The RNDM Sisters established Sacred Heart College Sorrento in 1967 to expand the capabilities of Sacred Heart Girls’ School in Highgate, an inner city suburb in Perth. Over the next 20 years, significant changes occurred which helped form the current face of the College. The first came in 1977 when the College became co-educational. This was followed with the appointment in 1985 of the first lay Principal. Despite the change of leadership, the Sisters remained directly responsible for the day-to-day management of the College. This arrangement remained until 1989 when the Sisters withdrew and Sacred Heart College became part of the Diocesan System of Schools managed by the Catholic Education Commission of Western Australia. At the end of 1998, the doors of the boarding complex closed for the last time. It was the end of one era and the beginning of another.
The Sacred Heart College of today has changed significantly since its inception. There has been an extensive building and rebuilding program as the College increased in size, to the point where it currently educates to some 1,400 students.
The College has expanded its facilities to support the Four Pillars: Spiritual, Academic, Cultural and Sporting. The RNDM Performing Arts Centre, named in honour of our founders, seats 560 persons in a professional theatre.
In September 2016, the College opened ‘The Koort Centre’, a state of the art gymnasium which, apart from Health and Physical Education classes and activities, can accommodate the Sacred Heart community for Whole School Masses and Assemblies. The gymnasium was named after the Nyungar word for ‘heart’ to acknowledge the original custodians of the land.
A more detailed look into the College's history is below: