St Brigid's 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 Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

co-educational 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 ...

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

and single-sex secondary

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 Boarding may refer to: *Boarding, used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals as in a: **Boarding house **Boarding school *Boarding (horses) (also known as a livery yard, livery stable, or boarding stable), is a stable where hor ...

school for girls, located in Lesmurdie, a suburb of

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Western Australia. The campus consists of a school for girls only in

Year 7 Year 7 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand. It is the seventh full year (or eighth in Australia and England) of compulsory education and is roughly equivalent to grade 6 ...

Year 12 Year 12 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. It is sometimes the twelfth or thirteenth year of compulsory education, or alternatively a year of post-comp ...

and a co-educational

junior school A junior school is a type of school which provides primary education to children, often in the age range from 8 and 13, following attendance at an infant school, which covers the age range 5–7. Since both infant and junior schools provide pri ...

for boys and girls in Year K to

Year 6 Year 6 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including Japan, most of Africa, Australia and New Zealand. It is usually the sixth year of compulsory education and incorporates students aged between ten and eleven. It is genera ...

, sporting grounds, and boarding facilities for 137 students. The college's brother school is Mazenod College, where many male students attending St Brigid's Primary School continue their education.

History

St Brigid's College was founded in 1929 by the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute for women in the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. In 2019, the institute had about 6,200 Religious sister, sisters worldwide, organized into a number ...

as an extension of the West Perth convent and college also named after

Saint Brigid of Kildare Saint Brigid of Kildare or Saint Brigid of Ireland (; Classical Irish: ''Brighid''; ; ) is the patroness saint (or 'mother saint') of Ireland, and one of its three national saints along with Patrick and Columba. According to medieval Irish ha ...

. Construction of the buildings commenced in 1913 for Archibald and Maude Sanderson, and were used as a private day and boarding school for approximately 20 students. In 1919, at the end of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the buildings were sold to the

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

to be rented to the Repatriation Department to house sick and wounded soldiers. During this period the building was completed and oak trees from Windsor Castle were planted in the grounds. In 1929, the building was let to the Perth Hospital as a convalescent home. Later in that same year, it was sold to the Sisters of Mercy for

£A The pound (Currency symbol, sign: £, £A for distinction) was the currency of Australia from 1910 until 14 February 1966, when it was replaced by the Australian dollar. Like other £sd currencies, it was subdivided into 20 Shilling (Australian ...

9,000, equivalent to in . It was purchased by the Congregational Superior, Reverend Mother Brigid Watson. On 21 April 1929, Mother Teresa Rielly and seven Sisters took up residence with their first pupils: 35 boarders and 3-day students. In 2005 St Brigid's College was entered in the Register of Heritage Places by the

Heritage Council of Western Australia The Heritage Council of Western Australia is the Government of Western Australia agency created to identify, conserve and promote places of cultural heritage significance in the state. Prior to its creation, considerable variance in policy and p ...

Campus

St Brigid's College is located in the suburb of Lesmurdie, which is atop the

Darling Scarp The Darling Scarp (), also referred to as the Darling Range or Darling Ranges, is a low escarpment running north–south to the east of the Swan Coastal Plain and Perth, Western Australia. The escarpment extends generally north of Bindoon, to ...

in Perth. The school falls into the South Ward of the

City of Kalamunda The City of Kalamunda is a local government area in the eastern metropolitan region of the Western Australian capital city of Perth about east of Perth's central business district. The area covers , much of which is state forest rising into ...

. The campus has been extended over its history as funds and space have become available. A Sisters Convent and Chapel was constructed in 1965 as an addition to the original building, which has been listed on the Western Australian Register of Heritage Places. This was followed in 1990 by the construction of a 157-person boarding house to the rear of the campus. The McAuley Wing was constructed in 1999 as a dedicated technology, science and art building. One of the college's additions is the Sister Mary Rose Fitness Centre, completed in 2002, which houses an indoor heated swimming pool, sprung dance floor and fitness equipment. The facility is available for paid use by the public. 2012 heralded the completion of the new One World Centre, a building created on of land which was once a road called ''Catherine Place'' that separated the Junior School from the Middle and Senior schools. The One World Centre includes a new innovative library and resource space titled the ''Learning Plaza'', student and public administration, staff offices and facilities as well as the room, a multi-purpose hall which uses the Noongar word for as its namesake. In 2013, plans were announced in the ''Friends of St Brigid's College'' magazine for a new addition to the college, a performing arts facility, the building of which will commence in 2014.

