St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls

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For other uses of the term, see: St. Hilda's
For the school in Queensland, see St Hilda's School.
St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls'
St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls crest. Source: www.sthildas.com.au (St Hilda's website)
Domine Dirige Nos
(Latin:"Lord Direct Us")
Established 1896
School Type Independent, Single-sex, Day and Boarding
Denomination Anglican
Slogan "Opportunities for Life"
Key People Mrs. Joy Shepherd (Principal)
Ms. Karen Farley (Chairman)
Father Toby Sherring (Chaplain)
School Fees AU$8,100–14,960 p.a (Day)
AU$25,460–28,920 p.a (Boarding)[1]
Location Mosman Park, WA, Australia Flag of Australia
Enrolment ~1,052 (ELC–12)[2]
Colours Blue, Yellow and Grey             
Homepage www.sthildas.com.au

St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls is an independent, non-selective, Anglican, day and boarding school for girls, located in Mosman Park, a western suburb of Perth, Western Australia.

Established in Claremont in 1896, the school currently caters for approximately 1,052 students from the Early Learning Centre (ELC) to Year 12, including 150 boarders in Years 7 to 12.[2] Whilst predominantly an all-girls school, the St Hilda's ELC is co-educational.

St Hilda's is affiliated with the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA),[3] the Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA),[4] the Australian Boarding Schools' Association (ABSA),[2] the Alliance of Girls' Schools Australia (AGSA),[5] and is a member of the Independent Girls' Schools Sports Association (IGSSA).

St Hilda's brother school is Christ Church Grammar School located in Claremont.

Contents

[edit] History

St Hilda’s Anglican School for girls was originally opened as a small school on Stirling Highway, Claremont. In 1898, the School was renamed Claremont Ladies’ College and moved to the Parish Hall in Claremont. The school was bought by Melina Parnell in 1904, and renamed Girls’ High School. After Parnell’s retirement in 1926, the Anglican Church, keen to found an Anglican School for girls in the Claremont, Cottesloe or Peppermint Grove areas, acquired the Girls' High School. Three years later it was transferred to the Bay View Terrace campus it now presides at.

The school was named after the Christian saint Hilda of Whitby and in the name of St Hilda’s Church of England School for Girls. St Hilda’s began under the direction of Catherine Small, with 54 pupils from the Girls’ High School and 45 new pupils. The School developed into a well known Western Australian girls school despite difficulties for schools during the Depression and Second World War.

Senior students and mistress outside St Hilda's, 1953
Senior students and mistress outside St Hilda's, 1953

St Hilda’s experienced another surge of growth and development under the new guidance of Una Mitchell from 1947 to 1967. From 1969 to 1975, when Ms Patman was Headmistress, a number of important buildings were constructed. The Roger Goode Centre which acted as both a gym and a performance venue, and the Una Mitchell Building which provided new teaching facilities and currently houses the Social Science Department. The annual Cultural Day (now known as the St Hilda’s Arts Festival) was also introduced. Mrs June Jones took up the position of Principal in 1980, and in 1981 the school was renamed St Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls, in celebration of its Jubilee year on the Mosman Park site.

Since 1980, enrolment has increased rapidly in both the Junior and Senior School to around 1,000 students from Kindergarten to Year 12. A building programme was undertaken and is still continuing today. St Hilda’s has seen the development of a new Library and English Studies Centre, a new Science Centre, Mathematics Centre, Administration Centre, Staff Curriculum Centre, Dining Hall, Kitchen and Health Centre, and a new Junior School as well as major renovations to the Boarding Houses. In 1990, a Chapel Appeal was launched and a School Chapel was eventually completed. To commemorate the centenary celebration of the founding of the School, a replica of Caedmon’s Cross from Whitby was built in the Great Court

The current Principal, Mrs Joy Shepherd, was appointed in 1998 and has brought a pastoral care programme to the School. Eventually, major plans for renovation, building and refurbishment of the school campuses were formed. However, in 1999 a fire damaged the Boarding House. Boarders were relocated temporarily to the newly bought Chidley Campus while a new Boarding House and Café were built on campus. The old Boarding House was rebuilt to house Languages and Drama. In 2004, the School launched the ‘Spreading Our Wings’ campaign and commenced development of a new Junior School at the Chidley Campus a few kilometres up the road. A new scheme was taken on in 2006, where Year 7 officially became a part of the Senior School. The Junior School (K–6) were moved to the new campus in Fourth Term 2006. The old Junior School facilities at the Bay View Terrace campus are now currently being refurbished to extend exiting facilities in the Senior School. This has provided for extra services and rooms for Music, Art and English, while the old Library and English Centre is currently being renovated to house a Technology Centre.

[edit] Principals

Period Details
1896 – 1898 Miss Edith Ross
1899 – 1904 Miss E Allen and Miss M Allen
1905 – 1926 Miss M F Parnell
1927 – 1930 Miss M Rooney
1931 – 1946 Miss C Small
1946 – 1968 Miss Una Mitchell
1969 – 1975 Miss J Patman
1976 – 1979 Mrs Rita MacGregor
1980 – 1997 Mrs June Jones
1998 – Present Mrs Joy Shepherd

[edit] House system and pastoral care

St Hilda's has a Pastoral Care system in the Senior School. There are four Houses all named after rivers in Western Australia:

In each year, girls are separated into Forms by their house, with two Forms per House per Year. These Forms consist of approximately 14 to 19 girls, and each has a teacher from the School acting as a Form Tutor. Forms meet every morning before classes for 15 minutes and for one period a week.

