St Kevin's College, Melbourne


St Kevin's College is an independent Roman Catholic, all-boys primary and secondary school. The college was founded in 1918, and is located in Toorak, Victoria, Australia. It has five campuses, three of which are in the suburb of Toorak, the fourth in Richmond, and the fifth being a sport campus located behind Stockland Tooronga. The school owned a campsite 'Silver Creek' in the town of Flowerdale which was completely destroyed by the Black Saturday bushfires.
St Kevin's was founded by the Christian Brothers and is a member of the Associated Public Schools of Victoria. St Kevin's overlooks Gardiners Creek, a tributary that runs into the Yarra River, with Scotch College on the opposite side. The college has a long-standing tradition with the historic St. Patrick's Cathedral and is responsible for educating their choir boys.
St Kevin's is a school of the Archdiocese of Melbourne, is directed by Edmund Rice Education Australia, and is a member of both the Associated Public Schools of Victoria and the International Boys' Schools Coalition. The Headmaster is a member of the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia.

History

The school was established in 1918 in East Melbourne by the Christian Brothers. 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. 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.
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.
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.
2018 saw St Kevin's College celebrate its centenary year. A special 100-year logo was created and was used throughout the school year. 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. Special events such as "The Great Debate", featuring generations of St Kevin's old boys, took place and a limited-edition 100-year history of the college was published for students and staff.

Campuses

St Kevin's College has five campuses:
The Houses for the Senior and Middle Schools are named after Christian Brothers associated with the college. They are:
HouseColourEstablishedHouse AreaNamed AfterMotto
Cusack19994th Floor, Kearney BuildingJ.F. Kenny c.f.c., Science Master 1918-1945N/A
Kearney19993rd Floor, Kearney BuildingJ.A. Kearney c.f.c., M.A., Headmaster, 1930-1934First in Friendship and Everything Else
Kenny19993rd Floor, Kearney BuildingJ.R. Cusack c.f.c., M.A., Teacher of Modern and Ancient History and Languages, 1919-1927 and 1931-1941N/A
McCarthy20084th Floor, Cummins BuildingF.I. McCarthy c.f.c., M.A., BEd, PhD, Headmaster, 1977Audere et Vincere
Purton19994th Floor, Kearney BuildingD.G. Purton c.f.c., M.A., Headmaster, 1941-1943N/A
Rahill20102nd Floor, Godfrey BuildingP.A. Rahill c.f.c., Teacher of English and Literature, 1927-1929 and 1935-1949Veritas Omnia Vincit

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.

Curriculum

St Kevin's College offers its Years 11 and 12 students the Victorian Certificate of Education, 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.
YearRankMedian Study ScoreScores of 40+ Cohort Size
2012163628.1354
2013213627.1362
2014343522.1358
2015133629.3346
2016213527.1360
201753730.8371
201873630.2358
2019143627.5350

Publications

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.
Publication nameTypeResponsible authorityIntended audienceFrequency of publicationMethod of distributionLink
Senior School NewsletterNewsletterSt. Kevin's CollegeParents, Students, Staff, Members of the SKC Community Weekly, during semestersOnline, via College Portal, College Website and Email
Junior School NewsletterNewsletterSt. Kevin's CollegeParents, Students, Staff, Members of the SKC Community Weekly, during semestersOnline, via College Portal, College Website and Email
OmniaMagazineSt. Kevin's CollegeParents, Students, Staff, Members of the SKC Community, Alumni, Prospective Parents, Prospective Students 1 Issue per school term
Online, via College Website and delivered to subscribers via mail

Extracurricular activities

As part of upholding the value of "fullness of life" of the college, a number of initiatives are conducted.

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.

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.

APS Premierships

St Kevin's College has won the following APS premierships:
*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, and is the only secondary school in Australia to offer students the opportunity to earn a pilot's licence by the time they graduate. The program has been commended by aviators and industry experts, including Nancy Bird Walton.

Coat of arms, crest and motto

The current school crest was adopted by Kearney in 1933. The crest bears:
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:
These touchstones have also been adopted by other Edmund Rice Education Australia schools in a similar fashion to St Kevin's College.

Notable alumni

Politics, public service and the law

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. Following the resultant media furore, a public apology from Headmaster Russell was issued in a letter sent to all parents the following day. In this apology, Headmaster Russell denounced the students' 'misogynistic' behaviour as 'offensive'. 10 students were reportedly suspended with the possibility of expulsion. 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. It was further revealed by the ABC that a group of students made a derogatory rap song about female students from another school in 2018. Headmaster Russell then further condemned the students' behaviour as 'foolish and reckless' and acknowledged that the college's cultural problems were 'more widespread than understood'.

Mishandling of child abuse

In February 2020 it was reported that Headmaster 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.
Amid calls to resign, Headmaster Russell responded by suggesting that Kehoe was a 'never a member of staff' and expressed his remorse for providing Kehoe a character reference, stating: 'I would not do it again'. State Premier Daniel Andrews said that the Headmaster Russell's response was "just not on" and suggested that Headmaster Russell would have been removed from his position had he been the principal of a government school.
On 19 February, Headmaster Russell resigned from the school and dean of sport, Luke Travers, was stood down pending further investigation. Later the same day, John Crowley, principal of St Patrick's College in Ballarat, was announced to be the acting Headmaster of St Kevin's. Later the same month, Advanced maths teacher Simon Parris' employment was "concluded" from the Toorak school in late February amid a series of staff removals over a child grooming scandal. He has now been suspended from teaching. Additionally, former deputy principal Janet Canny stepped aside after court action was lodged against her over a complaint alleging breaches of mandatory reporting, and Director of Studies and English teacher Gary Jones' employment was "concluded".
At least six staff members have been stood aside or left the school since Mr Russell resigned.