St Michael's Collegiate School

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St Michael's Collegiate School, colloquially known as Collegiate, is an Anglican, Girls-only, K-12 Private School, located in Hobart, Tasmania. St Michael's Collegiate School is affiliated with The Hutchins School and Fahan School, with whom they share their Year 11 and 12 classes.

[edit] History

In 1892, at the invitation of Bishop Montgomery, seven Sisters came from the mother house in Kilburn, England, to Tasmania. Of these, three Sisters remained in Tasmania and, at the request of Dean Dundas, opened a school for girls and boys in October 1892. Sister Hannah was the principal of the school which had an initial enrollment of 12 children, six boy and six girls. Classes were held in the Synod Hall.

Sister Phyllis became the Principal in 1895, by which time the number of enrolled students had rapidly risen to 71, including 6 boarders. To cater for this growth in numbers the school moved to Stephenville, a large house in Macquarie Street. Stephenville was built in 1925 for the Solicitor General of Tasmania Sir Alfred Stephen.

During the following decades the School continued to expand, and so in 1912 the School purchased the house Tremayne, located next door to Stephenville. This provided extra class rooms and accommodation for the senior boarders.

In these early days the School was known as the Collegiate School. The students did not have a uniform as such, but were required to wear a long dark coloured skirt and a white blouse.

From around 1915 girls who became prefects were presented with a silver brooch in the form of the School emblem. These were worn for the term of office and then handed back to the School to be passed to the next year’s prefects. Sister Phyllis then presented each outgoing prefect with a beautiful gold ring signet ring. At some time during the 1920 some girls began to wear a brooch with the initials C.C.E.S., which stood for Collegiate Church of England School.

In 1929 Tremayne was demolished to make way for a larger, two storey, purpose built building, which housed classrooms downstairs and accommodation for the boarders upstairs. This new building, also named Tremayne was opened in 1932.

Throughout this important time of development and growth, the School continued to be run by Sister Phyllis, who remained principal until 1933. During her long term, Sister Phyllis created the solid educational and religious foundations for the wonderful school that Collegiate is now.

In 1937 a summer uniform was introduced. It was strikingly different from the traditional navy blue tunic and black stockings, and much more comfortable to wear in the warmer months. It was a beige coloured tunic. This uniform remained virtually unaltered for over fifty years.

Due in part to the onset of the Second World War, the School did not embark on any further expansion until 1953, by which time the School required separate buildings for a junior school. For this purpose two adjacent houses in Macquarie Street were purchased in 1953. In 1959 a new large Assembly Hall was completed, and not long after a number of new classrooms were added.

In 1973, eighty years after the foundation of the Collegiate Church of England School, the Sisters of the Church handed the responsibility of the running of the School over to a board, and in 1974 the School welcomed its first lay principal.

The current house system consists of eight houses (Dundas, Kilburn, McPhee, Mitchell, Montgomery, Reibey, Rivers and Stevens). Each year, these houses compete against each other in physical and mental contests for the Sunshine House Cup, donated by the Leavers of 2001. These events include inter-house swimming, debating, house performance/fashion parade and athletics. The cup is currently held by Rivers House (2006). As of 2007, girls in Years 5 to 12 will be placed in one of the houses, lead by a Year 12 House Captain, Year 12 Deputy House Captain and a Year 11 Deputy House Captain.

Collegiate offers a wide range of sports (around 30 in 2006). Captains are usually chosen in Years 11 and 12, but in some cases a Year 10 girl is chosen as Captain. Collegiate girls have represented Australia in softball, hockey, soccer, rowing and underwater hockey and many students represent Tasmania in many sports.

Collegiate also offers a wide range of subjects also. Students up to Year 4 study a core of subjects, including Japanese, specifically designed to prepare them for middle school (Years 5-8). Years 5 to 8 have common teachers whenever possible. In Years 7 and 8 students can study two LOTEs from French, German, Japanese and Latin. Collegiate is the only school in Tasmania that offers Latin to secondary students.

Senior school (9-12) prepares girls for life after school. Year 9s choose three elective subjects and study a core of Science, Enligsh, SoSe, Maths, Faith and Life and Health/Physical Education (HPE). Year 10 students choose all subjects except Faith and Life and HPE which they also must study. Pre-tertiary students (Years 11 and 12) can choose up to five pre-tertiary subjects.

At present Collegiate is a highly revered school whose attainments and achievements are well documented. It flourishes very well academically and physically. It has an orchestra, stage band, various ensembles and choral groups and a School of Performing Arts (SPA) which is a 'school inside a school'.