Rosebank College

Rosebank College
Latin: Sursum Corda Lift Up Your Hearts
Location
Five Dock, New South Wales, Australia
Coordinates	33°52′13″S 151°7′16″E
Information
Type	Private, Co-educational, Secondary, Day school
Denomination	Roman Catholic, Good Samaritan
Established	1867
Chairman	Stephen Teulan
Principal	Tom Galea
Staff	~44
Enrolment	~800 (2011)
Colour(s)	Navy Blue & Gold
Website	www.rosebank.nsw.edu.au

Rosebank College (commonly referred to as Rosebank) is a private, co-educational, secondary Catholic day school in the Benedictine tradition, located in Five Dock, an inner-western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Founded in 1867 by the Sisters of the Good Samaritan, Rosebank currently caters for approximately 800 students. The College welcomed young men into Year Seven in 2009 and full co-education was achieved in 2012. The Sisters of the Good Samaritan Congregational Offices are also situated on the campus.

History

Rosebank College is closely associated with the early history of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan of the Order of Saint Benedict, an Australian Institute founded by Archbishop Polding in 1857 to care for destitute women in colonial Sydney. Polding himself trained the first Sisters in the Benedictine way of life which he himself had experienced at Downside Abbey in England, but adapted his rule to meet the practical needs of the colony - consoling and instructing those in distress or need. From their first convent in Pitt Street, a site now occupied by Central Railway Station, the Sisters set out to instruct children in the denominational schools, walking many miles each day.

In nearly all of the early Convents, the Sisters not only taught in primary schools but set up high schools and boarding colleges which provided a broad cultural education leading to University Matriculation, and this is in the days before secondary education became compulsory in government schools. Polding had been Prefect of Studies at the famous Downside Abbey in England and the Sisters received from the Benedictine priests who staffed Lyndhurst College at Glebe (1853 - 77) invaluable professional guidance in their teacher training.

The estate of Rosebank was originally acquired to serve as a Novitiate for the growing community of young Sisters at the Pitt Street Convent where the noise of the bustling city was becoming increasingly intrusive. In those days Rosebank was surrounded by bushland and all was peace and quiet. The estate received its name from the beautiful hedge of roses surrounding it. The Sisters acquired Rosebank in 1867. Besides the Novitiate there was a primary school on the property which the Sisters conducted for the local residents and the Rosebank chapel served many families in the neighbourhood. This primary school replaced the school at Albina Villa on Parramatta Road, Concord which the Sisters began prior to 1867. Some of the Sisters buried here in the cemetery were Novices at Rosebank and one, Sr. Aloysius Cassidy, was a past pupil.

In 1877, the Novices returned to Pitt Street where a new Convent had been built and Rosebank became a Catholic Boarding School for girls. Father John Dwyer OSB, who had taught at Lyndhurst College, Glebe, till 1877, was the chaplain and he took an extraordinary interest in the intellectual, physical and spiritual well being of the students. After his death in 1886, the Queens Road end of the present three-storey structure was built with 2,000 pounds left by Father Dwyer and money given in donations. The memorial stone to Father Dwyer dating from 1886 has been incorporated in the 1986 extension to the College.

In 1893, Rosebank assumed the name of a College and the memoirs produced from this time until 1911 testify to the great reputation it enjoyed throughout New South Wales and beyond as a place of broad education. The person who stood out during this period was Mother Berchmans McLaughlin who was principal from 1893-98. She left from there to become the first Australian Superior General of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan (1898-1916). In the words of Sister Clare Slattery, she was a woman who "in another milieu would have been in the advance guard of the feminist movement" ("Wheeling Years").

In Rosebank's early years, the students soon came to the attention of the wider community. As early as 1880 Marcella Kenny was the first girl from a Catholic College to pass the University of Oxford Junior Examination, in the very first year that this particular examination was opened to girls. In 1944, Rosebank College was closed to serve as a Juniorate for 5 years, while still retaining registration as a Secondary School. Then Rosebank entered another stage of its history as a Secondary School, when it was re-opened as a boarding and day College in 1951, offering academic subjects, as well as cultural and vocational subjects for those not wishing to follow a straight academic course.

Gradually, Rosebank developed into a Leaving Certificate School until in 1966, in the process of regionalisation in Sydney and the phasing in of the Wyndham Scheme, it reverted to a Form 4 School. The boarding school closed in 1971 but the day school has continued to expand, adapting to new demands in education and adding to its facilities. In 1986 it returned to being a full secondary school with the introduction of co-education in Years 11 and 12.

In 1981, the first lay principal of the College, Mr John Hawley, was appointed. In 1988, the sisters of the Good Samaritan established Rosebank College as an Incorporated Body and appointed a Board to be responsible for the College. Mr Frank Hayes was the first Chairperson of the Board. In 2001, the second Lay principal, Mr Alan Moran was appointed. In 2005 the third and current lay Principal, Mr Tom Galea, was appointed. Miriam Berlage served as Assistant Principal of the College for six years before being succeeded by current Assistant Principal Elizabeth Clark.

In 2012 Rosebank celebrates 145 years of education, making it one of the oldest independent schools in Australia.

Campus

The Rosebank College campus is located in the Sydney suburb of Five Dock on the corner of Paramatta Road, Harris Road and Queens Road. The campus is notable for the high brick fence surrounding it's perimeter and the extensive bank of roses that exists within it. Rosebank College is currently undertaking a major building project which will result in the update of all of the College's buildings and facilities.

Curriculum

From Years 7 to 12, students adhere to the Board of Studies curriculum standards that all NSW schools follow. Rosebank College students undertake the School Cetificate in Year 10 and the Higher School Cetificate (HSC) in Year 12.

Co-Curricular

The Rosebank Co-curricular program has been designed to complement the formal curricular program to offer all students a well rounded, balanced educational program. It recognises that students have many varied interests and talents and promotes an active, engaged and creative life style. The program consists of Representative Sport, Recreational Sport and Cultural Activities. Each of these are conducted by professional trainers, coaches or managers to ensure a high level of skill development as well as an enjoyable and rewarding experience. The program uses time made available in the timetable every Thursday from 1.00pm – 3.00 pm, as well as numerous after school, evening and weekend opportunities. Students have a choice of over 30 activities to choose from and select one each term. All students must participate in the co-curricular program on Thursdays. Two of their four selections during each year must be a physical activity chosen from either the representative, recreational or cultural offerings. Rosebank College offers a wide range of activities which often change each term.

The six houses of Rosebank College are: Cassidy - Red, Dwyer - Orange, Caulfield - Yellow, Brady - Green, McLaughlin - Blue and Delaney - Purple.

The Houses compete to win the House Cup at the end of the year. The team with the most points wins.

Notable alumni

• Jennifer Anne Alexander - Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Institute of Management, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory; Chairman of Gondwana Voices (also attended St Scholastica's College)
• Therese Ann McLaughlin - Founding sister of the Society of Our Lady's Nurses for the Poor; First Superior and later Mother General of the Order
• Melina Marchetta, author of several successful young adult novels including Looking for Alibrandi.
• Janice Murphy, Olympic silver medalist.

See also

• List of Non-Government schools in New South Wales

External links

• Rosebank College website
• Sisters of the Good Samaritan