Abbotsleigh

Abbotsleigh was founded by Marian Clarke in 1885 in a small terrace house in North Sydney. The school then moved to Parramatta; first to Honiton House, then to more spacious premises at the corner of Church and Marsden streets, a site now covered by a car park. The school proved successful in Parramatta, but in 1895 Marian Clarke left 80 pupils behind to set out for a year in England to visit her family. The school declined during her absence, and on her return only a small number of boarders remained.[10]

Abbotsleigh's final move was to its current location at Wahroonga in 1898, where Miss Clarke purchased land and built a new school. It is here that Abbotsleigh became the first girls' school in Sydney to have a sports field.

Clarke was determined to found Abbotsleigh as an academic school for girls with a full curriculum and strict order of discipline. The school offered physics and classical subjects, such as Latin; classes that were only offered to boys at the time.

In 1930 a new headmistress was chosen. Gladys Gordon Everett was chosen from a long list of candidates.[11] Everett had been head of Pymble Ladies' College before she left to study in France. She had taught in France and England before she had led Katanning Church of England Girls' School. In 1931 Gordon Everett arranged the students into houses and in 1933 the school celebrated founder's day. In the same year the school began to buy land and nearby houses. The school's expansion plans involved more land purchases in 1937. The plans succeeded and by 1938 there was a waiting list for family's who wanted to enrol their daughters. The head was known as "Miss Gordon Everett" and she taught lessons in Divinity and in French.[11]

In 1939 new classrooms opened, but the waiting list continued. The school enjoyed a good reputation as students results improved and more students went on to university. At the same time culture was not ignored, Gordon Everett owned post-impressionist paintings that were exhibited in the school. Some schools closed during the second world war, but Abbotsleigh continued.[11]

By the time Gordon Everett retired in 1954, there was 660 students; a separate junior school had started and the waiting list was still extant.[11]

Buildings that developed over the years include the Marian Clarke building facing the Pacific Highway, Vindin House, Lynton House and Poole House on the junior campus. The last three are listed on the local government heritage register.[12][13][14]

The following individuals have served as the Headmistress:

Abbotsleigh has a total enrolment of approximately 1,400 girls across Years K–12. In 2016, the Senior School campus had an enrolment of approximately 900 girls in Years 7–12. The main high school is divided into the Middle School (Year Seven and Eight), Senior College Archdale (Year Nine and Ten), and Senior College (Year Eleven and Twelve).

Each house group within a year has a tutor, and every year is managed by a year coordinator, and overseen by the Dean of Middle School or Deans of Senior College.

There is also a nearby Junior School, also located in Wahroonga, which houses the Early Learning Centre, Transition and Kindergarten to Year Six. Each year, approximately two-thirds of the incoming Year Seven class at Senior School are from the Junior School, while the rest are drawn from schools in Sydney, from interstate and overseas, having passed selective entry examinations and/or interviews to gain an enrolment place.[16]

The school council is responsible for the school's governance. Kanishka Raffel, Archbishop of Sydney, serves as its chair.[17]

Marian Clarke Building, Abbotsleigh (Elevation)

The senior and junior campuses cater for 1400 students in total from Transition to Year 12 (Higher School Certificate).[1]

The Junior Campus is located in Woonona Ave, Wahroonga. Poole House is the oldest building on the campus and features an after-school care and music centre with a number of music rooms for individual lessons and practice. The library, school hall and administration centre are housed in the same block as the junior years' classrooms. In 2002, a new Years 4–6 centre was built surrounding a grassy courtyard featuring an arts facility and a canteen. Sporting facilities include a large oval, outdoor pool, three tennis courts, 2 courtyards, two sets of play equipment and a human-sized chess board. An underground parking facility was built in 2007 with the kindergarten classrooms built above.

