| St Peters Lutheran College | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Indooroopilly, Queensland, Australia | |
| Information | |
| Type | Independent, Co-educational, Day and Boarding |
| Denomination | Lutheran |
| Established | 1945 |
| Principal | Professor Adrian Wiles (Acting Principal: Mrs. Sally Chandler) |
| Staff | ~138[1] |
| Enrolment | ~1,990 (P–12)[2] |
| Colour(s) | Maroon and White |
| Slogan | "Excellence in Christian Co-education"[3] |
| Website | www.stpeters.qld.edu.au |
St Peters Lutheran College is an independent, co-educational, Lutheran, day and boarding school, situated on a 21 hectares (52 acres) campus in Indooroopilly, an inner suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Established in 1945, St Peters currently caters for approximately 2,000 students from Prep to Year 12,[2] including 150 boarders from Years 6 to 12.[1] In January 2008, a Springfield campus opened with up almost 100 students from Prep to Year 8 in multi-age classes.
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There are certain symbolic icons present in the college emblem, including Martin Luther's iconic white rose from his seal, and an inverted cross for St Peter, leader of the Apostles in the early Christian Church, who was crucified upside-down.
The School's motto, Plus Ultra, which is Latin for "Ever Higher", is said to emphasise the College's desire for the students to reach their goals in their learning.
From the farmhouse "Ross Roy", bought and used as the first building of St Peters in 1945, the College campus has seen significant growth and change over the years.
Theile house, a four storey building comprising computer labs, classrooms, Year 11/12 lockers, and the Theile study centre, was recently renovated and extended. The facilities in the new building include a study centre for students in years 11 and 12, with three private study/meeting rooms and numerous computers and laptops available to students. The girls' boarding houses have also been renovated, now featuring air conditioning, and a multi-purpose court.
There are three libraries on campus. The Senior School library is a three-storey facility where students and staff can access a collection of fiction and non-fiction. There are approximately 80 computers and students have access to a number of databases to which the school subscribes.
Ironbark is the outdoor campus of St Peters Lutheran College. Located near the town of Crows Nest, some 50 km north of Toowoomba and 150 km north-west of Brisbane, the property consists of 600 hectares (1,483 acres) of heavily timbered, undulating granite country. The donation of land in 1971, provided the College with an opportunity to develop and implement an outdoor education program. After several years of discussion and planning, a pilot program was run in 1974. Following the success of the pilot program, Ironbark has been part of the College curriculum since 1976. Ironbark was named for the Eucalyptus Crebra, the narrow leaf Ironbark, which grows across the property.
Students from the College spend five weeks at Ironbark in Year 9. During their stay, students experience community living, help to run the farm and maintain the property, and undertake a range of outdoor adventure activities. The students have no formal academic lessons during their stay. Facilities on site include two dormitories, staff accommodation, a well-equipped workshop, a garden, and a mixed farm. Much of the food consumed by the students is produced on the property.
In 2004, a group of Year 9 students faced Ironbark's first ever bushfire evacuation. The fires scorched much of the property, and students were evacuated to a church hall in Crows Nest, and eventually sent home.
| Period | Details |
|---|---|
| 1945–1954 | Mr W C Schneider |
| 1955–1970 | Mr H W A Lohe |
| 1971–1993 | Dr C Dron |
| 1994–2002, 2011 | Mrs Sally Chandler^1 |
| 2003–2011 | Stephen Rudolph^2 |
| 2012– | Adrian Wiles |
Appointed in 2003, the current Head of College, Mr Stephen Rudolph, has had 25 years of experience in administering Lutheran schools (including a position as principal of Luther College, Melbourne, Australia). He has initiated change and overseen several projects throughout the college, including the refurbishment of Theile House and the Refectory. The most notable changes the current Head of College has made include, significant changes to the Ironbark program (including making it open to Year 9 only), and the establishment of a "Junior High" for students in Years 8 and 9.
1. Acting head of college in 2011. 2. Stephen Rudolph left after Term 1 2011 to become the head of Lutheran Schools Australia.
Tuition is available through the school on most instruments, as well as vocal lessons and musical theory (AMEB or Trinity). Music is an elective course in Years 8 to 12, while music is compulsory for students in Year 7 or below. Touring forms a significant part of the College's music program. Student ensembles have toured throughout the Asia-Pacific region, Russia, USA, Europe, China, Japan and Tasmania.
St Peters Chorale is a youth choir formerly directed by Graeme Morton regarded by some as one of Australia's leading youth vocal groups.[4] Composed of students from grades 10 to 12, it frequently performs pieces of music from various composers, especially supporting Australian artists. The choir has commissioned many important works like Stephen Leek's Great Southern Spirits. The chorale, which has toured overseas numerous times in the past, toured through Europe in 2007. In 2009, the Chorale toured domestically through Toowoomba and Boonah. The St Peters Chorale is recognised world wide as one of the finest Australian youth choirs.
