Penrhos College is an
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 ...
Uniting Church
The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) was founded on 22 June 1977, when most congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and almost all the churches of the Congregational Unio ...
single-sex primary and
secondary day and
boarding school for girls, located in
Como
Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label= Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como.
Its proximity to Lake Como and to the Alps h ...
, a southern suburb of
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...
, Western Australia.
Founded in 1952 as the Methodist Ladies' College, South Perth, Penrhos has a
non-selective enrolment policy and currently caters for approximately 1,400 students from
Kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th ce ...
to
Year 12, including 105 boarders in Years 7 to 12.
[
The ]college
A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...
is affiliated with the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA), 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 Sept ...
(JSHAA), the Australian Boarding Schools' Association (ABSA), the Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia
The Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia (abbreviated as AGSA) is a non-profit organisation that promotes the education of girls in single-sex girls' schools, and promotes the image of, and support the development of, girls' schools in Australa ...
(AGSA), and is a member of the Independent Girls Schools Sports Association (IGSSA). The school takes pride in its 17 consecutive wins in the IGSSA athletics, and almost as many in the cross country and swimming events.
History
Penrhos College was established in 1952 as the Methodist Ladies' College, South Perth and was originally located on Angelo St, South Perth across from the Perth Zoo. The school moved to its present site in Como, six kilometres south of Perth, in 1971. The school was originally a subdivision of the Methodist Ladies' College, Claremont (1907), but both now operate independently. It educates from pre-kindergarten to year 12.
In 1977, the Methodist Ladies' College, South Perth was awarded to the Uniting Church in Australia following Church Union, and became known as Penrhos College. The school's new name was drawn from Penrhos College, in Colwyn Bay
Colwyn Bay ( cy, Bae Colwyn) is a town, community and seaside resort in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales overlooking the Irish Sea. It lies within the historic county of Denbighshire. Eight neighbouring communities are incorpo ...
, North Wales
North Wales ( cy, Gogledd Cymru) is a region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders Mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdonia N ...
, which was established in 1880 by the Methodist Church, for the special education of girls. Penrhos is a Welsh word meaning "Peak of the Moor".
Campus
Penrhos College is situated on a single suburban campus in an elevated position, on a former pine plantation
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
. The school is in size, featuring a parkland setting and modern cream brick and terracotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...
-tiled buildings.
Academics
The school has had consistently good WACE
Wace ( 1110 – after 1174), sometimes referred to as Robert Wace, was a Medieval Norman poet, who was born in Jersey and brought up in mainland Normandy (he tells us in the ''Roman de Rou'' that he was taken as a child to Caen), ending his car ...
results and appears regularly in the top 30 schools for the WACE.
Alumni
Alumni
Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...
of Penrhos College are known as Old Girls and may elect to join the school's alumni association, The Penrhos College Alumni Inc. Some notable Penrhos Old Girls include:
* Kate Atkinson – actress
* Amber Bradley – rower; world champion and Olympian
* Haylie Ecker
Haylie Ecker (born 9 October 1975) is an Australian performer, writer, artistic director, and the former first violinist and co-founding member of the multi-platinum selling classical crossover string quartet Bond. With Bond she sold over 4 mil ...
– first violin of classical string quartet 'Bond'[Haylie Ecker Website](_blank)
(accessed:27-07-2007)
* Tessa Parkinson
Tessa Parkinson OAM (born 22 September 1986) is an Australian sailor from Perth, Western Australia. Parkinson and skipper Elise Rechichi represented Australia in the 470 class at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Qingdao, China, winning the gold me ...
– sailor; competed in Olympics
* Amanda Platell – journalist and television presenter
* Rabia Siddique
Rabia Siddique (born 25 November 1971) is an Australian criminal and human rights lawyer, retired British Army officer, author, professional speaker and hostage survivor.
In 2008, she successfully sued the UK Ministry of Defence for discriminat ...
– international humanitarian and criminal lawyer, terrorism prosecutor, former senior officer in the British Army, professional public speaker, author
* Zoe Ventoura – actress
* Maddie Phillips
Madelaine Rachel Phillips (born September 6, 1994) is a Canadian actress who portrayed Randeen in ''Ghost Wars (TV series), Ghost Wars'', Devon D'Marco in ''Project Mc2'', and Sterling Wesley in the 2020 Netflix teen comedy-drama television seri ...
– actress
See also
* List of schools in the Perth metropolitan area
This is a list of schools in the city of Perth, Western Australia. The Western Australian education system traditionally consists of primary schools, which accommodate students from kindergarten to Year 6, and high schools, which accommodate st ...
* List of boarding schools in Australia
* Methodism
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's br ...
References
External links
Penrhos College
{{Authority control
Girls' schools in Western Australia
Educational institutions established in 1952
Former Methodist schools in Australia
Uniting Church schools in Australia
Boarding schools in Western Australia
Private primary schools in Perth, Western Australia
Junior School Heads Association of Australia Member Schools in Western Australia
Private secondary schools in Perth, Western Australia
1952 establishments in Australia
Como, Western Australia
Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia