Principal's Tours

Meet The Principal

Mary-Lou Michael

At Underdale High School we foster a personalised approach to learning, seeking to extend skills, dispositions, and interests by engaging students in a world class learning experience.

Principal tours are scheduled throughout the year during peak periods.
Please register for a tour by contacting the Executive Assistant on 8301 8000.

Underdale is a year 7-12 secondary school, 9 minutes from the city of Adelaide and 10 minutes from the coast. Our school is rich in diversity, with 77 different cultural backgrounds. At Underdale High School we foster a personalised approach to learning, seeking to extend skills, dispositions, and interests by engaging students in a world class learning experience. The multi-million-dollar refurbishment of various facilities including Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, Creative Arts Centre, Theatre, and redeveloped Gymnasium, further create conditions to engage our students and leverage digital technology in learning. 

It is a privilege to be Principal at Underdale High School, a diverse, thriving, and inclusive community that provides conditions for deep learning for all students in all areas of the Australian Curriculum and the SACE.  Our learning environments challenge students to be independent thinkers, question from a range of perspectives, problem solve, and develop self-efficacy. We place a high value on learning partnerships, where young people are supported to develop healthy relationships, are mentored, and develop future goals and connections for a range of career pathways. We have high expectations of all our students and our highly qualified staff, encourage students to think critically and creatively, respond to quality feedback, and achieve academic success. Our newly appointed experienced year 7 teachers are very well prepared for the 2022 school year.

The commitment for every student to graduate as a global citizen ready for a changing world is underpinned by the 6C’s of Education for the 21st Century; character, citizenship, collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking supported by our school values. Our core school values are underpinned with the verbs, be Resilientstay Optimisticshow Courage, and build Knowledge. They speak volumes for the changing world our young people need to be prepared for, and our leaders support staff, to create the conditions for students to achieve this.

Our school is on a strong trajectory of learning improvement. Our focus on high impact teaching and learning strategies support our PAT-R and PAT-M results which are consistently above state averages. Equally our SACE completion rate increases annually into the high 90% range and our Year 12 results include a growing list of Merits and A and B grades every year. Supporting our academic programs, we also offer specialist programs with selective entry for students in our Football (Soccer) Academy and have an industry standard, Automotive Trade Training Centre. 

Students have many opportunities to be involved in co-curricular activities including sports teams, debating clubs, history competitions and science and technology activities. Student Voice and Leadership opportunities are encouraged and supported from years 7 through to 12.

We are committed to continuous improvement and value your feedback. We extend you a warm welcome to our community.

Mary-Lou Michael