The Knox School (Australia)

The Knox School is an independent, co-educational, non-denominational day school, located in the eastern Melbourne suburb of Wantirna South, Victoria, Australia. The school is a member of the Eastern Independent Schools of Melbourne association.^[1] There are about 800 students at the school and class sizes are capped at 24 students.. Fees range from $6,698 to $21,295 p.a.^[2]

History

The Knox School was founded as Knoxfield College in February 1982. The school took over the campus from Taylors College at 220 Burwood Highway. The first principal was Dulcie Flinn, who was previously of the Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne. From 1982 to 1985 there were eight portable classrooms – five for the Junior School and three for the Senior School. In 1985 Stage II building work was done.

The second principal was Baxter Holly. Under Holly's leadership, Knoxfield College developed Stage III, including the Performing Arts Centre and the Art Gallery. 1987 saw the first Year 12 class. 1992 saw the purchase of a 1.6 hectare block of land adjoining the school from a plant nursery. That area is now the Tew Field (named after Wally Tew, a local councillor), the school's synthetic hockey pitch. This was opened in 1996. The third principal was Tony Conabere. He was appointed in July 1995. 1996 was another year of building, including the Pre-Prep campus and Tew Field, as well as the adjoining Pavilion.

In 1998 and 2000 the Knox School was ranked in Victoria's top ten schools, and in 1998 won the gold medal for Assessment Practice. 2000 saw the renaming of the school to Knox Grammar, however only a year later the school was further renamed to The Knox School after a "disagreement" with Knox Grammar School over the naming.

In 2002 the Information Common was opened by the then-Governor of Victoria, John Landy. This building incorporates four stories which include a library, many computer facilities, multimedia studio and numerous staff offices and front desk.

In 2004 the fourth principal, Suzanne McChesney, was appointed. Also in that year the Philip Island Discovery Campus was purchased. In 2005, the Junior School Building was named the D. G. M. Flinn building after the School's first principal. 2006 saw the renaming of the Arts Centre to the Founders' Building, in honor of those who started the school.

In 2007 The Knox School celebrated its 25th anniversary, along with unofficially opening its new auditorium, and beginning renovations to part of the Senior School, with renovations to the science labs and the conversion of the Year 12 Common Room into a hospitality kitchen, where students study the elective subject Food Technology and also serves as a small cafe for the staff. The school also contributed to the building of a crossing over Burwood Highway, the main road students have to cross to catch outbound buses, as students had the habit of crossing Burwood Highway, which caused worry for many, as students didn't like crossing at the lights at Renou Road. Also, a gala dinner was held at the Crown Palladium to celebrate the 25th Anniversary, which was combined with the Year 12 Valedictory Dinner.

In 2009 the Middle School was divided into two schools. The Lower Middle School from Year 5 to 7 and Upper Middle School from Year 8 to 9. Due to the school's fast growing student population, a new building was built and named the Year 9 Well Being Centre and features an ultra modern eco-friendly design surrounding the structure.

The school developed sister school relationships with the Shonan Gauken school in Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan; The Nanjing Foreign Language School in Nanjing, China and Yio Chu Kang Secondary School in Singapore.

After ten and a half years as the principal of The Knox School, Suzanne McChesney was farewelled in a special assembly attended by the Upper Middle and Senior School students on 27 June 2014. Her successor, Allan Shaw took up the position of principal on 7 July 2014.^[3][4]

In September 2015, a $1.5 million refurbishment of the Health and Wellbeing Centre began. It was completed by the beginning of the school year in 2016.^[5]

House system

The four Houses used for sporting and arts competitions and carnivals are "Chisholm" (named after Caroline Chisholm), "Flinders" (Matthew Flinders), "Lawrence" (Marjorie Lawrence) and "Paterson" (Banjo Paterson).

Schools

There are three sub-schools: The Junior School (Playgroup, Early Learning Centre, Prep to Year 6), Middle School (Years 7 to 9) and Senior School (Years 10 to 12).

Notable alumni

• Jackson Irvine, soccer player who plays for the Scottish Premiership side of Ross County on loan from Celtic^[6]
• Xander Speight, an actor best known for his role as Parker in the ABC3 television series, Worst Year of My Life Again

See also

• List of schools in Victoria

References

External links

• The Knox School