Canberra Girls Grammar School (CGGS) 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 Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

day A day is the time rotation period, period of a full Earth's rotation, rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours (86,400 seconds). As a day passes at a given location it experiences morning, afternoon, evening, ...

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. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

predominantly for girls, located in Deakin, a suburb of

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

, the capital of Australia. Established in 1926 as St Gabriel's School, by the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

religious order, the

Community of the Sisters of the Church The Community of the Sisters of the Church is a religious order of women in various Anglican provinces who live the vowed life of poverty, chastity and obedience. In 2012 the order had 105 sisters living in community, together with an extensive ne ...

, Canberra Girls Grammar is the oldest private day and boarding school in Canberra. It has a non-selective enrolment policy and caters for approximately 1,300 students, with

co-education Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

from Early Learning (

preschool A preschool (sometimes spelled as pre school or pre-school), also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, play school, is an school, educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they ...

) to Year 3, and girls only from Years 4 to Year 12. Boarding facilities are available on the Senior Campus for up to 80 students in Years 7 to 12. CGGS is also licensed to offer the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme and Diploma Programme (for Years 11 and 12). It is a candidate school for the MYP from Yrs 6 to 9. Canberra Girls Grammar School is affiliated with the Alliance of Girls Schools Australasia (AGSA), the Associated Southern Colleges (ASC), the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA), the Australian Boarding Schools' Association (ABSA), and is a member of the

Association of Heads of Independent Girls' Schools The Association of Heads of Independent Girls' Schools (AHIGS), is an Australian association for independent girls' schools, founded in New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1916 as The Association of Head Mistresses of New South Wales, t ...

(AHIGS).

History

St Gabriel's School was established with nine students in 1926, as a day and boarding school for girls, by the

religious order, the

(the Kilburn Sisters). It catered for the small but growing community in what was designated as the new Federal capital. CGGS1928

From 1926 to early 1928, the Old

Rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, p ...

St John the Baptist Church, Reid St John the Baptist Church is an Australian Anglican church in the Canberra suburb of Reid in the Australian Capital Territory. It is the oldest surviving public building within Canberra's inner city and the oldest church in the Australian Capi ...

, was leased from the Government by the Kilburn Sisters. The rectory was known as

Glebe House A glebe (, also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s)) is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved to the church. ...

, and was close to the city. In May 1927, the day before the opening of

Parliament House Parliament House may refer to: Meeting places of parliament Australia * Parliament House, Canberra, Parliament of Australia * Parliament House, Adelaide, Parliament of South Australia * Parliament House, Brisbane, Parliament of Queensland * P ...

, the foundation stone of the current site on Melbourne Avenue at Deakin, was laid by

Lewis Radford Lewis Bostock Radford (5 June 1869, Mansfield - 2 April 1937, London) was an Anglican bishop and author. Radford was the son of John Radford, a solicitor. He was educated in Mansfield and at St John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated B ...

, Bishop of the then Diocese of Goulburn. The school officially moved into its new site in 1928. In 1933, the school was renamed Canberra Church of England Girls Grammar School (CCEGGS). CCEGGS was nearly closed down during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, and sold some of its land in order to remain solvent. A boom period in the 1970s saw the school expand, with the Junior School moving to a new Campus in Grey Street, Deakin, to cater for a surge in enrolments. Today the junior school remains on a separate campus within the suburb. In 2001, the school name changed again, this time to its current form Canberra Girls Grammar School (CGGS). In 2004, CGGS opened an Early Learning Centre (

) catering for 3- to 5-year-olds on its Junior School campus.

Principals

Campus

Canberra Girls Grammar School is located over two campuses (primary and secondary) in the inner Canberra suburb of Deakin, within view of Australia's

. Combined, the campuses are in size, and include an indoor heated swimming centre, gymnasia, sports courts, playing fields, an aquatic centre on the shores of

Lake Burley Griffin Lake Burley Griffin is an artificial lake in the centre of Canberra, the capital of Australia. It was created in 1963 by the damming of the Molonglo River, which formerly ran between the city centre and Parliamentary Triangle. The lake is na ...

, and buildings catering for the performing arts, art and textiles. The School's most recent additions include a music centre with an adjoining 1,000-seat hall. 2006 saw improvements made to the junior school with the opening of six new classrooms, two music rooms and practice rooms and in 2010 the addition of a new multi-purpose hall, administration block, front office and staff offices. In the senior campus a new administration block, drive through and entrance was built in 2011 and a new award-winning science wing completed in 2012.

Curriculum

Canberra Girls Grammar School was authorised to offer the

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

Diploma Programme on 21 July 2010. The school was also authorised to offer the Primary Years Programme on 15 September 2011.

