Denomination Anglican Chairman Jesco d'Alquen Phone +61 3 9581 1200 | Established 1899 Principal Fran Reddan Founded 1899 | |
Type Independent, Single-sex, Day school Motto Latin: Vero Nihil Verius
("Nothing truer than Truth") Address 11 Mentone Parade, Mentone VIC 3194, Australia Profiles | ||
Mentone Girls' Grammar School is an independent, Anglican day school for girls, located in Mentone, a bayside suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
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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.
Mentone Girls' Grammar is a member of Girls Sport Victoria (GSV), the Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA), the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA), the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria (AISV), and the Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia. The School is an Australian Securities and Investments Commission MoneySmart School 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).
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. 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.
Mentone Girls' Grammar became affiliated with the Church of England in 1962, and subsequently the Bishop's mitre was added to the school crest. Parts of the campus are named after recent headmistresses. For example, the Prudence Lewty hall was named after former headmistress Prudence Lewty.
Campus
Mentone Girls' Grammar School is located on single campus in suburban Mentone, directly adjacent to Mentone Beach. 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" a new cafeteria style lunch space, the David Hunt centre 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. Sporting facilities include tennis courts, a gymnasium, a 25-metre outdoor heated swimming pool and a smaller indoor heated pool used by the ELC and Prep students.
The school also makes use of outside facilities such as Mentone Beach.
Recently 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 indoor pool with diving boards, multi-purpose courts for netball and basketball, and a synthetic multi-use pitch for soccer, hockey and tennis.
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.
Houses
There are 4 Houses at Mentone Girls Grammar School.
Annual house competitions include House Athletics, House Cross Country, House Swimming, House Music and House Dance.
Sport
Mentone Girls' Grammar School has been a member of Girls Sport Victoria since its foundation in 2001. 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.
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). Some notable Old Girls' include: