Frensham School
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Frensham School is an
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
non-denominational comprehensive single-sex
preschool A preschool (sometimes spelled as pre school or pre-school), also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, play school, is an school, educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they ...
, primary, and secondary
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and boarding school for girls, located at
Mittagong Mittagong () is a town located in the Southern Highlands (New South Wales), Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. The town acts as the gateway to the Southern Highlands when coming from Sydney. Mittagong is si ...
, in the Southern Highlands region of
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
, Australia. Established in 1913 by Winifred West, the school has a non-selective enrolment policy and currently caters for approximately 300 students from Years 7 to 12, including 222 boarders. Students come to Frensham from Sydney, the Southern Highlands, regional New South Wales, interstate, and overseas. The school is governed by the Winifred West Schools Limited, along with Miss West's other two schools, Sturt School Craft Centre and Gib Gate
Primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
. Frensham is affiliated with the Boarding Schools' Association of the United Kingdom, the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA), the Australian Boarding Schools' Association (ABSA), the Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia (AGSA), and is a founding member of the Association of Heads of Independent Girls' Schools (AHIGS).


History

Frensham was founded by Winifred Mary West on 17 July 1913, with three students and five teaching staff. West first came to Australia in 1907, where she met Phyllis Clubbe, and the two soon after considered the founding of a school. To prepare for this they returned to England, where West furthered her experience in teaching, and Clubbe undertook teacher training. In 1912, they returned to Australia to begin the search for a suitable site, preferably a country region with an invigorating climate, within a reasonable distance of Sydney. On 1 June 1913, "Y Berth", a house belonging to Mr Tooth, was leased for five years with the option to purchase. The property featured a twelve-room house and of grounds. The school was named after West's birthplace, Frensham in Surrey. Based on word-of-mouth, the school population had grown to 100 by 1918, and continued to grow to 250 by 1943, and 330 in 1963. In 1934, photographer
Harold Cazneaux Harold Pierce Cazneaux (30 March 1878 – 19 June 1953), commonly referred to as H. P. Cazneaux, was an Australian photographer; a pioneer whose style had an indelible impact on Australian photographic history. In 1916, he was a founding membe ...
published a book of photographs of the students and the school titled ''The Frensham Book''. This collection is now in the
National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...
, and formed part of a National Library public exhibition of his photography. S. E. Emilsen wrote another book on the school in 1988. In 1941, Miss West established the Sturt Craft Centre for local students, teaching
weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal ...
, spinning and
carpentry Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, Shipbuilding, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. C ...
as a community service. Eventually other crafts such as
pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...
, jewellery, textiles and
screenprinting Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen in a "flood stroke" ...
were introduced. Today, Sturt also hosts annual Summer and Winter schools focussing on the arts in January and July. The Sturt School for Wood was established in 1985, and runs full-time courses for designer makers of fine furniture. Gib Gate was established as a preparatory school for Frensham in 1954. The school had planned to open a preparatory school named "Little Frensham" in 1939, but the grounds were destroyed by the 1939
bushfires A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...
. In 1970, Gib Gate became
co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...
, catering for day students from pre-school to Year 6, with boarding available in Years 4, 5 and 6. In the mid 1970s, Frensham established a mass recruitment advertising campaign to achieve an increase in attendance, as the school faced unfavourable outcomes in net profit. The campaign lasted approximately five years, and by 1983 enrolments had doubled.


Heads


Governance

In 1917, Winifred West established a school Council consisting of staff, the
head girl The two Senior Prefects, individually called Head Boy (for the male), and Head Girl (for the female) are students who carry leadership roles and are responsible for representing the school's entire student body. Although mostly out of use, in some ...
and prefects, old girls and community representatives. In 1932, Frensham School Limited was formed in order to provide for the school after the death of West, with the Council becoming the executive body. A Board of Governors became the executive body in 1952, with the council becoming an advisory body. Frensham School Limited was renamed as Winifred West Schools Limited in 1954, as recognition of Winifred West's other two schools, Sturt School and Gib Gate.


