St Virgil's College

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St Virgil's College
File:St Virgils College logo150.png
By Deeds not Words
Location
Austins Ferry & Hobart, Tasmania
Australia
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Information
Type Private, Single-sex
Denomination Roman Catholic, Christian Brothers
Established 1911[1]
Principal Damien Messer
Enrolment ~600 (3–10)[2]
Colour(s) Royal Blue, Green & Gold             
Website www.stvirgils.tas.edu.au

St Virgil's College is a Roman Catholic, primary and secondary day school for boys, located over two campuses in Austins Ferry and Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.

Established in 1911 by the Congregation of Christian Brothers, the College has a non-selective enrolment policy and currently caters for approximately 680 students, from Years 3 to 10, with 120 at the junior campus and 480 at the senior campus.[2]

St Virgil's is affiliated with the Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA),[3] the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA),[4] and is a member of the Sports Association of Tasmanian Independent Schools (SATIS).

History

File:Stvirgils 1911.jpg
St Virgil's College, 1911

St Virgil's College was formally opened on 22 January 1911 by the Christian Brothers. Leo Doyle was the first student admitted to the College. At is foundation the College was a boarding school for boys located in Barrack Street, Hobart.[1] The boarding section of the College was closed in 1970 and since then St Virgil's College has been a day school only.

In 1962, another campus was opened in Austins Ferry,[1] offering junior secondary grades (Grades 7–9) on a riverside property of 30 hectares. In 1991, three Grade 10 streams were also added. 2012 marks the 50 year celebrations for the campus.

The Barrack Street campus then expanded for students from Grades 7–12 until 1994 when, under the Southern Secondary Schools Restructuring Plan, the campus no longer accepted enrolments for Grade 7. At the end of 1994, Grades 8, 11 and 12 ceased to run at the Barrack Street campus, and all secondary grades were moved to the Austins Ferry campus. This allowed Guilford Young College (Grades 11 and 12) to be established on the Barrack Street site. Grades 9 and 10 still ran in 1995, and only Grade 10 was offered in 1996.

After 1996, St Virgil's College ceased to operate any of its classes on the Barrack Street campus. From then on, Grades 7–10 were all taught at the Austins Ferry campus, and because of the discontinuation of Grades 11–12, many students moved on to the newly formed Guilford Young College for their pre-tertiary years.

In August 1995, permission was granted for St Peter's School to become the St Virgil's College Junior School from 1996 onwards. The Junior School now accommodates boys from Grades 3–6 and operates on the old St Peter's School site in Patrick Street.

The current Principal of St Virgil's College is Mr. Damien Messer, who was appointed in 2010. In 2009, Mr Christopher D. Smith left the college to carry out higher duties. Mr. Messer is now the full-time principal, with Mr Blizzard as the Vice-Principal, a former teacher of St Joseph's College in Geelong, Victoria.

Facilities

File:SVC-Senior.jpg
St Virgil's College Senior Campus

The College's buildings consist of superior science, music, art, sporting, computer, woodwork and metalwork, food technology and learning support facilities. Expansions to the library have currently begun construction in May 2009 and was completed in November 2009 Recent changes to the College's facilities include:

  • The Joyce Performance Centre (2000) for stage shows and assemblies
  • The Br Jack Higgins' Wing (2004) for more classrooms
  • The alterations/expansion of the Edmund Rice Hall (2005–2006) to play sports
  • The naming of "Our Lady of Perpetual Help" Chapel (2006) to pray
  • St Virgils College Library (2009) for a wider selection of reading material for the students
  • Centenary Centre (2011) to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the school

Curriculum

St Virgil's College offers a broad curriculum, with the areas of literacy and numeracy of high importance. Emphasis is also placed on the languages, science, social sciences and physical education. The College places the most emphasis on its teaching of religious education, which is central to every student's studies.

Co-curriculum

Sport

Much importance is placed on sport at St Virgil's College. All students are encouraged to participate in at least one sport during their time at the College.

The College has had much success on the sporting field throughout its history. Most recent is the College's domination of the Tasmanian State and Southern School's Athletics. The College's athletics team have won the SATIS (Sports Association of Tasmanian Independent Schools) Boy's junior title 10 years in a row, and the Southern SATIS title 10 years in a row as well.

Other sports on offer at St Virgil's include canoe polo, cross-country, cricket, football, hockey, rowing, soccer, swimming, tennis, touch football, water polo, basketball, rugby, badminton, squash, sailing and athletics.

Music

The College offers two teacher-coordinated stage bands accommodating players of different skill levels. St Virgil's also offers individual and small group instrumental tuition for those wishing to acquire the skills to excel further than a band setting can allow them. The College also has the facilities to accommodate students wishing to start their own rock band.

The St Virgil's College Senior Stage Band has won numerous awards for its efforts at various eisteddfods around Hobart. The Senior Band specialises in the areas of contemporary rock, jazz, blues and Latin music. The band often performs at school fairs, school productions and masses. In late 2005, the Senior Band, along with the jazz quartet, toured Melbourne, performing at various schools and other venues. It is currently organizing and arranging plans to go on a similar tour of Melbourne in 2007.[needs update] The Senior Stage band has also taken part in many St Virgil's school musicals.

The band currently has between 10 and 15 members, and mainly features the trumpet, trombone and saxophone (alto, tenor and baritone), with a rhythm backing (drums, guitar and keyboard).

House system

As with most Australian schools, St Virgil's utilises a house system. The school houses are:

  • Doyle — Blue
  • Dwyer — Green
  • Hessian (formerly Virgilian House) — Red
  • Joyce (formerly College House) — Gold

Alumni

An Alumnus of St Virgil's College is known as an 'Old Virgilian' and may elect to join the school's alumni association, the Old Virgilians' Association. The Association was established in 1916 as a way for Old Virgilians to meet regularly and keep in touch with news about the College.[5] Some notable Old Virgilians include:


This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Entertainment, media and the arts
Military
  • Major General Michael Crane AM – Commander of all Australian Forces in the Middle East area of operations (Iraq)[7]
  • Captain Stephen (Sid) Dalton, RAN – former Commanding Officer of HMAS ONSLOW[8] and HMAS SHEEAN[9] a submarine named after Tasmanian war-hero Ordinary Seaman Edward 'Teddy'Sheean, former Captain SM and Chief of Staff Submarine Force Element Group October 2005 – December 2008 during a period of reforms driven by severe submarine personnel shortages[10] and minor author of Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies Shedden Paper[11]
Politics, public service and the law
Religion
Sport

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  5. ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 5.15 5.16 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Anthony Hayward, Don Sharp: Film director who made his mark with 'Kiss of the Vampire' from The Independent dated 29 December 2011, accessed 30 December 2011
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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