Fintona Girls' School is a small,

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

non-denominational A non-denominational person or organization is one that does not follow (or is not restricted to) any particular or specific religious denomination. Overview The term has been used in the context of various faiths including Jainism, Baháʼí Fait ...

day school A day school — as opposed to a boarding school — is an educational institution where children and adolescents are given instructions during the day, after which the students return to their homes. A day school has full-day programs when compar ...

for girls, located in

Balwyn Balwyn () is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 10 km east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Boroondara local government area. Balwyn recorded a population of 13,495 at the 2021 census. Whitehor ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Australia. Established in 1896, Fintona is a non-selective school and currently caters for approximately 600 students from the Early Learning Centre (ELC) to Year 12. Fintona is a member of

Girls Sport Victoria Girls' Sport Victoria (GSV) was established in 2001, and is one of the largest independent school sporting associations in Victoria, Australia, with 24 member schools from around Melbourne. GSV provides approximately 16,500 girls, from years se ...

(GSV),Girls Sport Victoria: Member Schools
(accessed:10-08-2007) the Alliance of Girls Schools Australia (AGSA),The Alliance of Girls Schools Australasia: Member Schools
(accessed:10-08-2007) the

Junior School Heads Association of Australia The Independent Primary School Heads of Australia (IPSHA) formerly Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA), is an incorporated body representing the heads of independent primary schools in Australia. Officially established in Septem ...

(JSHAA),JSHAA Victoria: Directory of Members
(accessed:10-08-2007) and the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA).Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia
(accessed:10-08-2007)

History

Fintona was established as a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

, day and

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

for girls, in 1896. The school was founded by Annie Hughston and was originally located in the Melbourne suburb of

Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This e ...

. The school occupies 'Balwyn', the historic home and

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

built by early settler Andrew Murray, from which the suburb of Balwyn takes its name.Travelmate: Balwyn Victoria
(accessed:10-08-2007)

Principals

Curriculum

Fintona Girls' School is divided into 4 teaching sections: #The Early Learning Centre (ELC) #Junior School, catering for Prep to Year 4 #Middle School, catering for Years 5 to Year 8 #Senior School, catering for Years 9 to 12Fintona Girls' School: Curriculum
(accessed:10-08-2007) The school's ELC

curriculum In education, a curriculum (; : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view ...

is based on the

Reggio Emilia approach The Reggio Emilia approach is an educational philosophy and pedagogy focused on preschool and primary education. This approach is a student-centered and constructivist self-guided curriculum that uses self-directed, experiential learning in rela ...

to education. From Prep to Year 6, students are involved in the

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB Dip ...

Primary Years Program which covers the subject areas of

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

, social studies,

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

and

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...

arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both hi ...

, and personal, social and

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorati ...

. Senior School students are prepared for the

Victorian Certificate of Education The Victorian Certificate of Education (often abbreviated VCE) is one credential available to secondary school students who successfully complete year 11 and 12 in the Australian state of Victoria. The VCE is the predominant choice for students ...

, in which Fintona is consistently ranked as one of the best performing girls schools in Victoria. In 2006, Fintona was ranked in the top five schools in the state of Victoria, based on its VCE results, with 33% of study scores over 40. Fintona was ranked the No. 1 non-selective school in Australia based on the Naplan results in 2011. Fintona offers three languages,

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, French and

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

Houses

The three Junior School (P-4)

houses A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

of Fintona are Bedggood, Menzies and Reid. The six Middle and Senior School (years 5-12) houses of Fintona are Boyne (after school benefactors), Clarke (after first Fintona boarder and matriculant), Hughston (after first headmistress), Murdoch (after

Patrick John Murdoch Patrick John Murdoch (10 June 1850 – 1 July 1940) was a Scottish-Australian Presbyterian minister, known for being the father of Keith Murdoch and the grandfather of Rupert Murdoch. Life Murdoch was born on 10 June 1850 in the Free Church m ...

of Trinity Church, Camberwell, where many boarders attended), Maxwell (after father of one of Fintona's first prefects), Ower (after member of staff 1900 - 1930).

Sport

Fintona is a member of

(GSV).

