St Catherine's School, Sydney

Infobox Aust school private
name = St Catherine's School


motto = " _la. In Christo Thesauri Sapientiae Et Scientiae"
(Latin:"In Christ are the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge")
established = 1856
type = Independent, Single-sex, Day and Boarding
denomination = Anglican
slogan =
key_people = Mrs. Lynne Stone (Principal)
Jane Sophia Barker (Founder)
Dr. Ian Walker (Chairman)
fees = AU$10,075–16,968 p.a (Day)cite web |url=http://www.sydneyschild.com.au/index.php?option=com_mtree&task=viewlink&link_id=89&Itemid=38 |title=St Catherine's School|accessdate=2007-10-29 |work=Directory |publisher=Sydney's Child]
city = Waverley
state = New South Wales
country = Australia flagicon|Australia
coordinates = coord|33|54|15|S|151|15|19|E|display=inline,title
enrolment = ~920 (K–12)
num_employ = ~97cite web |url=http://www.stcaths.nsw.edu.au/files/boardofstudeiesreport/BOS_Annual_Report_2006.pdf |title=Annual Report 2006 |accessdate=2007-08-15 |year =2007 |format=PDF |work=Latest news |publisher=St Catherine's School]
revenue =
colours = Yellow, Red and Blue color box|#FFCC00color box|#FF0000color box|#0000FF
homepage = [http://www.stcaths.nsw.edu.au/ www.stcaths.nsw.edu.au]

St Catherine's School (commonly referred to as St Cath's) is an independent, Anglican, day and boarding school for girls, located in Waverley, an eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Established in 1856 as a school for the daughters of clergy, St Catherine's is the oldest Anglican girls' school in Australia.cite web |url=http://www.stcaths.nsw.edu.au/page.cfm?pid=2 |title=History of the School|accessdate=2007-08-15 |year =2006 |work=History |publisher=St Catherine's School] It is also the oldest independent girls' school in Australia.cite web|url = http://k6.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/linkages/IntegratedUnits/StCatherines/stcatherines.html|title = St Catherine's |accessdate = 2007-09-24|work = Integrated Units|publisher = Board of Studies NSW] It is a non-selective school, and currently caters for approximately 920 girls from Kindergarten to Year 12, including 63 boarders.

The school is affiliated with the Alliance of Girls’ Schools Australasia (AGSA),cite web |url=http://www.agsa.org.au/members.php?PageID=11&Alpha=S |title=Member Schools|accessdate=2007-12-11 |year =2007 |work=Members|publisher=The Alliance of Girls Schools Australasia] the Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA),cite web |url=http://www.jshaa.asn.au/nsw/directory/index.asp |title=JSHAA New South Wales Directory of Members |accessdate=2007-12-11 |year =2007 |work=New South Wales Branch|publisher=Junior School Heads' Association of Australia] the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA),cite web |url=http://www.ahisa.com.au/Display.aspx?tabid=2230 |title=AHISA Schools|accessdate=2007-12-11 |year =2007 |month =November |work=New South Wales|publisher=Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia] the Australian Boarding Schools' Association (ABSA),cite web |url=http://www.boarding.org.au/site/school_detail.cfm?schID=20 |title=Schools: St Catherine's School |accessdate=2007-09-24 |year =2007 |work=Australian Boarding Schools' Association] and is a founding member of the Association of Heads of Independent Girls' Schools (AHIGS).cite web |url=http://www.ahigs.nsw.edu.au/DeskTopDefault.aspx?tabid=1 |title=Heads of New South Wales Independent Girls' Schools |accessdate=2007-12-11 |year =2007 |work=AHIGS|publisher=The Association of Heads of Independent Girls' Schools]

History

St Catherine's School traces its origins to 1855, when Mrs Jane Barker, wife of the Bishop of Sydney, decided to establish a school for the daughters of the clergy. Barker and her husband had travelled throughout New South Wales, and realised that the poor stipends of the clergy in country areas meant that their daughters could not benefit from a good education. Within five months, Barker had raised enough money to secure a premises in Point Piper Road (now Jersey Road), Edgecliff, and had hired Ms Loftus to run the St Catherine's Clergy Daughters School. Barker wished for her school to be modelled on Casterton, the school attended by the Brontë sisters, who were themselves the daughters of a poor clergyman. The Clergy Daughters School was officially opened in its temporary location on 5 March 1856.

Shortly after the school's opening, Barker was able to secure a land grant of convert|5|acre|ha|0 near Waverley, and began to look towards the creation of a small missionary settlement, including the Clergy Daughters' School, a church, parsonage and a village school. In September 1857, the foundation stone of the new School was laid, and in 1859, the sandstone building which is remains the focus of the School today, was completed. Barker continued to be closely involved with the fledgling Clergy Daughters' school until her death in 1876.

When enrolments began to decline during the depression years of 1891–1895, day girls were admitted to the school for the first time. The Principal, Ms Darling, also introduced the first school uniform during this time, in the form of an olive green dress.

In 1933, the House system was introduced. Barker was named after the Bishop and Mrs Barker, Casterton House after the school on which St Catherine's was modelled, and the third House was named Bronte as Charlotte Brontë had mentioned Casterton in "Jane Eyre". Two more Houses, Hulme-Moir and Sutherland, were created in 1987.cite web|url= http://www.stcaths.nsw.edu.au/page.cfm?pid=11|title= Timeline of St Catherine's|accessdate= 2007-08-07|year= 2006 |work= History|publisher= St Catherine's School]

Headmistresses

Campus

Since 1859, St Catherine's School has been situated on one suburban campus, currently convert|2|ha|acre|0 in size and featuring a mix of 19th century and modern buildings, gardens and views to the ocean.cite web|url = http://www.stcaths.nsw.edu.au/page.cfm?pid=54|title = Our Facilities|accessdate = 2007-09-24|work = K-12|publisher = St Catherine's School]

Some notable facilities of the college include the Jo Karaolis Sports Centre, with facilities for netball, tennis, basketball and gymnastics and school functions; the Dame Joan Sutherland Centre for the Performing Arts, featuring a drama theatre, recording studio, dance studio, band room and music practice and teaching areas; computing facilities in the Sutherland Centre; an Independent Learning Centre and Student Meeting Room; Swimming pool; Junior School and library; and Year 12 Common room and Senior School Library. The Boarding House, Uniform Shop, Deli, After School Care facilities and Staff Creche are also located on site.

Notable alumni

Former students of St Catherine's School are known as 'Old Girls' and may elect to join the schools Alumni association, known as the 'Old Girls' Union'. The Old Girls' Union was established on 11 November 1898 by Miss Charlotte Elizabeth Fox, the Headmistress at the time. At its foundation the aim of the union was to keep past pupils in contact with the school and promote its good, whilst also encouraging younger members to continue furthering their talents after graduation.cite web|url = http://www.stcaths.nsw.edu.au/page.cfm?pid=18|title = The Old Girls' Union|accessdate = 2007-09-24|work = Our Community|publisher = St Catherine's School] Some notable Old Girls' of St Catherine's include: ;Academic
*Nona Langley – Former Headmistress and administrator of St Catherine's School, Toorakcite web
url = http://www.stcatherines.net.au/AboutUs/default.asp|title = Our History|accessdate = 2007-05-23|year = 2006|work = About Us|publisher = St Catherine's School, Toorak]
*Ruth Langley – Former Headmistress and administrator of St Catherine's School, Toorak
*Desley Olwyn Luscombe – Dean of the Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, at the University of Technology Sydney; Former Head of Architecture at the University of New South Walescite encyclopedia| editor = Suzannah Pearce| encyclopedia = Who's Who in Australia Live!| title = LUSCOMBE Desley Olwyn| accessdate = 2007-10-09| date = 2006-11-17| year = 2007| publisher = Crown Content Pty Ltd| location = North Melbourne, Vic]

;Entertainment, media and the arts
*Eirene Mort – Artistcite encyclopedia| last = Henry| first = Margaret | encyclopedia = Australian Dictionary of Biography| title = Mort, Eirene (1879 - 1977) | url = http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100581b.htm?hilite=St%3BCatherine%27s%3BSchool| accessdate = 2007-07-27| edition = Online| year = 1986| publisher = Melbourne University Press| volume = 10| location = Melbourne, Vic.| pages = pp.596-597]
*Dame Joan Sutherland AM AC DBE CBE – Australian Opera singer (Soprano)

;Medicine and science
*Una Lucy Fielding – Pioneering Neuroanatomistcite encyclopedia| last = O'Neill| first = Sally | encyclopedia = Australian Dictionary of Biography| title = Fielding, Una Lucy (1888 - 1969) | url = http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A140172b.htm?hilite=St%3BCatherine%27s%3BSchool| accessdate = 2007-07-27| edition = Online| year = 1996| publisher = Melbourne University Press| volume = 14| location = Melbourne, Vic.| pages = pp.162-163]

;Politics, public service and the law
*Joan Edith Goodwin – Second wife of the late Sir Roden Cutler, former Governor of NSWcite news| first = Jonathan| last = Green | title = Famous alumni on Latham's hit list| url = http://www.crikey.com.au/Politics/20060614-Famous-alumni-on-Lathams-hit-list.html| work = Politics| publisher = Crikey| date = 2005-03-30| accessdate = 2007-08-06]

References

See also

* List of non-government schools in New South Wales
*List of boarding schools

External links

* [http://www.stcaths.nsw.edu.au/ St. Catherine's School website]