Curriculum

St Brigid's College was an accredited

International Baccalaureate 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 I ...

World School, meeting the standards and practices of the Primary Years Programme and the Middle Years Programme. St Brigid's College was the only catholic school in Western Australia and one of only a handful overall in the state to attain this status. St Brigid's ceased to offer the in 2021.

Community service

St Brigid's contributes to the community through community service activities including school-wide projects such as fundraising and food drives on behalf of charities. Students in years 7 to 12 are also involved in a

service-learning Service-learning is an educational approach that uses community service to meet both classroom learning objectives and societal needs. It has been used with students of all grades and stages. Projects based in communities are designed to apply cla ...

program called ''Mercy in Action - Making A Difference'', which encourages the spirit of mercy as espoused by

Catherine McAuley Catherine McAuley, RSM (29 September 1778 – 11 November 1841) was an Irish Catholic religious sister who founded the Sisters of Mercy in 1831.Austin, Mary Stanislas"Sisters of Mercy."''The Catholic Encyclopedia''. Vol. 10. New York: Robert Ap ...

, the founder of the Sisters of Mercy. This program requires students to complete a number of community service hours each year as part of their Religious Education study. Some of the suggested activities in Years 11 and 12 are

blood donation A 'blood donation'' occurs when a person voluntarily has blood drawn and used for transfusions and/or made into biopharmaceutical medications by a process called fractionation (separation of whole blood components). A donation may be of wh ...

, Red Cross soup patrol, peer mentoring and assisting community organisations. As part of the service-learning component to St Brigid's College, each year a group of staff and students visit a Mercy Sisters outpost in Cambodia, having raised money and donations to contribute to communities there. In addition to this there is the Northwest Immersion trip, in which a group of staff and students visit communities in the North-West of Western Australia and donate time and charitable works.

House system

The college

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 ...

are named after significant persons in the history of the college and the Sisters of Mercy: * McAuley – named after Venerable Catherine McAuley, founder of the Sisters of Mercy; * Watson – named after Mother Bridget Watson, the Congregational Superior who purchased the original buildings from the Red Cross; * Reilly – named after Mother Teresa Reilly, who was the Mother of the original Sisters working at the school; * Docherty – named after The Docherty family, who provided support for the boarding school, as well as establishing the expansive lawns which provide greenery to much of the campus; * Shine – named after Sister Phillip Shine, noted for her contribution to the musical education of the students. * O'Connor – named after Catherine O'Connor

Notable alumni

* Tamara Bleszynski –

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

actress, singer, and model. *

Linda Reynolds Linda Karen Reynolds (born 16 May 1965) is an Australian politician. She is a member of the Liberal Party and has served as a Senator for Western Australia since 2014. She held senior ministerial office as a cabinet minister in the Morrison g ...

– Australian politician and senator for

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

Priya Cooper Priya Naree Cooper, (born 2 October 1974) is an Australian world champion disabled swimmer, winning nine Paralympic gold medals as well as world records and world championships. She competed in the Australian swimming team at the 1992 Summer P ...

, OAM – 9x Paralympic swimming gold medalist

References

External links

St Brigid's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Brigid's College Catholic primary schools in Perth, Western Australia Boarding schools in Western Australia Educational institutions established in 1929 Girls' schools in Western Australia Catholic boarding schools in Australia Catholic secondary schools in Perth, Western Australia 1929 establishments in Australia Sisters of Mercy schools Lesmurdie, Western Australia Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia International Baccalaureate schools in Australia State Register of Heritage Places in the City of Kalamunda