In 1877, the
Government of New South Wales acquired the site of
Shaftesbury and established the Shaftesbury Reformatory for Girls in 1880. Several other institutions including the Shaftesbury Institute for Destitute Inebriates and the Shaftesbury Home for Mothers and Babies took the reformatory's place over the following decades, until the buildings were demolished in 1930 and the land sold; with the Government retaining a portion for later use. Vaucluse Boys' High School was officially opened on 30 June 1960 by the
Governor of New South Wales,
Lieutenant-General Sir Eric Woodward at a ceremony attended by the
Member for Vaucluse,
Geoffrey Cox, the Director-General of Education,
Harold Wyndham, and the
NSW Minister for Education,
Ernest Wetherell. The first principal was H. Keith Harris, who led the school from its founding to his retirement in 1971. The last principal of Vaucluse High was David Tomlin who remained at the school until its closure in 2006, and thereafter took up the position of principal at
Manly Selective Campus. The school won the Hume Barbour Trophy for debating in 1964, 1965 and 1968. The school became co-educational in January 1982. It was declared in 2005 that Vaucluse High and the nearby Dover Heights High would be merged to form
Rose Bay Secondary College. It was also decided that the Vaucluse High site would be closed and the college would be based on the Dover Heights site instead. The land on which Vaucluse High School stands was sold for an undisclosed amount of money. A Development Application was filed with Woollahra Council to convert the site into a retirement/nursing home operated by the Mark Moran Group. In 2010, a fire was deliberately lit in the Hall which was subsequently torn down, along with the canteen, change rooms and the woodworking classrooms. == Notable alumni ==