| Toowoomba Grammar School | |
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Latin: Fidelis in Omnibus
Faithful in All Things
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| Location | |
| Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | |
| Information | |
| Type | Independent, Single-sex, Day & Boarding |
| Denomination | Non-denominational |
| Established | 1875 |
| Headmaster | Peter Hauser |
| Enrolment | ~1085 (P-12)[1] |
| Colour(s) | Blue & Gold |
| Website | www.twgs.qld.edu.au |
Toowoomba Grammar School is an independent, non-denominational, day and boarding grammar school for boys, in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia.
The school was founded in 1875 as a consequence of the Grammar Schools Act of 1860 passed by Queensland's first parliament. The original building was designed by Willoughby Powell and completed in 1876, first opening its doors to boys on 1 February 1877. Toowoomba Grammar has a non-selective enrolment policy and currently caters for approximately 1085 students from Prep to Year 12, including 280 boarders from Years 5 to 12.[1]
The school is affiliated with the Australian Boarding Schools Association (ABSA),[1] the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA),[2] the Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA),[3] Independent Schools Queensland (ISQ),[4] and has been a member of the Great Public Schools' Association Inc (GPS) since 1920.[5]
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Throughout most of the late 20th century, Toowoomba Grammar consisted of 10 houses, five dayboy houses (boys who live off-campus) and five boarding houses. Upon his appointment, Headmaster Peter Hauser (2003-Current) amalgamated the houses to increase the rate of dayboy/boarder competitiveness(Citation Required). The new houses were simply the names of the original houses joined together. At the outset of 2009 the school houses where again reformed. The new configuration has removed the hyphenated house names. The house names are now the names originally given to the five boarding houses.
(House - Colour)
Taylor - Black
Stephens - Blue
Mackintosh - Red
Groom - Green
Boyce - Maroon
The names of the houses are taken from notable oldboys or staff. For example, Mackintosh house is named after the first headmaster of the school, Mr John Mackintosh.
The five houses compete in interhouse competitions including: Swimming, Track & Field, Cross Country, Touch Football, Basketball, Volleyball, Tennis, Singing, Quiz, Chess, Debating and Theatre Sports.
With regards to these activities, these days Mackintosh seems to be the champion house having won the headmaster's shield 4 years in a row (2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010). However in 2011 Stephens appears to be dominating having won the cross country, the swimming and the touch football already this year.
Toowoomba Grammar School competes in all GPS events except for Rowing and AFL (although they did formerly participate and enjoyed much success more so in the former then the latter). Their most successful sports have historically been Cricket and Volleyball. Toowoomba Grammar School has a healthy intra-city rivalry with Downlands College, playing each other annually in Rugby for the O'Callaghan Cup and in Soccer for the Parents and Friends Cup. Toowoomba Grammar School 1st XV Rugby were defeated by Downlands College most recently on 15 May 2010 with a score of 25 - 23 to lose the O'Callaghan Cup, while the 1st XI Soccer lost with a score of 1-0 to lose the Parents and Friends Cup for the first time in the history of the cup.
Toowoomba Grammar has a strong Arts department, and participates in a variety of cultural endeavors, with variety of instrumental, vocal and drama ensembles operating with the school. The school's choral ensembles regularly perform at the Toowoomba Eisteddfod, and selected music and drama students also participate in the GPS Day of Music Excellence. The school has a history of staging a school production every year, with the venue alternating annually between the school's assembly hall, and Toowoomba's largest theatre venue, The Empire Theatre. In 2009 Toowoomba Grammar (in conjunction with several other Toowoomba schools) embarked on its most ambitious show to date, with the drama and music departments staging Jesus Christ Superstar at The Empire Theatre in mid-August. The show played to three near-capacity audiences, as well as a sell-out.
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