[edit] Student executive

The school executive consists of eleven school officials taken from the Year 12 students. These officials are elected by the student body at the end of Term 3 the year previous. The executive is made up of the Head Girl, Administration Captain, Head Boarder, Community Service Captain, Arts Captain, Music Captain, Sports Captain, Blackwood House Captain, De Grey House Captain, Fitzroy House Captain and Gascoyne House Captain. House officials are also elected at the same time with two Arts Captains and two Sports Captains for each House. Arts Captains are responsible for organising the annual Arts Festival event while Sports Captains organise Inter-house Sports Events.

[edit] Uniform

The St Hilda’s Uniform consists of a blue short sleeve blouse and light grey skirt in summer, worn with a light blue socks and brown leather shoes. Cardigans are available but are optional. A yellow straw boater with a light blue band and badge is compulsory in the summer terms (Term 1 and 4) and must be worn to and from the School as well as at lunchtimes. A formal uniform is also required which consists of the uniform as above with flesh coloured stockings instead of socks, a blue and yellow striped tie for Years 7–11 or a blue tie for Year 12s and the school blazer. In winter, girls may wear the same short sleeved blue blouse or a long sleeved blue blouse with a tie as above. A heavier, dark grey skirt is worn with grey stockings and brown leather shoes. Grey jumpers are worn for girls in Years 7–11 and dark blue ‘Leavers’ jumpers for girls in Year 12. The blue school blazer is compulsory during winter but optional during summer except for formal occasions and must be worn to and from the school and whenever in a public place in uniform.

The school blazer is a bright blue colour with three gold buttons and the school crest stitched in yellow on the breast pocket. Each student is allocated a house badge which they pin on their blazers. Badges are also provided for committees, officials and tutor group captains. School and House Officials get stitching on their breast pocket that detonates their position. School awards are awarded for co-curricular activities and range from a cream bar for Year 7s up to Colours of Honours for Year 12s. Each activity has its own symbol for Colours and is stitched onto the student’s breast pocket if they receive it. Along with Cream Bars, Blue Bars and Gold Bars are awarded depending on school year and level of involvement as well as one or two bands which is stitched on to the sleeves of the blazer.

[edit] Co-curricular activities

[edit] Sport

St Hilda’s is a member of the Independent Girls Schools Sports Association (IGSSA), and partakes in competitive sports against other schools including the Presbyterian Ladies' College, Methodist Ladies' College, St Mary's Anglican Girls' School, Iona Presentation College, Penrhos College, Perth College and Santa Maria College. St Hilda’s offers most sports from swimming and athletics to soccer and badminton. Physical Education Classes are compulsory for all Years, twice a week for Year 7–10 and then once a week in Year 11 and 12 with Second Semester PE optional for Year 12s. PE Studies is available for Year 11 and 12 students.

[edit] Music

St Hilda’s has a Music Department offering instrumental and voice lessons and scholarships. There are co-curricular music groups available, many of which rehearse before school. Amongst these, there are a Symphony Orchestra, String Orchestra, Chamber Ensemble, Flute Ensemble, Chorale, Barbershop, Animando, Jazz Band and Rock Band. The music department holds many concerts each year including an annual concerto concert where the best musicians from Years 11 and 12 perform a solo work with orchestral backing. Other highlights of the music calendar include a combined Arts Festival Concert with their Brother School Christ Church Grammar School, the St Hilda's music festival, which was held for the first time in late 2007, the annual Music Camp to Margaret River and the yearly Music Breakfast.

[edit] Drama

St Hilda’s offers Drama Studies and Drama as a subject in Years 11 and 12. Drama is compulsory for Year 8's and then optional for Years 9 to 12. The Drama department also offers individual Speech and Drama lessons for students who wish to pursue the activity further. A yearly school production is also held with students and musicians from Years 8 to 12 taking part. The productions were until recently held at the Playhouse Theatre in Perth but have since relocated to the Octagon Theatre at UWA. Recent productions include Annie, The Wiz, Anything Goes and Sweet Charity. The production for 2008 has been announced as Grease and performances will take place in the Playhouse Theatre in Perth once again.

[edit] Arts festival

The annual Arts festival is held at the end of Term One and is run and organised by two Arts Captains from each House. The main Festival takes place on the last day of Term One, with some solo events taking place in the weeks preceding this. The Festival provides opportunities for solo and group performances which are organised by the students. Such events include House Choirs (where each House as a whole performs two songs as a choir), Group Popular Song (each House selects singers and a band and perform a popular song), Solo Popular Song, Group Classical, Solo Classical Song, Solo Instrumental, Group Spoken (each House selects a group of students and performs a short original production based on a theme), Solo Spoken, Group Dance and Solo Dance. Each event is judged by an outside adjudicator. There is also a fancy dress parade on the morning of the Arts Festival for Year K – 12 and staff, where each Year has a theme to dress to. At the end of the day, the House with the most points receives the Arts Festival Shield.

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] References

  1. ^ Schedule of Fees, Conditions and Concessions 2008 (PDF). Enrolments. St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls. Retrieved on 2008-01-21.
  2. ^ a b c St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls. Schools. Australian Boarding Schools' Association (2007). Retrieved on 2008-01-21.
  3. ^ Western Australia. AHISA Schools. Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (January 2008). Retrieved on 2008-01-21.
  4. ^ JSHAA Western Australia Directory of Members. Western Australia Branch. Junior School Heads' Association of Australia (2008). Retrieved on 2008-01-21.
  5. ^ Member Schools. Members. The Alliance of Girls' Schools Australia (2007). Retrieved on 2008-01-21.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links