St Catherine's School Sydney
The college in 2013
Address
26 Albion Street

Waverley
,
New South Wales
,
2024

Australia
Coordinates33°54′15″S 151°15′19″E / 33.90417°S 151.25528°E / -33.90417; 151.25528
Information
Former nameSt Catherine's Clergy Daughters School
TypePrivate Anglican single-sex primary and secondary day and boarding
DenominationAnglicanism[1]
Established1856 (1856)
FounderJane Sophia Barker
ChairmanSimon Roberts
HeadmistressJulie Townsend
Staff~120[2]
YearsK–12
GenderGirls
Enrolmentc. 1,000
Area2 hectares (5 acres)
Campus typeSuburban
NicknameSt Cath's
Affiliations
Websitewww.stcatherines.nsw.edu.au

St Catherine's School (commonly referred to as St Cath's) is a private Anglican Junior and Senior day and boarding school, located in Waverley, an eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Established in 1856 as a school for the daughters of clergy, St Catherine's is the oldest Anglican girls' school in Australia.[3] It is also the oldest private girls' school in Australia.[4] It is a non-selective school, and currently caters for approximately 1,000 girls from Year K to Year 12, including 70 boarders.

The school is affiliated with the Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia (AGSA),[5] the Junior School Heads Association of Australia,[6] the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia,[7] the Australian Boarding Schools' Association (ABSA),[8] and is a founding member of the Association of Heads of Independent Girls' Schools.[9]

St Catherine's has been reviewed by the Good Schools Guide International.[10]

History

St Catherine's School traces its origins to 1855, when Jane Barker, wife of Frederic Barker, second Archbishop of Sydney, decided to establish a school for the daughters of the clergy. Barker and her husband had travelled throughout New South Wales, and realised that the poor stipends of the clergy in country areas meant that their daughters could not benefit from a good education. Within five months, Barker had raised enough money to secure a premises in Point Piper Road (now Jersey Road), Edgecliff, and had hired Ms Loftus to run the St Catherine's Clergy Daughters School. Barker wished for her school to be modelled on Casterton School, the school attended by the Brontë sisters, who were themselves the daughters of a poor clergyman. The Clergy Daughters School was officially opened in its temporary location on 5 March 1856.[3]

Shortly after the school's opening, Barker was able to secure a land grant of 5 acres (2 ha) near Waverley, and began to look towards the creation of a small missionary settlement, including the Clergy Daughters' School, a church, parsonage and a village school. In September 1857, the foundation stone of the new School was laid, and in 1859, the sandstone building which remains the focus of the School today, was completed. Barker continued to be closely involved with the fledgling Clergy Daughters' school until her death in 1876.[3]

When enrolments began to decline during the depression years of 1891–1895, day girls were admitted to the school for the first time. The principal, Ms Darling, also introduced the first school uniform during this time, in the form of an olive green dress.[3]

In 1933, the house system was introduced. After the Second World War, the swimming pool, a new assembly building and the junior school were added amongst other renovations. A new sports centre was opened in 2002.[3]

Houses

HouseDate foundedColour
Barker1933 
Bronte1933 
Casterton1933 
Hulme-Moir1987 
Patterson2015 
Phillips2015 
Sutherland1987 

Barker was named after the Bishop and Mrs Barker, Casterton House after the school on which St Catherine's was modelled, and the third House was named Bronte as Charlotte Brontë had mentioned Casterton in Jane Eyre. Hulme-Moir and Sutherland were created in 1987.[11][12]

Headmistresses

Headmistress and students, 1945
OrdinalOfficeholderTerm startTerm endTime in officeNotes[9]
1Jane Sophie Barker185618560 yearsFounder
2Miss Loftus185618603–4 yearsLady Superintendent
3Miss Law1860188322–23 yearsLady Superintendent
4Helen Phillips188418905–6 years
5Rebecca Darling189118953–4 years
6Charlotte Fox189519037–8 years
7Ellen Lenthall1903193430–31 years
8Isabel Hall1935194711–12 years
9Ella Mitchell194819490–1 years
10Una Fitzhardinge195019543–4 years
11Faith Patterson1955198731–32 years
12Jo Karaolis1988200011–12 years
13Lynne Stone200120097–8 years
14Julie Townsend2010incumbent13–14 years

Campus

Since 1859, St Catherine's School has been situated on one suburban campus, currently 2 hectares (5 acres) in size and featuring a mix of 19th century and modern buildings, gardens and views to the Tasman Sea.[13]

Some notable facilities of the college include the Jo Karaolis Sports Centre, with facilities for netball, tennis, basketball and gymnastics and school functions; the Dame Joan Sutherland Centre for the Performing Arts, featuring a drama theatre, recording studio, dance studio, band room and music practice and teaching areas; computing facilities in the Sutherland Centre; an Independent Learning Centre and Student Meeting Room; swimming pool; Junior School and library; and Year 12 common room and Senior School Library; The Boarding House, uniform shop, deli, museum and playgrounds. After school care facilities are also located on site.[13]

Notable alumnae

Former students of St Catherine's School are known as "Old Girls" and may elect to join the schools Alumni association, known as the "Old Girls' Union". The Old Girls' Union was established on 11 November 1898 by Miss Charlotte Elizabeth Fox, the Headmistress at the time. At its foundation the aim of the union was to keep past pupils in contact with the school and promote its good, whilst also encouraging younger members to continue furthering their talents after graduation.[14] Some notable Old Girls' of St Catherine's include:

Entertainment, media and the arts
Medicine and science
Sport

See also

References

  1. ↑ "St Catherine's School". Directory. Sydney's Child. Retrieved 29 October 2007.
  2. ↑ "Annual Report 2006" (PDF). Latest news. St Catherine's School. 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 August 2007. Retrieved 15 August 2007.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "History of the School". History. St Catherine's School. 2006. Retrieved 15 August 2007.
  4. ↑ "St Catherine's". Integrated Units. Board of Studies NSW. Retrieved 24 September 2007.
  5. ↑ "Member Schools". Members. The Alliance of Girls Schools Australasia. 2007. Archived from the original on 19 May 2008. Retrieved 11 December 2007.
  6. ↑ "JSHAA New South Wales Directory of Members". New South Wales Branch. Junior School Heads' Association of Australia. 2007. Archived from the original on 18 December 2007. Retrieved 11 December 2007.
  7. ↑ "AHISA Schools". New South Wales. Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia. November 2007. Archived from the original on 2 November 2007. Retrieved 11 December 2007.
  8. ↑ "Schools: St Catherine's School". Australian Boarding Schools' Association. 2007. Archived from the original on 29 August 2007. Retrieved 24 September 2007.
  9. 1 2 "Heads of New South Wales Independent Girls' Schools". AHIGS. The Association of Heads of Independent Girls' Schools. 2007. Retrieved 11 December 2007.
  10. ↑ "The Good Schools Guide International". 26 October 2016.
  11. ↑ "Timeline of St Catherine's". History. St Catherine's School. 2006. Retrieved 7 August 2007.
  12. ↑ "Houses at St Catherine's". St Catherine's School.
  13. 1 2 "Our Facilities". K–12. St Catherine's School. Retrieved 24 September 2007.
  14. ↑ "The Old Girls' Union". Our Community. St Catherine's School. Retrieved 24 September 2007.
  15. ↑ Henry, Margaret (1986). "Mort, Eirene (1879–1977)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 10 (Online ed.). Melbourne, Vic.: Melbourne University Press. pp. 596–597. Retrieved 27 July 2007.
  16. ↑ Green, Jonathan (30 March 2005). "Famous alumni on Latham's hit list". Politics. Crikey. Archived from the original on 26 September 2007. Retrieved 6 August 2007.
  17. ↑ "Rachael Coopes wins Helpmann Award". www.stcatherines.nsw.edu.au. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  18. ↑ "Instagram".
  19. ↑ O'Neill, Sally (1996). "Fielding, Una Lucy (1888–1969)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 14 (Online ed.). Melbourne, Vic.: Melbourne University Press. pp. 162–163. Retrieved 27 July 2007.
  20. ↑ "The Bulletin issue 2 2016". St Catherine's, Waverley. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  21. ↑ "Gabi Simpson (OG 2010) on Australian netball team". www.stcatherines.nsw.edu.au. 16 October 2015. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
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