MEDIA ARCHIVE

For decades, Frank Dando has been taming troubled teenagers with his relentless regime of basic maths and English, a gruelling exercise routine and old-school discipline. Many believe he runs Australia's toughest boys school. And it's hard to forget these three rebels - Nathan, Luke and Matt Angelin - triplets with ADHD who were struggling to stay afloat in the mainstream education system. Now aged 17, the trio are living proof of Frank's no-nonsense curriculum - they're excelling at TAFE, working part time jobs, and even volunteering as surf lifesavers. 

Teenage boys are a mysterious breed. That adolescent hit of testosterone can transform your sweet little boy into an aggressive, monosyllabic stranger.  In those crucial, formative years of high school, it’s easy for some boys to fall between the widening cracks in our education system. For decades now, at what may be Australia’s toughest boys’ school, Frank Dando has been picking up the pieces.  Frank’s strict code of traditional maths and English combined with a gruelling exercise regime comes with a healthy dose of old-school discipline. The results speak for themselves.  At 81 years of age, Frank and his committed band of teachers have never met a teenage rebel they couldn’t tame.
 

Teenage boys are a mysterious breed. That adolescent hit of testosterone can transform your sweet little boy into an aggressive, monosyllabic stranger.  In those crucial, formative years of high school, it’s easy for some boys to fall between the widening cracks in our education system. For decades now, at what may be Australia’s toughest boys’ school, Frank Dando has been picking up the pieces.  Frank’s strict code of traditional maths and English combined with a gruelling exercise regime comes with a healthy dose of old-school discipline. The results speak for themselves.  At 81 years of age, Frank and his committed band of teachers have never met a teenage rebel they couldn’t tame.