Katanning Senior High School
Katanning Senior High School is a comprehensive public co-educational high day school, located in Katanning, a regional centre south east of Perth, Western Australia. History. The school was established in 1961 and by 2012 had an enrolment of 373 students between Year 8 and Year 12, approximately 15% of whom were Indigenous Australians. The school initially opened as a junior high school in 1950 and continued to operate as one until becoming a high school in 1961. Beverley Stanes was the principal of the school from 2004 to 2010, before departing to take the principal  position at Merredin College. Nicki Polding was the principal of the school from 2011 to 2017. Carolyn Cook has served as principal since 2017. Enrolments at the school have been reasonably steady with 373 students at the school in 2017, 385 in 2018, 378 in 2009 and 359 in 2020. Katanning Residential College. Katanning Residential College was located adjacent to the school and offered boarding facilities to many High School students from remote areas. The College was formerly known as St Andrew's Hostel. The Residential College closed in 2009. The hostel is best known for the historical sexual abuse  of boys by Dennis John McKenna who was employed as a warden in the facility from 1975 to 1990. McKenna was found guilty of 63 offences on 28 victims and sentenced to 22 years in prison. Neil Vincent McKenna, the younger brother of Dennis McKenna, was found guilty of sexually abusing girls at the hostel when he worked there as a senior supervisor from 1986 to 1991. Wayne Leslie McKenna, another brother, was found guilty of sexually abusing two girls while working as a supervisor at the hostel in 1980. He received a 12-month suspended sentence for his crimes