The new Early Learning Centre was completed in January 2010. It includes a new Infants precinct and an Early Learning Centre for the youngest learners from birth to five years old. It is a seventy-place, coeducational centre providing long day care. Girls of the age of 5 are now able to enter the school in the Transition class (preschool age), where they are able to make the smooth transition from preschool to kindergarten. The ELC is run according to the Reggio Emilia principles.[18]

The Senior Campus is at a separate site on the Pacific Highway, and incorporates a number of facilities including a 350-seat auditorium, large assembly hall, Senior Studies Centre, Aquatic Centre and two gymnasiums. Other sporting facilities include 11 tennis courts, three indoor gymnasiums, two weights gyms, two cricket nets, a 25-metre indoor pool and two large ovals used for hockey, touch football and soccer, with one multi-purpose synthetic turf oval and spectator stands. A new library named the Abbotsleigh Research Centre (ARC) was built and officially opened on April 2, 2006. The ARC contains the Library Teaching Room (LTR), a computer room, study and teaching spaces, an archives centre and three seminar rooms. There are over 40,000 books, over 4,000 videos and DVDs and approximately 70 Periodical titles. The ARC has won awards for its unique interior design.[19] The ARC also includes a new Art Centre which has three classrooms, an Arts staffroom and a number of storage spaces. A large outdoor area incorporated into the design, with six tables for students and sails, is often used for a number of school events overlooking the top oval. Vindin House was converted into the Grace Cossington Smith Gallery (named after Old Girl Grace Cossington Smith),[20] with art rooms and gallery exhibitions open to both students and the general public.

In addition to this, a new canteen was built in 2008 to join with the Saturday morning sports canteen, featuring new outdoor café-style eating areas overlooking the oval. The Judith Poole Sports Hall was built in 2015, accommodating three basketball courts or twelve badminton courts, dance studios, change facilities, offices, classrooms and an underground carpark, an award-winning design at the 2018 World Architecture Awards.[21]

The Abbotsleigh motto, Tempus celerius radio fugit, may be translated from Latin as "Time flies faster than the weaver's shuttle". As the shuttle flies a pattern is woven; the shuttle of time also weaves a pattern of which the threads are people, buildings and events. The motto was given to the school by Miss Marian Clarke, whose family crest was a weaver's shuttle surrounded by the motto, Tempus fugit radio celerit. The school used this form until 1924, when it decided that the ungrammatical Latin should be changed to the present word order, which has been used ever since.

The reference to the weaver's shuttle is also believed by many to be a reference to the "proper" place of women in terms of domestic duties/servitude to men. Some members of the school community have called for the motto to be changed to keep pace with modern views on feminine rights.

The 1934 edition of The Weaver explains the symbolism of the school crest: "the lion for the strength in God, lillies for purity and fish as the symbol of Christianity through baptism."[22]

Abbotsleigh has a number of international sister schools and exchange agreements with other institutes, including the École Alsacienne in Paris, France, Ohtani High School, Japan, Beijing Yucai School, China, Annette-von-Droste-Hülshoff-Gymnasium in Münster, Germany, Miami's Palmer Trinity School, Moreton Hall in Oswestry, England, Queenswood School in Hertfordshire, England, and Ridley College in Ontario, Canada.[23] Girls have the opportunity to host an incoming exchange student or, in Years 9 and 10, to attend one or more of these schools on exchange for a period of one or two terms.

Abbotsleigh is also unofficially associated as the sister school to The King's School, an independent Anglican day and boarding school for boys in North Parramatta, and Sydney Church of England Grammar School, an independent Anglican day and boarding school for boys in North Sydney.

Abbotsleigh offers an extensive range of subjects. The academic departments are:

• Christian studies
• Drama
• English
• History (Australian, Ancient and Modern)
• Languages
• Mathematics
• Music
• PDHPE
• Science
• Social sciences (Economics, Geography, Business Studies)
• Technology and applied sciences (also known as Design and Technology)
• Visual arts

Abbotsleigh provides a focused academic education, with Maths, Science and English being graded by class from years 7–10. Other subjects, such as languages and music, also place students in streamed classes. In Year 8, students choose elective subjects to study for Years 9 and 10. Students must study Maths, English, Science, PDHPE, Australian History/Geography, and Christian Studies. They may then choose three elective subjects from: Commerce, Elective History, Elective Geography, Design and Technology, Information Software Technology, Music, Drama, Visual Arts, Photography and Digital Media, Chinese Mandarin, French, German, and Latin.

