Denomination Uniting Church Principal Miss Diana Vernon Phone +61 3 9274 6333 Lowest grade Kindergarten | Established 1882 Chaplain Meaghan Paul Founded 1882 Highest grade Year Twelve | |
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Motto Latin: Deo Domuique("For God and for Home") Similar Scotch College, Xavier College, Carey Baptist Grammar, Presbyter Ladies' College, Lauriston Girls' School Profiles | ||
Methodist Ladies' College (commonly referred to as MLC) is an independent, non-selective, day and boarding school for girls, located in Kew, an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The school has two additional outdoor education campuses known as 'Marshmead' and 'Banksia'.
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Established in 1882 on its current campus by the Methodist Church of Australasia, MLC is now a school of the Uniting Church in Australia, and caters for approximately 2200 students from the Early Learning Centre (MLC Kindle) to year 12, including more than 100 boarders.
The college is a member of Girls Sport Victoria, the Australian Boarding Schools' Association, the Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA), the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA), and the Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia.
MLC offers students both the Victorian Certificate of Education and the International Baccalaureate.
Fees are up to $36,000 per student per year.
History
William Henry Fitchett was secretary of a committee formed in 1879 to start a secondary school for girls. MLC was founded on its current campus in Kew on 14 February 1882 as a modern school of the first order, with buildings that formed a collegiate institution for girls unsurpassed in the colonies. It was the first Australian girls’ school established by the Wesleyan Methodists and Fitchett was the first principal. The goal of its founders was to provide a high-class Christian education for girls, comparable with that provided elsewhere for boys. As the first Australian girls’ school established by the Wesleyan Methodists, MLC attracted boarders from all Australian colonies.
In 1990, MLC became the first school in the world to introduce laptop computers for all students from Year 5 – 12. In 1991, MLC Marshmead opened, providing Year 9 students with an eight-week residential experience with a focus on outdoor education.
In 2001, The Sun-Herald reported a 1988 study which ranked MLC third in Australia's top ten girls' schools, based on the number of its alumni mentioned in the Who's Who in Australia (a listing of notable Australians). In 2002, MLC won the title of 'Australian School of the Year', as published in The Australian newspaper.
Although never exclusively denominational, the original College motto 'Deo Domuique' - For God and for Home - still remains today. In recent times, the College has adopted an international outlook, embracing diversity and the UNESCO principles of being an internationally minded school.
House system
As with most Australian schools, MLC has a house system through which students partake in inter-house competitions and activities. The college currently has five houses:
Curriculum
MLC offers an extensive range of VCE and Vocational Education Training (VET) courses, as well as the IB Diploma Programme. It has one of the largest VCE subject selections in the state. The school's success with the IB Programme is internationally renowned, with students consistently achieving in the top global percentile each year. Its physical education program includes a wide variety of summer and winter sports. It participates in the Girls Sport Victoria competition.
The music school features an auditorium, and a department for woodwind, strings, keyboard, percussion and brass, with multiple ensembles including a concert orchestra, senior strings, choirs and bands. The music school is known for its excellence. The state of the art auditorium is often used for external performances.
The school offers a speech and drama program from early years and theatre arts and drama at VCE and IB level, as well as a variety of studio arts subjects.
2012 sacking of principal
In September 2012 the school board sacked the then principal of 15 years, Rosa Storelli, leading to calls by Storelli plus some parents and old girls for the board's dismissal. There were protests outside the school by parents and students concerning the sacking of a much respected principal too.
The board at the time of Storelli's sacking consisted of Louise Adler (Melbourne University Press), Brendan Fleiter (Australia Post), Ahmed Fahour (Australia Post), Tony Peake (PricewaterhouseCoopers), Bernard Salt (KPMG), Patricia Cross (NAB, JB Were, Qantas), Patrick Ng (Architect), Belinda Probert (LaTrobe University) and Julie Landvogt (education consultant). By 2017 most of the board had been replaced.
Notable alumnae
Alumnae of the Methodist Ladies' College are known as 'Old Collegians' and automatically become members of the 'MLC Old Collegians' Club' upon graduation. The club was established on 29 October 1904 for the purpose of providing an ongoing relationship between the College and its alumnae.
Some notable 'Old Collegians' include:
Rhodes Scholars
MLC has produced four Rhodes Scholars: