Sydney Church of England Grammar School


The Sydney Church of England Grammar School is a dual-campus independent Anglican single-sex and co-educational early learning, primary and secondary day and boarding school for boys, located on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Established in 1889 by the Church of England, Shore has a non-selective enrolment policy and currently caters for approximately 1,600 students from Year K to Year 12, including 200 boarders from Year 6 to Year 12. The school is co-educational from the early learning years to Year 2, and these students are housed on separate campus in suburban Northbridge.
The school is a member of the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia, the Junior School Heads Association of Australia, the Australian Boarding Schools' Association, the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, and is a founding member of the Athletic Association of the Great Public Schools of New South Wales.

History

The Sydney Church of England Grammar School was founded on 4 May 1889, and was the initiative of Bishop Alfred Barry of the Sydney Diocese of the Church of England. The site of the school's first building stands on that of the Victorian mansion of the famed gold prospector Bernhardt Holtermann, a German migrant who discovered the Holtermann Nugget in the Australian gold fields. He used his new-found wealth to build a magnificent home in North Sydney which is now a boarding house of Shore. His sons were among the first students enrolled at Shore.
The St James' School Compensation Trust Act provided for the foundation of:
The school officially has two names, the "Sydney Church of England Grammar School" and the Shore School has long been known by the latter, however it was not until the early 1990s when the name "The Shore School" was officially adopted. The name came about at sporting matches where supporters could not chant 'Grammar', as this was already done by the students of Sydney Grammar School. Another reason for the name change was that Sydney Church of England Grammar School was shortened to S.C.E.G.S, which sounded similar to S.C.E.G.G.S, the sister school of Shore. The name comes from the school being located in Sydney's North Shore region.

Campuses

The Sydney Church of England Grammar School is situated on two campuses:
In the senior school, in addition to the administrative centres and classroom blocks there are:
The Preparatory School, originally constructed in 1926, was completely renovated in March 2006.

Shore Physical Education Centre

In 2016, the school announced plans for an updated gym, squash courts, basketball court, an indoor/outdoor 50 meter pool and new classrooms as a part of the Shore Physical Education Centre. Construction began early 2018, and is expected to be completed in 2020.

Northbridge

An Early Learning Centre for boys and girls in the two years prior to starting Kindergarten, as well as a Kindergarten to Year 2 learning facility for boys and girls, was opened at the Northbridge campus in 2003. With Long Day Care facilities, the ELC is open 48 weeks per year.
The school's main sports facility is also at Northbridge, on land bought in 1916. The school was given a choice of either buying the neighbouring "Graythwaite" property, or the land at Northbridge. The school chose the land at Northbridge as playing fields, of which the school was in desperate need. This campus now features six full-sized ovals, tennis courts, pavilions and dressing rooms. The grounds were opened in 1919 as a memorial to the 880 old boys who served, and the 122 who died in the Great War.
Northbridge has been redeveloped as the previous grandstands had become severely dilapidated. The $9 million redevelopment includes a new grandstand and changerooms, and was officially opened on 11 November 2008.

Co-curriculum

Sport

Shore students may participate in a variety of sports, mainly within the GPS competition. Sports include rugby union, soccer, cricket, tennis, taekwondo, basketball, rowing, cross country running, athletics, shooting, surf lifesaving and snowsports. Furthermore, the school is currently trialing new sports such as Australian rules football and hockey.
Until the arrival of Headmaster R.A.I. Grant, the choice of sports available to students was very limited. For example, during the winter months, there was only rugby union unless a medical exemption was available. That changed after 1984, with sports such as tennis and soccer being made available to all students.
The school's boatshed and pontoon for its rowing club is at Gladesville on the north shore of Sydney's Parramatta River. Shore was the third Sydney school to take to the water and has been rowing in the GPS competition since the late 1890s, to great result.

Performing arts

Shore has a comprehensive performing arts program, including Music Ensembles and Drama productions. Music ensembles include two concert bands, two stage bands, an orchestra, three string groups and the Shore Chapel Choir, as well as a number of other smaller ensembles. The Shore Performing Arts Centre features a proscenium arch theatre with 500 seats as well as a hydroluic orchestra pit, counterweight fly system and a state of the art lighting and audio control booth, and a multi-configurable black box theatre with seating arrangements ranging from 25 to 150 seats. The centre also boasts a wide range of orchestral rooms for both performance and rehearsals.
Recent musical productions include Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Oliver!, West Side Story, Anything Goes, A Peculiar People, Les Misérables, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Recent dramatic productions include Our Town, Lord of the Flies and The Cherry Orchard.

Publications

The school has a weekly publication, The Shore Weekly Record, which, along with informing boys and parents of upcoming happenings and sporting fixtures and results, gives certain boys the opportunity to express their writing and artistic talents in their own section, usually the inner part of the publication. Over the years this variously-named "inside section" has fostered the satirical talents of Chris Taylor from The Chaser, and provided a unique perspective on the school and the wider world.
Other publications are the Shore Reports and the Torch Bearer.

Headmasters

The present headmaster of Shore School is Dr Timothy Petterson. He was previously headmaster of St Philip's Christian College, Port Stephens and holds a PhD in Textiles Technology, an MBA from the AGSM, a Graduate Diploma in Education and a Diploma of Biblical Studies. In 2004, Timothy was awarded a Premier’s Teachers Scholarship that facilitated a course of study at Harvard Business School.
The school is also governed by a council jointly appointed by the Old Boys' Union and the Anglican Diocese of Sydney. The deputy headmaster is Rod Morrison, with the previous deputy headmaster, Graham Robertson, having retired after 27 years.
The following individuals have served as headmaster of the school:

Notable alumni

Shore alumni are commonly referred to as 'Old Boys', and may elect to join the schools alumni association, the Shore Old Boys Union.