Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Santa Sabina College

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Established
  
1894

Principal
  
Dr Herrett

Founded
  
1894

Chairperson
  
Tony Woods

Phone
  
+61 2 9745 7000

Santa Sabina College

Type
  
Independent Private, Day school

Motto
  
Latin: Veritas("Truth")

Denomination
  
Roman Catholic (Dominicans)

Address
  
90 The Boulevarde, Strathfield NSW 2135, Australia

Profiles

Santa sabina college speech night 2015


Santa Sabina College, (known as Santa or SSC) is a Roman Catholic, Dominican, day school for girls K-12 and boys K-4, located in Strathfield, an inner-western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Contents

Established in 1894, Santa Sabina has a non-selective enrollment policy and currently caters to approximately 1,400 students, with co-education from Kindergarten to Year 4, and girls only from Years 5 to 12.

The College is owned by the Congregation of Dominican Sisters of Eastern Australia and the Solomon Islands and located within the Archdiocese of Sydney. It is affiliated with the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA), the Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA) and an affiliate member of the Association of Heads of Independent Girls' Schools (AHIGS).

Santa Sabina is recognised as an employer of choice for women by the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency.

A day in the life at santa sabina college


History

Eight Dominican sisters arrived from Ireland in 1867, to establish schools for Catholic children in New South Wales. Subsequently, 6.5 acres (26,000 m2) of land and a house in Strathfield were purchased from a wine-grower, Harold Lindeman. Santa Sabina College was established on this site in January 1894, with seven day students. The first three boarders were enrolled in April of that same year.

Although the College saw its first student matriculate in 1906, it was not officially recognised as a secondary school until 1912, with the passing of the New South Wales Bursary Act. Organised sport was first introduced in 1918, with Tennis the most popular sport at the time.

In 1936, Santa's most prominent building, Holyrood, was purchased from William Adams of the Tattersall's Hotel. The carved sandstone facade came from the City Bank building in Moore Street (now Martin Place). This building was used as the College boarding house until boarding ceased in 1976. The building now houses the College music department. The Del Monte property, located across the road from the College, was leased in 1949, with the first primary school students taking up residence later that year. In 1950, the owner of the property, Mary Bailey, died, leaving the property to the Sisters. Del Monte was subsequently renamed Santa Maria del Monte. Santa Maria del Monte was expanded in 1968, with the purchase of Lauriston, which had been the home of the Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney during the Second World War. This purchase provided the school with a sports ground and additional classrooms.

In 1991 the campus was used as the backdrop for the Australian TV series Brides of Christ.

1996 saw the establishment of the Out of School Hours Centre (OOSH), and in 1997, a property at Tallong was purchased for outdoor education. In 1998, Mary Bailey House was opened as an Early Childhood Centre, and in 2002 classes for Years 6 and 7 commenced at the Middle School campus, Martin De Porres.

Santa Sabina is recognised as an employer of choice for women by the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency.

Campus

The College comprises five campuses: four situated along The Boulevarde in Strathfield, and an outdoor education campus at Tallong in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. The four city campuses are Mary Bailey House Early Education Centre (Pre-school), Santa Maria del Monte (Primary school), Martin de Porres (Middle school) and Santa Sabina (Senior school). Santa Maria del Monte also takes boy students from Kindergarten to Year 4, with most boys then continuing on to St. Patrick's College to complete their schooling.

The Strathfield campus includes a 33 m outdoor swimming pool, six tennis courts, three ovals and a chapel. In 2002, a Middle School was established for students in Years 6 and 7. In 2005 the Aquinas Learning Centre was opened, featuring a library, lecture theatre and student services facility.

Debating

The College debating activities include: The Archdale Competition for Years 7 to 12, against twenty similar type independent girls' schools; the AHIGS Festival of Speech; the Catholic Schools' Debating competition; Schools' Speaking competition; the Catholic Schools' Speaking competition; the Junior Legacy Speaking competition; Senior Plain English Speaking competition; and the Rostrum Voice of Youth Competition.

Middle and Secondary School students participate in social debates with schools such as St Gregory's College, Campbelltown, Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview, and St Vincent's College, whilst the Primary and Middle School debate MLC School and PLC Sydney.

Debating and Public Speaking is also offered through inter-house competitions.

Arts

Santa Sabina is seen as the sister school to St Patrick's College. As such the two schools combine drama classes to stage shows, and musicals.

Sport

The sporting program at Santa Sabina includes: School sporting clubs, Saturday and midweek competitions, gala days, and representative opportunities up to national level. Each year the College takes about 2500 sports registrations for approximately 85 sports competitions and activities across 22 sports.

Notable alumnae

Entertainment, media and the arts
  • Cathy Foley, Chief of the CSIRO's materials and engineering division
  • Monica Attard, Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC Senior Broadcaster
  • Robyn Butler, writer, actress and producer
  • Carmen Duncan, actress
  • Paula Duncan, actress
  • Julia Morris, actress/comedian
  • Rahni Sadler, Seven Network news reporter and United States foreign correspondent
  • Yvonne Strahovski, actress
  • Simone Thurtell, Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Grandstand announcer
  • Terry Biviano, shoe designer
  • Politics, public service and the law
  • Margaret Cunneen SC, Deputy Senior Crown Prosecutor
  • Sport
  • Cynthia Mitchell, Paralympian (Skiing)
  • References

    Santa Sabina College Wikipedia