St Michael's Grammar School

For other schools named after St Michael, see St. Michael's School (disambiguation).

St Michael's Grammar School is an Australian independent Anglican co-educational primary and secondary day school located in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, Victoria.

St Michael's Grammar School
Location
25 Chapel Street, St Kilda, Victoria Australia
Coordinates	37°51′34″S 144°59′28″E
Information
Type	Independent co-educational primary and secondary day school
Motto	Latin: Pro Ecclesia Dei (For the Church of God)
Religious affiliation(s)	Anglican Diocese of Melbourne Community of the Sisters of the Church
Denomination	Anglican
Established	1895; 130 years ago (1895)
Chairman	Andrew Eddy
Head of the School	Gerard Houlihan
Staff	225
Years	K–12
Gender	Co-educational
Enrolment	1,194
Colour(s)	Blue, red, white
Slogan	Nurturing Creative, Inquiring Minds
Affiliation	Association of Coeducational Schools Junior School Heads Association of Australia
Website	stmichaels.vic.edu.au

St Michael's was founded in 1895 by the Community of the Sisters of the Church and remains in its original location on a single campus. The School is associated with the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne and is a member of the Association of Coeducational Schools (ACS) and the Junior School Heads Association of Australia.

The school educates students from 3-year-old kindergarten to the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE), which all Year 12 students at St Michael's complete.

History

Foundation

"Marlton" (now St Michael's House), an 1870s mansion which was purchased in 1892 during the depression and served as a boarding house between 1905 and 1975.

In 1870, Mother Emily Ayckbowm founded the Community of the Sisters of the Church, a new Anglican religious order. The order was invited to Australia to further educational work for girls, and St Michael's was one of six schools established in different parts of Australia. They also founded schools in England, New Zealand and Canada. The schools, known as The Emily Group, share the same crest, patron saint and founding narrative, however, they all differ in significant ways, which enriches the group’s diversity. St Michael’s is the sole coeducational school in the group. On 23 April 1895, in Marlton Crescent, St Kilda, the Sisters opened an advanced primary school: The Church of England Day School (now St Michael's).^{[citation needed]}

20th century

In 1972, St Michael’s Church of England Girls Grammar School Pty Ltd (later a company limited by guarantee) was established in 1972 to manage the School. The idea was put forward to make the school co-educational. In 1974 a coeducation subcommittee was established, and the School embarked on its coeducational journey. In 1980, with the appointment of a new Headmaster, Anthony Hewison,^[1] the decision was taken to admit boys to all levels of the school, thus making it fully coeducational, and to embark on modernising the school.

21st century

With the arrival of Headmaster Simon Gipson in the year 2000, the School administration adopted new approaches, including introducing modern terminology, a new school uniform,^[2] and a six-stage building plan, including the Sisters of the Church Learning Centre and the new playing surface for the oval.^[3]

On 6 December 2007, St Michael's purchased the Astor Theatre building in St Kilda.^[4] The cinema continued to operate as usual, with films screening at nights and on weekends, while the building was often used by the school for assemblies and events on weekdays. On 24 August 2012 the school announced that it had sold the building to Ralph Taranto.^[5][6]

The sisters have retained their interest in the school but no longer play a part in its governance. The school is managed by a Head who is appointed by a board of directors.

Academics

St Michael's offers a wide range of subjects including core mathematics, science, English, IT, LOTEs (Languages Other Than English), arts and humanities courses. At primary level, all students study basic subjects including mathematics, English, science, geography, history, Japanese, music and sport. The school is renowned for its Performing Arts program.^[7]

Masonic Hall in Crimea Street, built in 1876 as a Baptist church, was acquired by the school in 1995

Sport

St Michael's is a member of the Association of Coeducational Schools (ACS).

