St Virgil's College

Infobox Aust school private
name = St Virgil's College


motto = "By Deeds not Words"
established = 1911
type = Private, Single-sex, Day school
denomination = Roman Catholic, Christian Brothers
slogan =
key_people = Mr. Christopher D Smith (Principal)
fees =
city = Austins Ferry & Hobart
state = Tasmania
country = Australia flagicon|Australia
coordinates =
enrolment = ~600 (3-10)cite web |url=http://www.ceo.hobart.catholic.edu.au/austin.htm |title=St Virgil's College |accessdate=2008-02-12 |year =2008 |work=Schools |publisher=Catholic Education Office Hobart ]
num_employ =
revenue =
colours = Royal Blue, Green & Gold color box|#4169E1color box|#008000color box|#FFD700
homepage = [http://www.stvirgils.tas.edu.au/ 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 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.

St Virgil's is affiliated with the Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA),cite web |url=http://www.jshaa.asn.au/tasmania/directory/index.asp |title=JSHAA Tasmanian Directory of Members |accessdate=2008-02-12 |year =2008 |work=Tasmania Branch |publisher=Junior School Heads' Association of Australia ] the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA),cite web |url=http://www.ahisa.com.au/Display.aspx?tabid=3244& |title=Tasmania |accessdate=2008-02-12 |year =2008 |work=School Directory |publisher=Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia ] and is a member of the Sports Association of Tasmanian Independent Schools (SATIS).

History

St Virgil's College was formally opened on 22 January 1911 by the Christian Brothers. At is foundation the College was a boarding school for boys located in Barrack Street, Hobart.cite web |url=http://www.stvirgils.tas.edu.au/history.html |title=Our History |accessdate=2008-02-12 |work=About St Virgil's |publisher=St Virgil's College] 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, offering junior secondary grades (Grades 7–9) on a riverside property of 30 hectares. In 1991, three Grade 10 streams were also added.

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.

Principal

The current Principal of St Virgil's College is Christopher D. Smith, who was appointed in 2001. He is the first lay Principal the school has had; all previous Principals have been Christian Brothers.

Facilities

The College's buildings consist of specialist science, music, art, sporting, computer, woodwork and metalwork, food technology and learning support facilities. Plans are underway for expansions to the existing library. Recent changes to the College's facilities include:
*The Joyce Performance Centre (2000)
*The Br. Jack Higgins' Wing (2004)
*The alterations/expansion of the Edmund Rice Hall (2005–2006)
*The naming of "Our Lady of Perpetual Help" Chapel (2006)

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 science 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 S.A.T.I.S (Sports Association of Tasmanian Independent Schools) Boy's junior title 10 years in a row, and the Southern S.A.T.I.S 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, Waterpolo, basketball and sailing.

Music

The College offers three teacher-coordinated stage bands of varying difficulty to accommodate 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 outstanding 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. The Senior Stage band has also taken part in two St. Virgil's school musicals, the most recent being The Pajama Game (2006)

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.cite web |url=http://www.stvirgils.tas.edu.au/oldvirgilians.html |title=Old Virgilians |accessdate=2008-02-12 |work=About |publisher=St Virgil's College] Some notable Old Virgilians include:

;Entertainment, media and the arts
*Geoff "Jeff" Hook - Cartoonist
*Robert Paulson – Game Designer / Programmer Electronic Arts

;Military
*Brigadier Michael Crane AM - Commander of all Australian Forces in the Middle East area of operations (Iraq)cite web |url=http://www.defence.gov.au/opcatalyst/biocrane.htm |title=Brigadier Michael Crane, AM |accessdate=2008-02-12 |work=Operation Catalyst |publisher=Australian Government: Department of Defence]

;Politics, public service and the law
*Hon. Richard Cogswell - New South Wales County Judge
* Henry Cosgrove OA - Judge of the Supreme Court of Tasmania
* William Cox - Governor of Tasmania
*Anthony Fletcher - Former member of the Legislative Council
*Peter Heerey - Justice of the Federal Court of Australia
* Paul Lennon - 42nd Premier of Tasmania
* Doug Lowe - 35th Premier of Tasmania
*Kenneth Lowrie OBE - Former member of the Legislative Council and Glenorchy Alderman
* Ashton Shirley - Former State Public Servant and Sportsman

;Religion
* Rev. Adrian Doyle - Archbishop of Hobart
* Rev. Prof. Michael Tate - Catholic priest and former Federal Justice Minister

;Sport
* Scott Brennan - Australian Rowing Olympic gold medallist and World Champion
*Sean Clingeleffer - Cricketer; Tasmanian wicketkeeper
* Michael Di Venuto - Tasmanian Tigers and Derbyshire County Cricketer
* Brodie Holland - AFL player for the Collingwood Football Club
* Simon Hollingsworth - 400m Hurdles 2X Olympian and 3X Commonwealth Games representative; Rhodes Scholar
* Jack Riewoldt - AFL player for the Richmond Football Club
* Joaquin Maza - AFL player for the Carlton Football Club
* Sid Taberlay - Mountain Bike (Cross Country) Olympian
* Peter Toogood - Former Australian Amateur Golf Champion
* Nik Sproule - ASP Professional Surfer
* Jeremy Williams - Muay Thai Australian Kickboxing Champion 2008

References

See also

* List of schools in Tasmania
* Education in Tasmania

External links

* [http://www.stvirgils.tas.edu.au/ St Virgil's College Website]
* [http://www.ceo.hobart.catholic.edu.au/ Catholic Education Tasmania]
* [http://www.education.tas.gov.au/ Department of Education Tasmania]