St Peter's College, Adelaide
Encyclopedia : S : ST : STP : St Peter's College, Adelaide
| St Peter's College | |
| |
| Pro Deo et Patria | |
| Established | 1847 |
| School type | Independent |
| Principal/Headmaster | Philip Grutzner |
| Location | Adelaide, South Australia, Australia |
| Campus | Urban |
| Enrollment | approx. 1150 |
| School colours | Blue and white |
| Homepage | [www.stpeters.sa.edu.au] |
Some senior students at Saints tend towards the International Baccalaureate programme; the remainder of the students complete the South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE). In 2005, Nick Smith was one of five students in South Australia to attain perfect scores in all five of his SACE subjects.
Emblem and Motto
The school motto "Pro Deo et Patria" is Latin and translates into English as 'For God and Country'. The school emblem consists of the symbols of St Peter and recalls Christ's words to him in St Matthew 16:19: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven". The Bishop's mitre represents the link the School has with the Anglican Church of Australia. The school is also often represented by its school colours, blue and white.School History
St Peter’s College began as a proprietary school in Trinity Schoolroom, North Terrace on July 15th 1847, the day now recognised as the Foundation Day of St Peter’s College. When Augustus Short arrived in South Australia in 1847 to be the fist Bishop of Adelaide, he brought with him as his chaplain the Reverend T.P. Wilson. In January 1848 Mr Wilson was put in charge of the school. He officially became Headmaster early in 1849. The school from that date has been dedicated to St Peter, probably because Bishop Short was educated at The Royal College of St Peter (more commonly known as Westminster School), London, and consecrated Bishop in Westminster Abbey on St Peter’s Day. On 24th May 1849, in the presence of the Governor Sir Henry Fox Young, Bishop Short laid the foundation stone of the new school building on its present site at St Peters, now known as Old School House. Before this building was erected, it was decided in September 1849 to build a schoolroom on the new site, as the Trinity Schoolroom had already become too small. This building is now known as the Big School Room. As early as 1848, the school began to accept boarders in various rented houses near the school. By October 1853, it was possible to accommodate boarders in the new school building, and by June 1854, when the second Headmaster, the Reverend G.H. Farr, arrived at the School, there were 65 boys, of whom 31 were boarders.School Houses
The school is currently made up of 10 houses. Four of these, Da Costa, Farrell, Hawkes and Short, were the original four houses founded in 1920. School and Allen House is a boarding house and was established in 2003 through the amalgamation of School House and Wyatt and Allen House, two of the older boarding houses. Five others have been founded thoughout the years to accommodate for the growing population of the school. In order of age these are, MacDermott, Woodcock, Young, Howard and Farr. All the houses have been named after prominent figures in the school’s history (with the exception of School House).Grounds and Buildings
The school is set on 32 hectares of immaculately maintained grounds, 3 km from the Adelaide CBD on Hackney Road, St. Peters, South Australia and is regarded as one of Australia's most beautiful schools. Facilities at St Peters include seven ovals, a hockey pitch, ten tennis courts and 2 pools. The school features a mix of heritage listed classrooms and modern buildings. These include the "Big School Room" which is thought to be Australia's oldest classroom still in constant use, Memorial Hall built to commorate the fallen old scholars, the new Science, Technology and Art building. The most recent addition to the school has been the completion of the multimillion dollar sports centre including two basketball courts, 25m pool, dive pool, conditioning room and café. The school is currently undertaking a new fundraising project - the Drama Centre which will be completed in stages. One of the features of the school is its world class "Main Oval" which is ranked in the top two fields in Adelaide, the first being the Adelaide Oval.[[Citing sources citation needed]] The College also features an outdoor education property in Finniss, which is a waterfront one hectare block of land featuring several buildings including a gymnasium.
First two Buildings on the North Terrace site. Left - Old School House Right - Chapel
Notable Alumni
Notable old scholars of Saints include three Nobel laureates:- William Lawrence Bragg (Nobel prize in Physics, 1915)
- Howard Walter Florey (Nobel prize in Medicine, 1945)
- J. Robin Warren (Nobel prize in Medicine, 2005)
- John Cox Bray (1881-1884)
- Don Dunstan (1967-1968, and 1970-1979)
- David Tonkin (1979-1982)
- John Bannon (1982-1992)
- Andy Thomas (Astronaut)
- Scott Hicks (Film Director)
- Tom Lewis (Premier of New South Wales 1975-1976)
- Grant Burge Master Winemaker
- Reg Grundy Television Producer
Recent Events
During the 2005 Easter period, St Peter's College was in the news when a group of its students were involved in a brawl with a group of students from bitter cross-town rivals, Prince Alfred College, at the Oakbank Horseracing festival.[[Citing sources citation needed]]In 2004 a child abuse scandal involving John Mountford, a former chaplain at St Peter's College, came to light. This event was concerning an incident that occurred over ten years before. The school was employing a chaplain, and when it was found that he had been sexually abusing students of the school, the then headmaster flew the chaplain out of Australia. The School continues to cooperate with all police investigations and has done a great deal in recent years to prevent child abuse, bullying and harassment; however the image of the school is still marred by this scandal. [link]
The Council of Governors appointed Philip Grutzner, a Melbourne Grammar old scholar, as the new principle in 2004. Since then Mr Grutzner has been the source of much internal controversy in the school. He has broken many traditions such as choosing not to live in Oval House, the traditional residence of the Headmaster. He has also attempted to completely reform the school's administrative system, widely believed to have caused the loss of many valuable and experienced teachers.
Assets
St Peter's College sold the Regent Arcade in 2005. Funds received from this sale have been invested in order to provide a fee subsidy for all parents, many scholarships and bursaries (from 10 to 100%) for families who are unable to afford the fees.Much of the schools assests came from a bequest by Benjamin Mendes Da Costa, a wealthy South Australian businessman. His numerous assets were allegedly left to the Anglican Church of South Australia but it is rumoured the school managed to acquire them through a legal struggle.
External links
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