In the Upper School, students have an even wider range of subjects to choose from, which follow the Board of Studies HSC syllabus. Subjects offered include English (Advanced, Extension 1 and Extension 2), Mathematics (General, 2-unit, Extension 1 and Extension 2), sciences (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Earth and Environmental Science), histories (Modern, Ancient and Extension History), social sciences (Business Studies, Geography, Economics), Music (1, 2, extension), Theology and Studies of Religion(1 and 2 unit) a wide range of languages including French, German, Latin and Japanese, Art, PDHPE, Software Design and Development, Drama, Design and Technology.[24]

Students can participate in a number of extracurricular activities. Most girls participate in at least one activity, if not many. Abbotsleigh has a significant number of students achieve the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award each year, which is presented at the school's Speech Day in December. Additionally students may participate in chess teams, debating, mock trial, public speaking, ski team, jewellery making, ceramics, sewing classes, film club, SRC, Environment Club, and over seven different charity and service groups such as World Vision and Amnesty International clubs. Students from Year 10 are selected to form the charity and service group boards with students taking the positions of president, secretary, treasurer and committee member. The school also has an Agricultural group (Ag Club) where chickens are raised every year for a number of competitions including the Sydney Royal Easter Show.

There is also a dance program of considerable size at the school, with over 500 girls from Kindergarten to Year 11 participating in several types of dance such as street, tap and contemporary.

• 
  Marian Clarke Building in 1899 advertisement
• 
  Marian Clarke Building today
• 
  Lynton House
• 
  Vindin House
• 
  Poole house
• 
  School Chapel

The house system was introduced by Miss Everett, and is similarly based upon that of Dr Arnold’s house system at Rugby School. The Weaver for May 1931 explains: "Points are awarded for work, conduct and sport and a shield will be presented annually to the winning House". "The "Malloch Shield", given the following year by A Malloch, was won for the first time by Sturt.

In the junior school there are five houses:

• Blaxland (blue), named after Gregory Blaxland (1778–1853), an Australian explorer and pioneer farmer.
• Lawson (green), named after William Lawson (1774–1850), an Australian explorer.
• Macquarie (red), named after Lachlan Macquarie (1771–1824), the Governor of New South Wales from 1810 to 1821.
• Sturt (yellow), named after Charles Sturt (1795–1869), an Australian explorer.
• Wentworth (purple), named after William Wentworth (1790–1872), an Australian explorer, statesman and lawyer.

In the senior school there are eight houses:

• Chisholm (dark blue), named after Caroline Chisholm (1808–1877), an Australian pioneer.
• Franklin (green), named after Miles Franklin, an acclaimed Australian author.
• Gilmore (brown until 1982, now pink), named after Mary Gilmore (1865–1962), an Australian poet and writer.
• Melba (light blue), named after Dame Nellie Melba (1861–1931), an Australian opera singer.
• Prichard (black until 1990, now purple), named after Katharine Susannah Prichard (1884–1969), an Australian writer.
• Richardson (orange), named after Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson (1870–1946), an Australian novelist.
• Tennant (yellow), named after Kylie Tennant (1912–1988), an Australian World War II and Great Depression novelist.
• Wright (red), named after Judith Wright (1915–2000), an Australian poet.

The house system has been modified over time to reflect the changing needs of the school, and its increased enrolment. One of the most significant changes occurred in the late 1960s under then Headmistress Betty Archdale. Senior school houses had previously been named after well-known male Australian poets, and Archdale introduced new house names recognising accomplished Australian women. This was the basis for the senior school houses in use today. Houses now compete for the House Choir banner and the Spirit Cup, as well as the Sports Cup. Since 2008 girls have organised get-to-know-each-other events and House Days where students of the same house assemble at lunch time and have a large "house picnic".

Abbotsleigh has offered boarding since its establishment, and currently caters for boarding students from the greater metropolitan area, rural New South Wales and overseas. The school currently has five boarding houses:

• Hirst, opened in 1980 and 1985. Catering for Year 12 boarders. Now replaced by the newly opened Wheeldon House.
• Lynton, opened in 1969. Catering for Year 7 boarders.
• McCredie, opened in 1990. Catering for Year 9 to 10 boarders.
• Read, opened in 1931. Catering for Year 8 to 9 boarders.
• Wheeldon, opened in 2008. Catering for Year 11 to 12 boarders

There are currently approximately 150 boarders at Abbotsleigh from Years 7 to 12.[1] Boarders make up about one-sixth of the senior school population.

• List of non-government schools in New South Wales
• List of boarding schools in Australia
• List of Anglican schools in New South Wales

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Abbotsleigh School.

• Abbotsleigh website