Frensham School

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Frensham School

Motto: In Love Serve One Another (St. Paul to the Galatians 5:13)
Established	1913
Type	Independent all-female secondary
Principal	Ms Julie A Gillick
Students	300
Grades	7–12
Location	Mittagong, NSW Australia
Campus	140 Hectares
Colours	Purple, Green and White
Website	www.frensham.nsw.edu.au

Frensham School is a girls secondary boarding and day school located in Mittagong in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales south of Sydney. The school has approximately 300 students with 250 of those students boarding at the school. The school's motto is "In love serve one another" and is taken from St Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, Chapter 5, Verse 15. Frensham is a founding member of the Association of Heads of Independent Girls' Schools (AHIGS).

1 History
2 Governance
3 Notable Alumnae (Old Girls)
- 3.1 Politics and Law
- 3.2 Media, Entertainment and the Arts
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] History

Miss Winifred West founded the school in 1913 with three students and five teaching staff. The school was named after her birthplace Frensham in Surrey. The school population had grown to 100 by 1918 based on word of mouth. The school population continued to grow to 250 by 1943 and 330 in 1963.

Photographer Harold Cazneaux published a book of photographs of the students and the school titled the Frensham Book in 1934: this collection is now in the National Library of Australia and formed part of a National Library public exhibition of his photography. S. E. Emilsen wrote another book on the school in 1988.

In 1941, Miss West established a craft school for local students teaching weaving, spinning and carpentry as a community service. The Sturt School added other crafts such as pottery, jewellery, textiles and screenprinting. Every Easter, Frensham and the Sturt Centre hold the Australian Forum for Fibre Textiles Conference known as the Fibre Forum attracting 300 people. Frensham also hosts an annual Summer School focussing on the arts between Christmas and New Year attracting between 200 and 300.

Gib Gate was established as a preparatory school in 1954 for Frensham. It was planned to open a preparatory school called Little Frensham in 1939 but the grounds were destroyed by the 1939 bushfires. In 1970, Gib Gate became co-educational catering for day students from pre-school to Year 6 with boarding available in Years 4, 5 and 6.

[edit] Governance

In 1917, Miss West established a school Council consisting of staff, the head girl and another prefect, old girls and community representatives. In 1932, Frensham School Limited was formed in order to provide for the school after the death of Miss West with the Council becoming the executive body.

A Board of Governors became the executive body in 1952 with the council becoming an advisory body. Frensham School Limited was renamed as Winifred West Schools Limited in 1955 as recognition of Sturt School and Gib Gate.

[edit] Notable Alumnae (Old Girls)

[edit] Politics and Law

Rosemary Foot - former Deputy Leader of the NSW Liberal Party in the early 1980s attended Frensham between 1948 and 1953. First woman to be elected to a leadership position of a major party in a lower house anywhere in Australia.
Lucy Turnbull, former Lord Mayor of Sydney.

[edit] Media, Entertainment and the Arts

Joan Phipson, author of 25 novels, including The Family Conspiracy which won the Australian Children's Book of the Year in 1963 and the New York Herald Tribune Children's Spring Book Festival Award in 1964.
Rosemary Dobson, who has published 13 books of poetry and has won a number of awards including an Australia Council Writer's Emeritus Award in 1996.
Henrietta Drake-Brockman - wrote a play Men Without Wives which won a Sesquicentenary Celebration Prize for best full-length play in 1938 and who won a Bulletin Short Story Prize.
Annette Macarthur-Onslow - author and illustrator who won Book of the Year Award of the Children's Book Council for Uhu in 1969 and who has illustrated works by numerous authors including Judith Wright and Ruth Manning-Sanders.
Nancy Keesing - wrote 26 volumes of poetry and fiction, chaired the Australia Council and the State Library of NSW has established a fellowship in her honour funded by her husband.