocated and used at the Mann Street site until 2013.

By the 1930s and 40s, older students moved on to the newly established Gosford High School and Gosford District School reverted to the name Gosford Public School. At this point in time, "The School on the Hill" had become seriously overcrowded, and by 1951, enrolments exceeded 740. This prompted the government to build a new school on Mann Street.

Gosford Public School was officially opened at Mann Street on the June 5^th, 1954. The school Motto of "Honour before Honours" was inscribed at the base of the main building. The school was very segregated with boys and girls entering the building at different ends through the double doors in A Block and there was a line painted on the ground in the playground that the girls and boys weren't allowed to cross.

In 2014, Gosford Public School was relocated to its current site at Faunce St West, West Gosford.

Gosford Public School Principals:

1865 - Miss Honoria McGrath (later Mrs Coulter)

1878 - Henry Parsons

1887 - Charles Peck

1910 - Thomas Uren

1917 - Michale Mahoney

1920 - H G Stoyles

1928 - Harold Nolan

1930 - George McCartney

1933 - George Walpole

1945 - Lloyd Gallagher