Junior school

The junior school

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

is based upon the

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Department of Education

Board of Studies The Board of Studies was the state government education board in New South Wales, Australia from 1990 to 2013. It provided educational leadership by developing the curriculum from Kindergarten to Year 12 and awarding the secondary school credent ...

syllabus. It also has many co-curricular studies.

Senior school

Students in the

senior school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

(Years 7 to 12) are prepared for the ACT Year 12 Certificate, as mandated by the Board of Senior Secondary Studies. A high percentage of students who graduate with a Year 12 Certificate also obtain an

ATAR Atar, Ahtra, Atash, Azar () or ''Dāštāɣni'',, s.v. ''agni-.'' is the Zoroastrian concept of holy fire, sometimes described in abstract terms as "burning and unburning fire" or "visible and invisible fire" (Mirza, 1987:389). It is conside ...

and go on to study at university. In 2007, of the 150 students awarded a Year 12 certificate, 91% were awarded Tertiary Education Statements. Also that year, the median ATAR gained by students was 86 compared with the average of students from all across ACT colleges of 79. Students from Canberra Girls Grammar School had the second highest median ATAR of the ACT colleges that year, and in 2009 they achieved the highest score. 92% of students from the school who were awarded Tertiary Education Statements in 2007 scored over 65 for their ATAR compared with 79% of all ACT students. Students in Years 11 and 12 are also given the option to study the International Baccalaureate instead of the BSSS curriculum.

House system

As with most Australian schools, Canberra Girls Grammar School utilises a

house system The house system is a traditional feature of schools in the United Kingdom. The practice has since spread to Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries. The school is divided into units called "houses" and each student is allocated to on ...

for activities and competitions. The system forms the basis of its pastoral care programme. Students in the senior school are divided into six houses: *Burgmann, named after E H Burgmann, bishop of Canberra and Goulburn from 1950 to 1960 *Deakin, named after the suburb in which the school is situated and former prime minister

Alfred Deakin Alfred Deakin (3 August 1856 – 7 October 1919) was an Australian politician who served as the second Prime Minister of Australia, prime minister of Australia from 1903 to 1904, 1905 to 1908, and 1909 to 1910. He held office as the leader of th ...

. *Glebe, named after the building in which the school was first established. *Kilburn, named after the suburb in London where the Mother House of the Order of Sisters of the Church was located. *Robertson, named after Archdeacon C W Robertson. *Waverley, named after the Sydney suburb of Waverley where the Mother House of the Order of Sisters of the Church in Australia was located. Meanwhile in the junior school, there are four houses, each named after influential women in Australian history: *Bates, named for Irish-Australian journalist Daisy Bates. *Chisholm, named for humanitarian

Caroline Chisholm Caroline Chisholm ( ; born Caroline Jones; 30 May 1808 – 25 March 1877) was an English humanitarian known mostly for her support of immigrant female and family welfare in Australia. She is commemorated on 16 May in the Calendar of saints (Ch ...

. *Gilmore, named for author and journalist Dame

Mary Gilmore Dame Mary Jean Gilmore (née Cameron; 16 August 18653 December 1962) was an Australian writer and journalist known for her prolific contributions to Australian literature and the broader national discourse. She wrote both prose and poetry. Gi ...

. *Mackellar, named for poet

Dorothea Mackellar Isobel Marion Dorothea Mackellar (1 July 1885 – 14 January 1968) was an Australian poet and fiction writer. Her poem " My Country" is widely known in Australia, especially its second stanza, which begins: "I love a sunburnt country / ...

Notable alumni

Alumnae Alumni (: alumnus () or alumna ()) are former students or graduates of a school, college, or university. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for groups of women, and alums (: alum) or alumns (: alumn) as gender-neutral alternatives. Th ...

of Canberra Girls Grammar School are known as Grammarians and can join the schools

alumni association An alumni association or alumnae association is an association of graduates or, more broadly, of former students ( alumni). In the United Kingdom and the United States, alumni of universities, colleges, school A school is the educati ...

, the Grammarians' Association (GA). The GA was formed as the Old Girls' Union in 1931 and has branches around Australia and overseas. Some notable Old Grammarians include: ;Entertainment, media and the arts *

Sibylla Budd Sibylla Budd (born 19 September 1976) is an Australian actress perhaps best known for her roles in the television series '' The Secret Life of Us'' and '' Winners & Losers''. Early life Budd grew up in Canberra, as one of four siblings. She has ...

– actress *

Stef Dawson Stef Dawson is an Australian actress. She portrayed Annie Cresta in '' The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1'' and '' Part 2''. She also made a cameo appearance in '' The Hunger Games: Catching Fire''. Personal life Dawson was born in Canberr ...

– actress *

Thea Exley Thea Melvie Exley (2 September 1923 – 29 January 2007) was an Australian archivist and art historian, and the first woman to head a regional office of the Australian Commonwealth Archives Office (now the National Archives of Australia). She was ...

