The school was established in 1918 on the corner of Albert St and Eades St, East Melbourne by the Christian Brothers as St Kevin's Central College[7] with the purpose of being a school where the "brainy boys"[8] of the other Christian Brothers Schools could further their education. In 1932, the school was moved to the corner of St George and Orrong Roads, Toorak. Property in Heyington was purchased and developed into playing fields for the use of all Christian Brothers Schools. This location is now the Senior School Campus, housing Years 7 to 8, and Years 10 through to Year 12, in a vertical house system.
The Heyington Campus, which is next to the Glen Waverley railway line, was built in 1960, its main feature being the Kearney Building.
The Lansell Road property was opened in 1972, and that same year the Orrong Road property was sold.
In 1982, the K.C. Smith building was constructed for the middle school years on the Senior Campus.
Oval Number 1: Scoreboard in the background, and the Pavilion to the right
In 1990 the Pavilion was opened. Since its opening, the Pavilion has flooded twice, both in 2005. Ovals 1 and 2 were completely submerged.
The Cummins Building was refurbished in 1997, and currently houses the creative arts precinct, which includes arts, drama, music and artistic works. The McCarthy Building was opened that year, housing art studios, the campus library and the Administration Block.
The Lansell Road property is now home to the Glendalough Campus, and in 1999 became a full primary school, housing Prep to Year 6 students. Also in 1999, Year 9 students moved from the Senior Campus to a dedicated campus named Waterford in Richmond. Waterford currently resides in the former Vaucluse College FCJ site in Richmond. 1999 saw a major change in the structure of the school, with the introduction of the House System for Years 10 to 12. This saw the desegregation of year levels and their amalgamation into houses with five tutor groups comprising Year 10, Year 11 and Year 12 boys, accompanied by a tutor. Previously, boys were organised by year levels, and supervised by Year Level Coordinators, somewhat similar to the current system found in the Middle School (Years 7 to 9).[9]
In March 2006, a $16 million indoor pool, gym and sports facility, the Wilding Centre, was blessed by Cardinal George Pell and opened for the students.
In 2009 the Godfrey Building was opened.
In 2010, the Boyd Egan Hall was opened at Glendalough and substantial floods filled the school's ovals and damaged the Fraser Tennis Courts.
In 2011, work began on a three-storey $14 million Science Wing, located adjacent to Heyington railway station at the end of the Kearney Building.
In 2013, the Kearney West Building was officially opened. The building contains science labs and woodwork rooms, which are used for senior classes.
In 2014, the McMahon Music Centre was opened at Glendalough and the remaining laboratories in the Kearney Building were refurbished. Music and drama facilities in the Cummins Building were modernised as well.
In 2017, the Tooronga Fields Campus was opened as the St Kevin's offsite sports ground.[10]
2018 saw St Kevin's College celebrate its centenary year. A special 100-year logo was created and was used throughout the school year as well as on ties and a badge that the students received. Several celebrations were conducted, including a free lunch provided by the school, intended to pay homage to the older traditions of the College chartering a train from Heyington railway station to other parts of Melbourne for a school picnic.[11] Special events such as "The Great Debate", featuring generations of St Kevin's old boys, took place[12] and a limited-edition 100-year history of the college was published for students and staff.[13]
Glendalough – The St Kevin's College Junior School in Lansell Road, Toorak, is named after the location of the St Kevin's Monastery in Ireland. It houses students from Prep to Year 6.
Heyington – In 1932, the current site of the Heyington Campus was purchased and at the time was used for playing fields. It now serves as the main academic campus for Years 7, 8, 10, 11 and 12.
Waterford – Purchased by St Kevin's College in the early 2000s for the Year 9 campus and situated on Richmond Hill, it occupies the facilities of the former Vaucluse College.
St Peter's – An Early Learning Centre that is a co-venture with Loreto Mandeville Hall, this site is home to kindergarten students.
Tooronga – Opened on 17 June 2017 at a cost of $38 million, the Tooronga Fields Campus is a sports complex which consists of three soccer pitches as well as an Australian Rules oval. There are also 12 tennis courts that can be used as a hockey pitch. The site also includes a 200-metre athletics track with high jump and long jump training areas as well as 12 cricket nets, two pavilions containing unisex change rooms, viewing areas, half a basketball court and a function centre.[9]
Houses
The Houses for the Senior (Years 10 to 12) and Middle (Years 7 to 8) Schools are named after Christian Brothers associated with the college. They are:
St Kevin's College – Middle and Senior School Houses[9]
The original 'Foundation' Houses are Cusack, Kearney, Kenny and Purton. These Houses are located in their original areas in the Kearney Building. The 'Extension' Houses are McCarthy and Rahill, added to extend the capacity of the House system in their years of establishment. McCarthy House occupies the former Brothers' Quarters in the Cummins Building, while Rahill House occupies a purpose-built area in the Godfrey Building.
Boys are assigned their House at their entry point into St Kevin's College, however during Years 7 to 9, they primarily serve as a means of organisation for co-curricular competitions such as House Swimming, House Athletics and House Sports.[9][14]
Curriculum
St Kevin's College offers its Years 11 and 12 students the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE), the main assessment program which ranks the students in the state.
The class of 2009 were the highest-performing academic group in the history of the modern VCE for St Kevin's College, making St Kevin's the top-performing, non-selective, all boys, Catholic and Associated Public Schools of Victoria-member school in 2009. 33 per cent of study scores were 40 or over, and 14 perfect scores were achieved across 10 subjects.[15][16][17]
The English curriculum at St Kevin's allows for boys to develop their skills in the communication of ideas and is put into practice through the numerous publications that can be found in the college, each of which is aimed towards a certain audience, and has its own individual purpose.
Senior School Newsletter – distributed weekly during semesters to parents, students, staff, members of the SKC Community (Years 7 to 12)[19]
Junior School Newsletter – distributed weekly during semesters to parents, students, staff, members of the SKC Community (Prep to Year 6)[20]
Omnia – magazine issued once per school term to parents, students, staff, members of the SKC Community, alumni, prospective parents, prospective students (Prep to Year 12)[21]
The Waterford Chronicle – student run newspaper issued once per school term to students and teachers (Year 9) – Now defunct[22]
The Purtonian – student run newspaper issued twice a term to students and teachers in Purton House (Years 10 to 12)
The Kenny Post – student run newspaper issued to students and teachers in Kenny House (Years 10 to 12)
The Kearney Magazine – student run newspaper issued to students and teachers in Kearney house (Years 10 to 12)
The Cusackian – student run newspaper issued to students and teachers in Cusack house (Years 10 to 12)
The school has a number of extracurricular activities.
Debating and public speaking
St Kevin's competes in the Debaters Association of Victoria Schools competition, and the Heyington Campus is the host venue for the Toorak regional competition. Five debates are held each year, and St Kevin's teams debate against other Melbourne schools on various current interest topics. St Kevin's participates in a range of other debating and public speaking tournaments, including those organised by Rotary, the RSL, UNYA and as of 2011, the WIDPSC, with one student competing representing Australia, and recording 8th place.[23]
Sport
St Kevin's College is a member of the Associated Public Schools of Victoria. The college's teams take part in a wide range of sports at different levels of achievement. In 2009, the College won the soccer, Australian rules football and rugby premierships – the first time this was achieved in APS history. The College was formerly a member of the Associated Catholic Colleges from 1940 to 1957.
APS Premierships
St Kevin's College has won the following APS premierships:[24]
*From 1998 until 2013, swimming and diving events were tallied to be awarded as a single premiership.
Theatre and drama
St Kevin's has a theatre department and each year produces a number of plays, musicals and operas. A relationship between several different girls' schools has been established to enhance the co-curricular dramatic arts program.
Aviation
St Kevin's College offers an aviation program to its students.[25] The program has been commended by aviators and industry experts, including Nancy Bird Walton.[26]
Coat of arms, crest and motto
The current school crest was adopted by Kearney in 1933. The crest bears:
The Celtic Cross, signifying Irish heritage, in the top left quadrant
A single star, representing the Star of Knowledge, in the top right quadrant
The Southern Cross, representing Australia, in the bottom left quadrant
A book with the Greek Letters Alpha and Omega scribed, symbolising God is all from beginning to end, in the bottom right quadrant
The school's motto is, in Latin, Omnia Pro Deo, meaning 'All for God' or transliterated means 'All things for God'. This is taken from a letter of St Paul.
Touchstones
As a member school of Edmund Rice Education Australia, St Kevin's has adopted the following touchstones which can be found on display around the several campuses and on the inside covers of school diaries. The touchstones are:
Liberating Education
Gospel Spirituality
Inclusive Community
Justice and Solidarity
These touchstones have also been adopted by other Edmund Rice Education Australia schools in a similar fashion to St Kevin's College.[27][28]
Controversy
Student sexism
On 21 October 2019, a viral video which showed some students performing a sexist chant while on public transport to an inter-school athletics event was made public.[29][30] Following the resultant media furore,[31] a public apology from Headmaster Stephen Russell was issued in a letter sent to all parents the following day.[32] In this apology, Headmaster Russell denounced the students' "misogynistic" behaviour as "offensive".[33] Ten students were reportedly suspended with the possibility of expulsion.[34] Shortly thereafter, a second video was released in which three Year 12 students performed the same sexist chant in public only a few hours after the publication of the first video.[35] The ABC further revealed that in 2018 a group of students made a derogatory rap song about female students from another school.[35] Russell again condemned the students' behaviour as "foolish and reckless" and acknowledged that the college's cultural problems were "more widespread than [he] understood".[35]
Mishandling of child abuse
In February 2020, it was reported that Stephen Russell wrote a character reference for Peter Kehoe, a non-staff athletics coach accused of grooming a St Kevin's student while under the school's employ. Kehoe was subsequently convicted and sentenced to a community corrections order and placed on the sex offenders register for eight years. The victim settled a civil claim with the school in August 2019.[36][37] Amid calls to resign, Russell responded by suggesting that Kehoe was a "never a member of staff"[38] and expressed his remorse for providing Kehoe a character reference, stating: "I would not do it again".[38] Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said that Russell's response was "just not on" and suggested that Russell would have been removed from his position had he been the principal of a government school.[38]
On 19 February, Russell resigned from the school and dean of sport, Luke Travers, was stood down pending further investigation.[39] Later the same day, John Crowley, principal of St Patrick's College in Ballarat, was appointed as the acting Headmaster of St Kevin's.[39] The employment of Simon Parris, a mathematics teacher, was "concluded" from the Toorak school in late February amid a series of staff removals over a child grooming scandal;[40] and was subsequently suspended from teaching.[40] Janet Canny, a former deputy principal, stepped aside after court action was lodged against her over a complaint alleging breaches of mandatory reporting, and Gary Jones, a teacher, had his employment "concluded".[40][41][42][43] At least six staff members were stood aside or left the school since Russell resigned.[44]
Notable alumni
This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations.(July 2021)
Greg Craven – current Vice-Chancellor at the Australian Catholic University, advocate of republicanism, author[46]
Mark Davis – Australian journalist best known for his work on Dateline, five-time winner of the Walkley Award, winner of the Gold Walkley Award[citation needed]
Joel Deane – Australian novelist and poet, former chief speech writer for Victorian Premier Steve Bracks
B. A. Santamaria – prominent Australian Roman Catholic, journalist, anti-Communist political activist, founder of the Democratic Labor Party[61]
Ted SerongDSO, OBE – senior officer of the Australian Army, noted for his contributions to counter-insurgency and jungle warfare tactics during the Vietnam War[62]
Charles Sweeney QC – former Federal Court Judge[63]
George White – former Labor, Labor Anti-Communist and Democratic Labor Member for Mentone in the Victorian Legislative Assembly[64]
Sport
Tom Allison – Australian rules footballer with North Melbourne Kangaroos
Luke Mathews (born 21 June 1995) – Olympic middle-distance runner, World Championships representative, Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, Australian Champion for 800m
Touk Miller – Australian rules footballer with Gold Coast Suns
^The Unofficial Fan Magazine of Kearney House - Kearney Magazine, Term 1 2018. St Kevin's College Heyington Library: St Kevin's College. 2018. pp. 8–9.