Notable alumnae

Frensham School's Old Girls (alumnae) may elect to join the Frensham Fellowship. The Frensham Fellowship was established in 1918, as a way of linking past and present students. Membership is open to former students and staff, with honorary membership offered to current staff and school prefects. Some notable Old Girls include: ;Media, entertainment and the arts * Marion Hall Best – interior designer * Helen Blaxland – charity fundraiser, heritage conservationist, skilful flower arranger and nonfiction writer * Beatrice Bligh – gardener * Eleanor Cullis-Hill – architect * Rosemary Dobson – author and poet with 13 published works; Winner of awards including a 1996 Australia Council Writer's Emeritus Award * Henrietta Drake-Brockman – playwright; 1938 winner of a Sesquicentenary Celebration Prize for best full-length play for ''Men Without Wives''; Winner of a ''
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'' short story prize * Elizabeth Fell – activist, journalist, academic, feminist and public intellectual * Nancy Keesing – author of 26 volumes of poetry and fiction, chaired the Australia Council and the State Library of NSW * Annette Macarthur-Onslow – author and illustrator; Winner of the Book of the Year Award of the Children's Book Council for ''Uhu'' (1970) * Kate McClymont – investigative journalist at ''
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'' * Penny Meagher – painter * Joan Phipson – author of 25 novels, including ''The Family Conspiracy''; Winner of the Australian Children's Book of the Year (1963), and the New York Herald Tribune Children's Spring Book Festival Award (1964) * Kathleen Mary Robinson (1901–1983), who was a leading figure in theatres, studied and acted here. * Babette Smith – colonial historian and mediator * Betty Who – stage name of Jessica Anne Newham, pop artist ;Medicine and science *Dr
Catherine Hamlin Elinor Catherine Hamlin, Order of Australia, AC, Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons, FRCS, Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, FRANZCOG, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, FRCO ...
obstetrician Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...
and
gynaecologist Gynaecology or gynecology (see American and British English spelling differences) is the area of medicine concerned with conditions affecting the female reproductive system. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, which focuses on pre ...
; co-founder of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in
Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
; pioneer in
fistula In anatomy, a fistula (: fistulas or fistulae ; from Latin ''fistula'', "tube, pipe") is an abnormal connection (i.e. tube) joining two hollow spaces (technically, two epithelialized surfaces), such as blood vessels, intestines, or other h ...
surgery; 1999 nominee for the
Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...
;Politics, public service and the law * Ruth Dobson – former Ambassador to Denmark and the Republic of Ireland. * Rosemary Foot – former Deputy Leader of the NSW Liberal Party. First woman to be elected to a leadership position of a major party in a lower house anywhere in Australia * Jane Mathews – judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. * Florinda Katharine Ogilvie MBE (1902–1983) – central to the development of Social Work in Australia * Lucy Hughes Turnbull – a former Lord Mayor of Sydney (2003–2004); wife of Australian
Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
Malcolm Turnbull Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party an ...
;
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and author (she also attended Kincoppal-Rose Bay, School of the Sacred Heart, Sydney) ;Sport and aviation * Christine Davy – former alpine skier who competed at the
1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...
and
1960 Winter Olympics The 1960 Winter Olympics (officially the VIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Squaw Valley 1960) were a winter multi-sport event held from February 18 to 28, 1960, at the Squaw Valley Resort (now known as Palisades Tahoe) in Squaw Valley ...
and pioneering female airline pilot who was the first Australian woman to hold a 1st Class Air Transport Pilot's Licence ;Education * Patience Hawker – co-founder of Stawell School for girls in South Australia


See also

*
List of non-government schools in New South Wales This is a list of non-government schools in the state of New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders ...
* List of boarding schools in Australia


References


Further reading

* Curd, L.M. 1938. ''Frensham: The First Twenty-five Years''. Frensham School, Mittagong. * Emilsen, S.E. 1988. ''Frensham: An Historical Perspective''. Winifred West Schools, Mittagong. * Svensen, J. 1993. ''Lasting Influences: Memories of Frensham 1938–1965''. Molong Write Way, Molong, NSW. * Tuckey, E. 1963. ''Fifty years at Frensham: A history of an Australian School''. Winifred West Schools, Mittagong.


External links


Frensham School website
{{Authority control 1913 establishments in Australia Association of Heads of Independent Girls' Schools Boarding schools in New South Wales Buildings and structures awarded the Sir John Sulman Medal Educational institutions established in 1913 Girls' schools in New South Wales Private secondary schools in New South Wales Mittagong Private primary schools in New South Wales Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia