Warriappendi Secondary School
Warriappendi Secondary School is a high school in western Adelaide for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. It began in the 1980s as Moore Street Alternative School, started by Leila Rankine and Veronica Brodie. The Department of Education used a room in Moore Street near St Mary Magdalene’s Church, calling it the South-East Corner School for a while. In the mid-1980s, Moore Street Alternative School opened on its own site for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students not succeeding in mainstream schools, with Greg Winner as principal and about 30 students.
Because the building was poor, the school moved to 25 Naldera Street in Glandore, then in 1983 to the former Richmond Infant School site on South Road, Marleston, and was renamed Warriappendi. The name means "to seek" in Kaurna, and Kaurna people helped choose it.
In February 2025, Warriappendi moved to a new site at 7 Ann Nelson Drive, Thebarton, because of roadworks. By November 2025, about 80 students were enrolled, with room for 150. The principal is Craig Bailey.
The new building opened on 3 November 2025. It was designed by JPE Design Studio and built by BADGE Constructions, with input from the school and a focus on employing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers. It includes spaces for yarning, cultural learning, drama, and music, plus STEM labs, a library, a kitchen, arts spaces, and a large 900-square-metre gym. A mural called Foundation of the Future by Scott Rathman greets visitors and symbolizes the school’s journey and growth.
Warriappendi runs a sport-based program to help students learn about their culture and history, and this approach helped inspire the South Australian Aboriginal Sports Training Academy (SAASTA) in 2005, of which Warriappendi is a member.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 13:50 (CET).