Mentone Girls' Grammar School

Mentone Girls' Grammar School
Location
Map
Mentone
,
Victoria, Australia
Coordinates37°59′22″S 145°3′48″E / 37.98944°S 145.06333°E / -37.98944; 145.06333
Information
TypeIndependent, single-sex, day school
MottoLatin: Vero Nihil Verius
(Nothing truer than Truth)
DenominationAnglican
Established1899[1]
ChairmanJanelle Donnelly
PrincipalNatalie Charles
Staff≈70[3]
Years offeredELC–12
GenderGirls
Enrolment≈800 (ELC–12)[2]
Colour(s)Murrey, blue and gold    
SloganKnown, Seen and Heard.
AffiliationGirls Sport Victoria
Websitementonegirls.vic.edu.au

Mentone Girls' Grammar School is an independent, Anglican day school for girls, located in Mentone, a bayside suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Established in 1899 as the Mentone High School for Girls', the school has a non-selective enrolment policy and currently caters for over 700 students, with girls enrolled in the Early Learning Centre (3 and 4 years of age), Kindergarten to Year 12.[2]

Mentone Girls' Grammar is a member of Girls Sport Victoria (GSV),[4] the Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA),[5] the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA),[6] the National Coalition of Girls' Schools (NCGS),[7] the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria (AISV),[1] and the Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia.[8] The School is an Australian Securities & Investments Commission MoneySmart School[9] and an eSmart School.

In 2014 Mentone Girls' Grammar School became the first school in the world to receive the Certificate of International Education with the Council of International Schools (CIS).[10]

History

Mentone Girls' Grammar School was established in 1899 as the Mentone High School for Girls, by the four Simpson sisters at "Cobbalanna", in Como Parade, Mentone. "Cobbalanna" is now the name given to the new Senior College.[11] In 1924, the school was re-opened as the Mentone Girls' Grammar School (St. Margaret's) under the leadership of the then headmistress, Evaline Mary Pearson.[11]

Mentone Girls' Grammar became affiliated with the Church of England in 1962, and subsequently the bishop's mitre was added to the school crest.[11] Parts of the campus are named after recent headmistresses and headmaster. For example, the Prudence Lewty hall was named after former headmistress Prudence Lewty.

Campus

Mentone Girls' Grammar School is located on single campus[12] in suburban Mentone, directly adjacent to Mentone Beach.[13] Features of the campus include: a pre–tertiary learning centre for students in Years 11 and 12 known as the "Cobbalanna Senior College", the Junior School with specialised facilities, the Simpson Art Centre with facilities for photography and ceramics, "The Bay Cafe" is a cafeteria style lunch space, the David Hunt centre (named after the former Head Master) utilized for performing arts, the Annette Kellerman science wing and pool, named for the underwater ballerina of the same name, whose mother was a member of staff at the school during the 1920s, library, multi-media laboratories, and performing arts spaces.[14] Sporting facilities include tennis courts, a gymnasium,[15] a 25-metre outdoor heated swimming pool and a smaller indoor heated pool used by the ELC and Prep students.[16]

The school also makes use of outside facilities such as Mentone Beach.[17]

Recently[when?] Mentone Girls' Grammar released their plans for the Wellbeing Precinct, transforming one third of the entire campus to make way for facilities such as an outdoor pool with diving boards, multi-purpose courts for netball and basketball, and a synthetic multi-use pitch for soccer, hockey and tennis.[18]

School crest

The Mentone Girls' Grammar School crest was designed in 1924, by headmistress, Mary Pearson. To complement the school crest, Pearson developed the school motto of Vero Nihil Verius, which may be translated from Latin as "Nothing truer than Truth".

The crest is based on the design of St George's shield, and is made up of four components:

Former headmistress, Prudence Lewty and bursar Mary Coxall added a laurel wreath around the crest in 1963. In heraldic terms, the laurel wreath identifies heroes returning from battle and technically should only be displayed on crests which have been carried into battle. For this reason the laurel wreath was removed in 1999.[19]

Houses

There are 4 Houses at Mentone Girls Grammar School.

  • Grammar House (Red)
  • St Margaret's (Saints) House (Gold)
  • McCowan House (Green)
  • Kent House (Blue)

Annual house competitions include house athletics, house cross country, house swimming, house enterprise, house music, house dance and house aerobics.