ACS premierships

St Michael's has won the following ACS premierships since 1998.^[8]

OVERALL CHAMPIONS: (9) 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013

Sport Carnivals:

• Swimming (14) – 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
• Athletics (10) – 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2016
• Cross Country (7) – 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013

Combined:

• Badminton (6) – 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2012
• Beach Volleyball (2) – 2013, 2017
• Chess (6) – 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2021, 2022
• Public Speaking (4) – 2005, 2008, 2020, 2022

Boys:

• Basketball – 2008, 2022
• Cricket (4) – 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003
• Football (2) – 1998, 2012
• Hockey (8) – 2000, 2002, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2023
• Soccer – 2013
• Softball (5) – 2000, 2006, 2008, 2013, 2017
• Table Tennis (10) – 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2014, 2015
• Volleyball (12) – 2004, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023

Girls:

• Basketball (3) – 1998, 2015, 2016
• Football – 2018
• Futsal – 2015
• Hockey (10) – 1998, 2000, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
• Netball – 2013
• Soccer (2) – 2006, 2007
• Softball (4) – 2010, 2016, 2017, 2018
• Volleyball (14) – 1999, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2022, 2023, 2024

Performing arts

Drama has one of the highest voluntary participation numbers among students of any department of the school. Each year the school performs a large number of productions, including Years 10 to 12 senior musical; the Years 7 to 9 musical and play; Dance Project (a contemporary dance production); a student production; a house drama festival and three yearly senior productions (Year 6, Years 7–9, Years 10–12). In 2001, St Michael's was the first school to stage a production at Melbourne’s Athenaeum Theatre with the performance of Les Misérables.^[9] The 2010 senior musical, 13, was the Australian premiere of the musical and won the best production award at the Victorian Musical Theatre Guild awards (the fourth St Michael's musical to do so).^[10]

St Michael's also conducts an annual house drama competition, and an annual house singing & aerobics competition, in which all five of the school houses perform a musical item. Many other musical ensembles perform regularly throughout the year, including the 7–12 Harrison Choir, which each year performs a large choral work, and the Grigoryan Orchestra (named for school alumnus, classical guitarist Slava Grigoryan).

St George's Presbyterian Church. Leased by St Michael's Grammar since 1990.

School of Rock

St Michael's has a "School of Rock" program, where students in Years 7–12 are mentored by rock musicians, leading to public performances and recordings.^{[11][better source needed]}

The program is notable for being the origin of the Cheeky Geezers,^[12] a local rock band.^[13][14]

Social service and charity work

The school is involved in social service, working to raise money for various charities.^{[15][dead link]}

Once or twice a term, a Community Action Day is held, organised by the social service captains of each house, to raise money for a diverse number of charities. Every year in May, a prefect-organised program, the 'Merry Month of May', is held to raise money for social initiatives. Activities such as a 'Battle of the Bands', barbecues, dress-up days, movie viewings, novelty races, great debates and theatresport contests are held each day. Also in conjunction with the Merry Month of May, the school participates in the World's Greatest Shave for the Leukaemia Foundation, in which participants shave their heads to show solidarity for leukaemia sufferers, raising money through collecting donations. In 2016, the Merry Month of May raised a record sum of $30,678. The school leadership teams in both the senior and junior schools in 2011 also raised money for relief for the Christchurch earthquake, Japanese tsunami and subsequent nuclear disaster and the bushfires in Victoria and Queensland.

House system

The Junior School Houses (Years K–6) are Moss, Woods, Marlton and Cintra.

The Senior School Houses (Years 7–12) are Mitre, Sarum, Hughes, Kilburn and Breen. Mitre, Sarum, Hughes and Kilburn are the four original school houses and were all created in 1922, all significant for their own reasons. When the school started to grow a fifth senior school house, Breen was created in 1987. The pastoral care system is based on a house structure which deals with all matters relating to a student's wellbeing or curriculum needs. Each student is placed in a house tutorial group which is overseen by a house tutor. There are five houses and therefore five house tutorial groups at each year level. A house contains students from Years 7 to 12. Each house is led by two co-heads. The members of each house are led by co-house captains and co-vice-captains. The houses meet on a regular basis.

