St Peter's Collegiate Girls' School

Infobox Secondary school
name = St Peter's Collegiate Girl's School

motto = "Pro Ecclesia Dei, Beati Mundo Corde"
'For the Church of God, Blessed are the Pure in Heart'
established = 1894
type = Independent Anglican School For Girls
affiliations = Anglican Church
headmaster = Mrs Fiona Godfrey
chaplain =
enrollment = 500
grades = K–12
colours = Blue, White, Silver
campus =
city = Adelaide
state = South Australia
country = Australia
website = [http://www.stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au/ www.stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au]

St Peter's Girl's School, (officially Saint Peter's Collegiate Girls' School, also commonly known as Saints Girls), is an independent girl's school located in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1894 and originally located in Kermode St, North Adelaide (at the current site of the Women's and Children's Hospital), the school is currently located moved in Stonyfell, 6 km east of the Adelaide CBD.

The school places an emphasis on relatively small class sizes of no more than 25, and as such keeps a small enrolment of around 500 girls at any one time. The school, though situated solely on one campus, is further subdivided into a Junior School (K-6), Middle School (7-9), and Senior School (10-12)

St Peter's Girls' is a day school which offers the South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE). It is funded by student fees, which range from AU$7,000 to AU$14,000, government grants and substantial endowments from Old Scholars. St Peter's Girls' maintains one of the state's best academic records, with more than 50% of Year 12 students gaining TERs in the top 10% since 1997. Additionally, the school awards more scholarships each year per capita of student population than any other independent school in the state.

In 2006, St Peter's Girls' became the first single-sex school in South Australia to achieve International Accreditation from the Council of International Schools.

History

St Peter's Girls' was founded in 1894 by the Community of the Sisters of the Church and was originally established in North Adelaide (Kermode St). The school moved to its present site at Stonyfell, just 6 km east of the city of Adelaide, in 1957.

The Sisters who opened the School were Englishwomen who had joined the Anglican Sisterhood founded in 1870 by Miss Emily Ayckbowm, with its headquarters in the London suburb of Kilburn. The members of the community were active in educational and social work in England and because he knew of this the then Bishop of Adelaide, Bishop Kennion, asked some of them to come and serve the needs of which he was aware. His request was answered by the arrival in Adelaide of the first Sisters in 1892, and the School opened in 1894 with 4 pupils.

The first lay Head was appointed in 1969. In 1985, the Sisters established an incorporated association managed by a Board of Governors and gifted the school and its assets to this association.

Campus and Facilities

The school is situated entirely on convert|9|acre|m2 of landscaped grounds located on Hallett Road, Stonyfell. Purchased at an auction in 1949, the Stonyfell property known as ‘Chiverton’ featured a two storey, 14 room residence and stables with a 2 room cottage.

The first day of School at the new campus was Ascension Day, 30 May 1957 with the Official opening held on St Peter’s Day 29 June 1957. The main building originally comprised of an assembly hall, tuckshop and 24 classrooms.

During the late 1960s science laboratories were built and an extension to the eastern end of the building for a library begun. In the 1970s the oval was further developed and a sports pavilion erected, the gymnasium was built, the swimming pool and Junior library and art centre were added. The Humzy Theatre was constructed in 1981 and in 1994 a new Information Technology Centre was completed. In 2001 the front office and car park were refurbished and in 2004 an Early Learners Centre was opened valued at $500,000. The campus celebrated its 50th Birthday in 2007.

The facilities boasted by the current campus include: heated outdoor swimming pool, sports oval, 6 tennis courts which are used for multiple sports, indoor gymnasium, fully-equipped fitness centre, tuckshop, home economics wing, science laboratories (accommodating biology, chemistry, and physics), four computer labs + portable laptop computer trolley (2 students: 1 computer), separate senior and junior libraries, audio-visual room, 140-seat multi-purpose lecture theatre which is used for many functions, sound-proofed music rehearsal rooms, senior study centre, Year 12 common room, school chapel, school museum and boardroom, health care centre, and five school buses (a ratio of 100 students to a bus).

There are currently no boarding facilities.

House System

Upon enrolling in the school, students are allocated into one of the four school houses, each named for a prominent figure in the school's history: Kennion (light blue), Kilburn (gold), Patteson (red), or Selwyn (green). Houses meet several times each term under the leadership of Year 12 Captains, and form the basis for Year 12 homegroups. Additionally, the four houses engage in numerous inter-house competitions every year, including: Athletics Day; Swimming Sports Day; House Music Eisteddfod; inter-house netball, hockey, tennis, badminton, soccer, softball, and debating; and the hotly-contested Choral Night, widely regarded as the community highlight on the school's yearly calendar. The houses strongly divide the school, and fiery atmospheres accompany most house competitions.

Academic Results

St Peter's Girls' maintains one of the state's best academic records, with results sitting well above those for both the state average and 'like schools'. Since the introduction of the Tertiary Entrance Ranking (TER) in 1997 to South Australia more than 50% of the school's Year 12 students have recorded a TER in the top 10% of the State.

In 2007, the most recent graduating class, 31% of students gained TERs in the top 5% of the state, and 24 Merits were recorded in 12 different subjects. Most St Peter's graduates continue on to tertiary education, with medicine, law, engineering, arts, and health sciences popular choices in recent years. In 2007, 9.5% of the graduating class was accepted into medicine, arguably the most competitive university program in Australia.

St Peter's Girls' offers 29 subjects at Stage 2 level, with an emphasis on traditionally 'academic' courses.

Alumni

Some of the school's notable alumni include:
* Hon Julie Bishop, former Minister for Science, Education and Training and current Federal Deputy Opposition Leader.
* Amanda Vanstone, former Minister for Immigration and current Australian Ambassador to Italy.
* Therese Rein, prominent businesswoman and wife of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
* Sarah McLeod, frontwoman of Australian rock band The Superjesus

External links

* [http://www.stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au St Peter's Collegiate Girls' School]

References