– archivist and art historian *

Kate Fischer Tziporah Atarah Malkah (born Katherine Helen Fischer; 30 November 1973) is an Australian model, actress and TV host. Early life Katherine Helen Fischer was born on 30 November 1973 at the Queen Victoria Hospital in Adelaide, South Australia, t ...

– model, Pru Goward's daughter * Myfanwy Horne – journalist, writer, reviewer and book editor; wife of

Donald Horne Donald Richmond Horne (26 December 1921 – 8 September 2005) was an Australian journalist, writer, social critic, and academic who became one of Australia's best known public intellectuals, from the 1960s until his death. Horne was a proli ...

Alicia Malone Alicia Maree Malone (born 4 September 1981) is an Australian–American author and television host for Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Born in Canberra, Malone became a cinephile of classic Hollywood films at a young age. After graduating from ...

– author and television host for

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcas ...

(TCM) * Kate Rigby – academic *

Samara Weaving Samara Weaving (born 23 February 1992) is an Australian actress and model. She gained attention for her work in Australian television, appearing on the series '' Out of the Blue'' (2008) and receiving an AACTA Award nomination for playing Ind ...

– actress, niece of actor,

Hugo Weaving Hugo Wallace Weaving (born 4 April 1960) is a British actor. He is the recipient of six Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards (AACTA) and has been recognised as an Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia. Born in Colonia ...

* Freda Whitlam – educator and feminist *

Sally Whitwell Sally Whitwell (born 1974) is an Australian classical music pianist, composer, arranger, conductor and teacher. She has released five solo albums all on the ABC Classics record label. The first three albums peaked in the top 5 on the ARIA C ...

– classical music pianist, composer, arranger, conductor and teacher ;Politics, public service and the law * Tupou Draunidalo – Fijian lawyer, Vice-President of the

Fiji Law Society The Fiji Law Society is the official body that registers and regulates the activity of all lawyers in Fiji. Historically, the President of the Fiji Law Society was a member ''ex officio'' of the Judicial Service Commission. The Fiji Law Society ...

and daughter of former Deputy Prime Minister of Fiji,

Kuini Speed ''Adi'' Kuini Teimumu Vuikaba Speed (23 December 1949 – 31 December 2004) was a Fijian chief and politician, who served as Deputy Prime Minister from May 1999 to May 2000. She was the head girl at Adi Cakobau School in 1968, and went on to g ...

Rt Hon ''The Right Honourable'' (abbreviation: The Rt Hon. or variations) is an honorific style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, the former British Empire, and the Commonwealth of Nations. The term is ...

Patricia Hewitt Dame Patricia Hope Hewitt (born 2 December 1948) is a British government adviser and former politician, who was the Secretary of State for Health from 2005 to 2007. A member of the Labour Party, she had previously been the Secretary of State ...

– British politician; Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for

Leicester West Leicester West is a constituency in Leicestershire. The seat was created in 1974, and existed in a previous form from 1918 to 1950. The seat has been represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by Liz Kendall of t ...

; Former

Secretary of State for Health The secretary of state for health and social care, also referred to as the health secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department of Health and Social Care. The in ...

Katrina Hodgkinson Katrina Ann Hodgkinson (born 10 March 1966) is an Australian former politician. She is the former Federal Vice President of the National Party of Australia and a former Australian Member of Parliament. She was a member of the New South Wales Leg ...

– politician and member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...

;Science and Technology * Marilyn Renfree – Professor of Zoology with a research specialisation in marsupial foetal development * Deborah Terry – Psychology researcher and Vice-Chancellor at the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

;Sport * Ianthe Astley-Boden – rugby union player *

Zoe Buckman Zoe Buckman (born 21 December 1988) is an Australian runner who has competed nationally and internationally in the 400 metre, 800 metre, 1,500 metre and 5,000 metre events. She ran for the University of Oregon. She has also competed at the J ...

– track athlete who represented Australia at the 2012 Olympics * Gemma Dashwood – paralympic swimmer who represented Australia at the 1996 and 2000 Paralympic Games * Dimity Douglas - Olympic swimmer who made history as the youngest athlete to ever represent Australia in the Games * Grace Kemp – rugby union player

Notable staff

Jean Appleton Jean Appleton (13 September 1911 – 11 June 2003) was an Australian painter, art teacher and printmaker. She worked with oils, watercolour, charcoal, pastel, pencil and India ink. The second of three children and an only daughter, Appleton did ...

* Renae Domaschenz * Louise Burrows

References

External links

* {{Authority control Girls' schools in the Australian Capital Territory Grammar schools in Australia Private secondary schools in the Australian Capital Territory Boarding schools in the Australian Capital Territory Educational institutions established in 1926 Anglican schools in the Australian Capital Territory Private primary schools in the Australian Capital Territory Association of Heads of Independent Girls' Schools International Baccalaureate schools in Australia 1926 establishments in Australia Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia