Balcatta Primary School first began as a public primary school opening in 1964 on Main Street in central Balcatta as a frontier school for the northern suburbs. Principal Mr Hunt lead the school for its first year of nearly 300 students.
Balcatta’s name was derived from the Aboriginal words “Bal” meaning “his” and “Katta” meaning “hill”. During the 1960s, Balcatta largely consisted of market gardens and was home to many migrants from Southern Europe.
Balcatta become more populated by migrant families over the years, and so in turn Balcatta Primary School became a multicultural school with many nationalities and languages. From the 1960s, Balcatta saw many families arrive from Europe, Asia and later from Africa. 70% of our school population is from a culturally and linguistically diverse background, with 47 different languages being spoken. Approximately 6% of the school population are First Nations Students. The school grew rapidly to approximately 2000 students by 1970.
Mr Peter Gates has been the Principal of Balcatta Primary School since 1997, leading the school for nearly half of its life. The school had dropped in numbers to 140 in 1997, but has now increased to 287 and is continuing to rise.
In 2020, Balcatta PS became an Independent Public School, which enables the school to take responsibilities and make local decisions to enhance educational outcome.
60 year birthday celebrations 1964 – 2024
We wish every student and the whole Balcatta Primary School community a very warm Birthday celebration this year. Each and everyone of you make our school special. We are forever upward and constantly aim to demonstrate our RISE Values – Respect, Include, Strive and Explore!
