Mount Scopus Memorial College opened on St Kilda Road in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia in 1949, taking its name from Mount Scopus in Jerusalem, which remained under Israeli control after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Mount Scopus College was the first co-educational Jewish day school in Melbourne, originally serving a student population of 143. It was established to meet the educational needs of the influx of Holocaust refugees to the Melbourne community. In 1953, the college moved to a larger campus in Burwood, which was designed by Melbourne's leading Jewish architect Anatol Kagan in association with Dr. Ernest Fooks. There are also campuses in St Kilda East and Caulfield South. Until 1996 there was a branch in Kew. Mount Scopus College is known for outstanding Victorian Certificate of Education results throughout Victoria. It is routinely listed as one of the top schools in the state and indeed was the highest performing school in Victoria in 2009. The school often ranks among the top 10 in the state for academic performance and is one of the state's most expensive private day schools.
Principals
The principal of Mount Scopus Memorial College is Rabbi James Kennard, who replaced Hilton Rubin in 2007. Previous principals have included Abraham Feiglin, Max Wahlhaus, Aleksander Ranoschy, Dr. Steven Lorch and Rabbi William Altshul.
Mount Scopus College was the first of the Melbourne Jewish Day Schools to take part in the Sherut Leumi program. Every year, four Israeli women are sent to Mount Scopus as part of their Israeli National Service. They are a major component of Scopus' informal Jewish Studies team. Mount Scopus offers an Ulpan program in which tenth graders travel to Israel for 6–13 weeks. In 2007 and 2010, more than half of the school's tenth graders took part in this program.
Performing arts
The performing arts are considered an important part of school life at Mount Scopus Memorial College. Mount Scopus Memorial College is an IB school. Drama and Dance electives are available to students years 8–12. Theatre Studies is taught in VCE with excellent results. Music is taught from primary through to VCE, with an instrumental program available to students years 2–12. The performing arts calendar includes an annual College Musical, Senior School Play, VCE Theatre Studies Play, Middle-school House Plays, Primary Musical, multiple Music Soirees and an 'Idol' singing competition. Some recent productions include Bye Bye Birdie, Grease, Bugsy Malone, The Wizard of Oz, Seussical, Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, Disney's High School Musical, The Sound of Music, The Crucible, Annie, The Outsiders, Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Electra, Oliver!, Little Shop of Horrors. The 2012 production of Metamorphoses was awarded the Lyrebird Youth Awards for Best Production, Best Director – Evie Gawenda, Best Lighting and Best interpretation of script through the use of Multimedia'' – Evie Gawenda and Gideon Szental.