GSV premierships

Fintona has won the following GSV premiership. * Basketball - 2001

Notable alumnae

Ex-students of Fintona Girls' School are known as 'Old Fintonians' and may elect to join the 'Old Fintonians Association'.Fintona Girls' School: Old Fintonians
(accessed:10-08-2007) Some notable 'Old Fintonians' include: ;Academic * Alison Harcourt AO (née Doig) - pioneer statistician * Edith Gladys Pendred - influential educator (dux 1915)Australian Dictionary of Biography- Pendred, Edith Gladys (1897 - 1964)
(accessed:27-07-2007) ;Business * Diana Eirene Angliss Gibson AO -

company director A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

and grazier * Lucinda Hartley - co-founder and chief executive of CoDesign Studio,Australian Design Review, 16/12/16: "An interview with Lucinda Hartley of CoDesign Studio"
(accessed:3-11-2018) CoFounder of NeighbourlyticsNeighbourlytics, "About Us"
(accessed: 3-11-2018) ;Media, entertainment and the arts * Joanna Syme - musician in the band

Big Scary Big Scary is an Australian musical duo formed in Melbourne in 2006, by Tom Iansek and Joanna Syme. The pair have released several EPs and five studio albums. Their 2013 album '' Not Art'' was nominated for the Australian Album of the Year at ...

Hannah Greenwood Hannah Greenwood is an Australian stage and television actress, best known for starring as Saskia Litras in the Australian children's television series ''Noah and Saskia''.

- actress * Lorna Mary Belton Stirling - musicologistStirling, Lorna Mary Belton (1893 - 1956)
(accessed:27-07-2007) *

Eleanore Watson Eleanor () is a feminine given name, originally from an Old French adaptation of the Old Provençal name ''Aliénor''. It is the name of a number of women of royalty and nobility in western Europe during the High Middle Ages. The name was introd ...

- one of Australia's first female

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

sSydney Morning Herald, 19/3/07: "Matriarch taught about living and dying"
(accessed:23-03-2007) * Norma Bull - Australian painter *Luka Gracie - Actor, Writer, and Trans Activist ;Medicine and science * Dora Mary Lush - pioneer bacteriologistAustralian Dictionary of Biography: Lush, Dora Mary (1910 - 1943)
(accessed:23-03-2007) * Catherine Anne Money - Scientist at CSIRO ;Politics and the law * Dame Beryl Beaurepaire AC, DBE (née Bedggood) -

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

, former chairwoman of the

Federal Women's Committee of the Liberal Party of Australia The Federal Women's Committee of the Liberal Party of Australia was formed in August 1945 at the inaugural meeting of the party's Federal Council. That year the influential lobby group The Australian Women's National League merged with the Liberal ...

, wife of Ian Beaurepaire (of Beaurepaire tyre's fame)ABR Radio National-Bid Ideas, 24/4/05: "Wisdom Interviews: Dame Beryl Beaurepaire"
(accessed:23-03-2007) *

Helen Caldicott Helen Mary Caldicott (born 7 August 1938) is an Australian physician, author, and anti-nuclear advocate. She founded several associations dedicated to opposing the use of nuclear power, depleted uranium munitions, nuclear weapons, nuclear we ...

- environmentalist and anti-nuclear campaigner *

Andrea Coote Andrea Coote (born 18 July 1951) is an Australian former parliamentarian. She was a Liberal member of the Victorian Legislative Council from 1999 to 2014, representing Monash Province until the 2006 election and the Southern Metropolitan Region ...

- politicianParliament of Victoria: Coote, Andrea
(accessed:26-08-2007) * Pattie Maie Menzies (née Leckie) - wife of former

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Robert Menzies The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...

, appointed Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (Civil) for public duty in hospital workAustralian Women Biographical Entry: Menzies, Pattie Mae
(accessed:23-03-2007) ;Sport * Louise Bawden - Olympic volleyball player * Georgia Griffith - Tokyo 2020 Olympics middle distance athlete

References

External links

Fintona Girls' School official website
{{Authority control Girls' schools in Victoria (Australia) Educational institutions established in 1896 Nondenominational Christian schools in Melbourne Junior School Heads Association of Australia Member Schools International Baccalaureate schools in Australia 1896 establishments in Australia Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia Buildings and structures in the City of Boroondara