The St Peters Youth Orchestra is an orchestral group open to all brass, strings, woodwind and percussion students from Years 8 to 12. The ensemble has performed a number of concerts, including a tour to New Zealand in 2006, and a Japan tour in 2009.
The St Peters' Symphonic Winds is the College's highest level concert band. It has an integral part of the bands program since its inception, integrating many brass, woodwind and percussion students from Years 9 to 12. At the end of 2008, the Symphonic Winds and Senior Stage Band went on a three week tour of Europe visiting Austria, Poland, Czech Republic and Switzerland. In December 2011, the Symphonic Winds and Senior Stage Band will tour the north-east of the United States of America for three weeks.
In addition, St Peters offers other ensembles, including:[5]
The co-curricular sporting program provides opportunities for students to participate in a variety of sports and physical pursuits. The school's sporting facilities include an indoor sports hall and weights room, a 50-metre and a 25-metre heated pool, six tennis-specific courts, eight additional multi-purpose outdoor courts and three ovals, two of which have turf cricket wickets.
The college offers a variety of sports from primary to senior, including:[6]
Students in Years 4 to 7 compete in The Associated Schools Junior (JTAS), while boys in Years 8 to 12 compete in the Associated Independent Colleges (AIC) competition and girls in Years 8 to 12 compete in the Queensland Girls' Secondary Schools Sports Association (QGSSSA).
St Peters Combobularity Club is a Gavel Club, which is a program for under 18s organised through Toastmasters International. The club has been operating since 2005 and its public speakers have won several notable awards during that time.
St Peters students participate in a range of other co-curricular activities, including Opti-MINDS, Debating, Mooting, Public Speaking, Robocup, Theatre Sports, Drama Access, Future Problem Solving, Bee Keeping, the Year 8 Production and various outside competitions.
The St Peters curriculum is designed to provide a continuum of experience and knowledge acquisition from Prep to Year 12. To this end, St Peters offers programs within four separate sub-schools; the Junior School (P–4), Middle School (5–7), Junior High (8–9) and Senior School (10–12). Each sub-school operates semi-autonomously with its own Head of Sub-School and administration. The Senior School offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program.[7]
In 2005, St Peters introduced a program for gifted and talented Middle School students. The program takes the three years of Middle School and condenses them into two whilst recognising and addressing that gifted children have special intellectual and emotional needs that cannot be addressed in a normal classroom setting. The name Infinity is an acronym for Integrating Needs with Feelings by Igniting, Nurturing and Inspiring Talented Youth.
Since 2004, the school has also been running an exchange program in conjunction with sister school, Immanuel college, in Adelaide, South Australia. The focus of the exchange program, or "Mind Change" as it is known, is to allow gifted students from both schools a chance to meet students their age who they can relate their interests to.
The school has a number of publications that are made available to the school community, including:[8]
Alumni of St. Peters Lutheran College are known as Old Scholars, and may elect to join the school's alumni association, the St Peters Old Scholars Association (SPOSA).[9] Notable St. Peter's Old Scholars include North Queensland indigenous leader, Noel Pearson, Olympic athletes Maxine Seear, Chris Noffke and Shane Gould, and musicians and actors Sigrid Thornton, Lisa Gasteen, Craig Horner, James Cuddeford, Anna Starr and Sam Atwell.
Other well-known past students include Brisbane author Rebecca Sparrow; ex-Brisbane Lions (now Essendon) Australian football player Mal Michael; 1986 Commonwealth Games 1500m Freestyle Gold Medalist Jason Plummer; 2002 Commonwealth Games Women's Marathon Bronze Medalist Jacqui Gallagher; Director of the Queensland Conservatorium of Music Professor Peter Roennfeldt; Federal MHRs Steven Ciobo and Michael Johnson; one-term Queensland State MLA Ted Radke; TV sports reporter Stephanie Brantz; Australian Financial Review journalist (and Walkley Award winner) Tom Iggulden; criminologist Tim Prenzler; historian Dr Dirk Moses; Larvatus Prodeo blogger Brian Bahnisch; romance novelist and former Brisbane Broncos cheerleader Ally Blake; co-founder of clothing label Sass & Bide, Heidi Middleton; Channel 9 weather reporter Joseph May; 2007 Rhodes Scholar, Anna Jane Kloeden (University of Queensland);[10] and current Brisbane Lions rookie listed Australian football player Adam Spackman. 2010 Commonwealth Games champion swimmer Yolane Kukla is a current pupil. Recently traded to Collingwood Football Club is ex-student Peter Yagmoor who finished in 2010 on the Michael Voss AFL scholarship.
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