Co-curriculum

Sport

Mentone Girls' Grammar School has been a member of Girls Sport Victoria since its foundation in 2001.[20] Through this association, students from Year 7 to 12 are given the opportunity to compete against 24 other girls' schools, in up to twelve different sports. Students from Year 4 to 6 participate in the local CDPSSA inter-school sports program.[12]

GSV premierships

Mentone Girls' Grammar has won the following GSV premiership.[21]

  • Hockey – 2002

Notable alumnae

Alumnae of Mentone Girls' Grammar School are known as Old Girls and may elect to join the schools alumni association, the Old Girls Club (OGC).[22] Some notable Old Girls' include:

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Mentone Girls' Grammar School". Find a School. Association of Independent Schools of Victoria. 2007. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 3 October 2007.
  2. ^ a b "Overview of Mentone Girls' Grammar". About. Mentone Girls' Grammar School. 2007. Archived from the original on 17 June 2007. Retrieved 15 June 2007.
  3. ^ Mentone Girls' Grammar Academic Staff 2006 Archived 2007-08-31 at the Wayback Machine (accessed:15-08-2007)
  4. ^ Mawkes, Leonie (2005). "Member Schools". Profile. Girls Sport Victoria. Archived from the original on 7 October 2007. Retrieved 2 October 2007.
  5. ^ Junior School Heads Association of Australia Archived 2007-10-09 at the Wayback Machine (accessed:15-06-2007)
  6. ^ "Victoria". AHISA Schools. Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia. April 2007. Archived from the original on 29 August 2007. Retrieved 3 October 2007.
  7. ^ "Our Schools". NCGS. 27 August 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  8. ^ The Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine (accessed:15-06-2007)
  9. ^ "Class credit for making sense of dollars". The Age. Fair Fax Media Network. 5 September 2013. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  10. ^ "A world first in achieving CIS certificate". Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  11. ^ a b c "Mission and History". About. Mentone Girls' Grammar School. Archived from the original on 3 November 2007. Retrieved 3 October 2007.
  12. ^ a b "Mentone Girls' Grammar School". Home. Seek. Retrieved 3 October 2007.
  13. ^ "Location/Transport". About. Mentone Girls' Grammar School. Archived from the original on 3 November 2007. Retrieved 3 October 2007.
  14. ^ "Facilities & Building Program". About. Mentone Girls' Grammar School. Retrieved 3 October 2007.
  15. ^ "Gymnasium". Facilities & Building Program. Mentone Girls' Grammar School. Archived from the original on 20 July 2008. Retrieved 3 October 2007.
  16. ^ "The Pool". Facilities & Building Program. Mentone Girls' Grammar School. Archived from the original on 20 July 2008. Retrieved 3 October 2007.
  17. ^ "Mentone Beach". Facilities & Building Program. Mentone Girls' Grammar School. Archived from the original on 20 July 2008. Retrieved 3 October 2007.
  18. ^ "- YouTube". YouTube.
  19. ^ Mentone Girls' Grammar School- School crest Archived 2007-06-17 at the Wayback Machine (accessed:15-06-2007)
  20. ^ Otzen, Roslyn (2005). "Girls' Schools Sport & Girls Sport Victoria - a History" (PDF). Profile. Girls Sport Victoria. pp. 4–5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 October 2007. Retrieved 2 October 2007.
  21. ^ "Archives » Girls Sport Victoria". Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  22. ^ "Old Girls' Club". Home. Mentone Girls' Grammar School. 2007. Archived from the original on 3 November 2007. Retrieved 15 June 2007.
  23. ^ Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Australia (accessed:31-07-2007)
  24. ^ Australian Dictionary of Biography- Kellermann, Annette Marie Sarah (1886 - 1975) (accessed:15-06-2007)
  25. ^ Brasch, Nicolas, ed. (1996). Contemporary Australian Women 1996/97. Port Melbourne, Vic.: Reed Reference Australia. ISBN 1-875589-92-9.
  26. ^ Suzannah Pearce, ed. (17 November 2006). "MACKIE Vera". Who's Who in Australia Live!. North Melbourne, Vic: Crown Content Pty Ltd.

Further reading

  • Burren, P.B. 1984. Mentone: The Place for a School - A History of Mentone Girls' Grammar School from 1899. Hyland House Publishing, South Yarra, Vic. ISBN 0-908090-72-2.