The house tutor and heads of house work as a team to monitor the academic and personal progress of each student in the house tutorial group and house. Generally, the house tutor is the first and main point of contact between the parent and the school.

School leaders

Hewison House, a former 1860s mansion was acquired by the school in 1988 and named after a former headmaster

Principal

The following individuals have served as the school principal:^{[citation needed]}

Ordinal	Officeholder	Title	Term start	Term end	Time in office	Notes
1	Sister Hannah CSC	Principal	1895	1903	7–8 years
2	Sister Adele CSC		1903	1912	8–9 years
3	Sister Mildred CSC		1912	1925	12–13 years
4	Sister Persis CSC		1925	1933	7–8 years
5	Sister Dora Beatrice CSC		1934	1939	4–5 years
6	Sister Eudora CSC		1939	1944	4–5 years
7	Sister Karina CSC		1945	1949	3–4 years
8	Sister Shirley CSC		1950	1952	1–2 years
9	Sister Gabrielle CSC		1953	1954	0–1 years
10	Sister Patricia CSC		1955	1963	7–8 years
11	Sister Scholastica CSC		1963	1966	2–3 years
–	Sister Gabrielle CSC		1966	1967	0–1 years
–	Sister Scholastica CSC		1967	1968	0–1 years
12	Sister Elizabeth May CSC		1968	1970	1–2 years
–	Sister Scholastica CSC		1971	1972	0–1 years

Head of the school

The following individuals have served as the head of the school or any previous title:^{[citation needed]}

Ordinal	Officeholder	Title	Term start	Term end	Time in office	Notes
1	May Vicars Foote	Headmistress	1937	1946	8–9 years
2	Dorothy Benson	Headmistress	1963	1965	1–2 years
3	Margaret Thomas		1965	1979	13–14 years
4	Anthony Hewison AM	Headmaster	1980	1999	18–19 years	[1]
5	Simon Gipson OAM	Head of the School	2000	2017	16–17 years	[16]
6	Terrie Jones		2018	2022	6–7 years
6	Gerard Houlihan		2022	present	2–3 years

Notable alumni

• Marjorie McQuade, represented Australia at the 1948 Summer Olympics at London and the 1952 Summer Olympics at Helsinki^[17][18]
• Marie Breen, politician^[19]
• Philip Dalidakis, politician^[20]
• Slava Grigoryan, guitarist^[21]
• Joy Hester, artist^[22]
• Isabel Huntington, footballer and former AFL Women's No. 1 draft pick^[23]
• Asher Keddie, actress^[24][25]
• Samantha Lane, TV presenter^[26]
• Faith Leech, Olympic swimmer, gold and bronze medalist at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia^[18]
• Andrew MacLeod, former United Nations humanitarian expert and former CEO of the Committee for Melbourne
• Eloise Mignon, actress^{[citation needed]}
• Radha Mitchell, actress^[27]
• Frances Newson, hockey player^[18]
• Anna O'Byrne, singer^[28]
• Jan Skubiszewski, member of Jackson Jackson^{[citation needed]}
• Dan Spielman, actor^[29]
• Nora Sumberg, artist^{[citation needed]}
• Brodie Summers, Olympic Mogul skier and World Cup silver medalist^{[citation needed]}
• Winnie Laing, AFL Women's footballer^[30]
• Sean Wroe, Australian sprinter, silver medalist in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India. Wroe also represented Australia at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.^[18]
• Tess Coady, Olympic snowboarder, bronze medalist at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China^[31]
• Elena Galiabovitch, Australian shooter, Women's 10-metre air pistol bronze medalist at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Galiabovitch has represented Australia in both the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Elena was selected to be by the International Olympic Committee as one of six athletes to carry the Olympic flag at the Games opening ceremony in Tokyo.^[32]
• Col Pearse, Paralympic Swimmer, bronze medalist at the 2021 Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan^[33]

See also

• Australia portal
• Schools portal
• Christianity portal

• List of schools in Victoria
• List of high schools in Victoria
• Victorian Certificate of Education