St Virgil's College 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 ...

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

primary and secondary

day school A day school — as opposed to a boarding school — is an educational institution where children are given instruction during the day, after which the students return to their homes. A day school has full-day programs when compared to a regular s ...

for boys, located over two

campus A campus traditionally refers to the land and buildings of a college or university. This will often include libraries, lecture halls, student centers and, for residential universities, residence halls and dining halls. By extension, a corp ...

es in Austins Ferry and

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Established in 1911 by the

Congregation of Christian Brothers The Congregation of Christian Brothers (; abbreviated CFC) is a worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church, founded by Edmund Ignatius Rice, Edmund Rice. Their first school opened in Waterford, Ireland in 1802. At the time of its ...

, the College has a non-selective enrolment policy and caters for approximately 680 students, from Kindergarten to Year 12, with 120 at the junior campus and 480 at the senior campus. St Virgil's is affiliated with the

Junior School Heads Association of Australia The Independent Primary School Heads of Australia (IPSHA) formerly Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA), is an incorporated body representing the heads of independent primary schools in Australia. Officially established in Septem ...

(JSHAA), the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA), and is a member of the

Sports Association of Tasmanian Independent Schools The Sports Association of Tasmanian Independent Schools (SATIS) is a group of sixteen schools in Tasmania (Australia), Tasmania, Australia formed by AHISA Tasmania (Australia), Tasmania to conduct sporting competitions for member schools. NSATIS ...

(SATIS). Oversight of the school is administered by the

Archdiocese of Hobart The Archdiocese of Hobart is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Australia located in Hobart and covering Tasmania, Australia. Immediately Exemption (Catholic canon law), exempt to the Holy See, the ...

, Tasmanian Catholic Education Office, and the school is a member of Edmund Rice Education Australia.

History

St Virgil's College was formally opened on 22 January 1911 by The Christian Brothers. Leo Doyle was the first student admitted to the college. At is foundation the college was a

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

for boys located in Barrack Street, Hobart. The boarding section of the college was closed in 1970 and since then St Virgil's College has been a

only. In 1962, another campus was opened in Austins Ferry, offering junior secondary grades (Grades 7–9) on a

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

side property of 30

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

s. In 1991, three Grade 10 streams were also added. 2012 marks the 50 year celebrations for the campus. The Barrack Street campus then expanded for students from Grades 7–12 until 1994 when, under the Southern Secondary Schools Restructuring Plan, the campus no longer accepted enrolments for Grade 7. At the end of 1994, Grades 8, 11 and 12 ceased to run at the Barrack Street campus, and all secondary grades were moved to the Austins Ferry campus. This allowed Guilford Young College (Grades 11 and 12) to be established on the Barrack Street site. Grades 9 and 10 still ran in 1995, and only Grade 10 was offered in 1996. After 1996, St Virgil's College ceased to operate any of its classes on the Barrack Street campus. From then on, Grades 7–10 were all taught at the Austins Ferry campus, and because of the discontinuation of Grades 11–12, many students moved on to the newly formed Guilford Young College for their pre-tertiary years. In August 1995, permission was granted for St Peter's School to become the St Virgil's College Junior School from 1996 onwards. The Junior School now accommodates boys from Grades 3–6 and operates on the old St Peter's School site in Patrick Street. The current

principal Principal may refer to: Title or rank * Principal (academia), the chief executive of a university ** Principal (education), the head of a school * Principal (civil service) or principal officer, the senior management level in the UK Civil Ser ...

of St Virgil's College is John Franzin, who was appointed in 2022. Damian Messer left the college in 2021 to carry out other goals and explore different paths. In 2009, Christopher D. Smith left the college to carry out higher duties. Franzin is now the full-time principal, with Daniel Lapolla as the vice-principal teacher of the college, who replaced Heidi Senior in 2021. In 2019, it was announced that St Virgil's College would expand from a Year 3–10 school to a kindergarten to Year 12 school. Works are currently underway to develop both the Hobart and Austins Ferry sites in order for the school to cater for the new students by 2023.

Curriculum

St Virgil's College offers a broad

curriculum In education, a curriculum (; : curriculums or curricula ) is the totality of student experiences that occur in an educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view of the student's experi ...

, with the areas of

literacy Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

and

numeracy Numeracy is the ability to understand, reason with, and apply simple numerical concepts; it is the numerical counterpart of literacy. The charity National Numeracy states: "Numeracy means understanding how mathematics is used in the real world ...

of high importance. Emphasis is also placed on the languages,

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

and

physical education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

. The College places the most emphasis on its teaching of

religious education In secular usage, religious education is the teaching of a particular religion (although in the United Kingdom the term ''religious instruction'' would refer to the teaching of a particular religion, with ''religious education'' referring to t ...

, which is central to every student's studies.

Co-curriculum

Sport

St Virgil's College is a member of the

(SATIS). Much importance is placed on sport at St Virgil's College. All students are encouraged to participate in at least one sport during their time at the college. The college has had much success on the sporting field throughout its history. Most recent is the college's domination of the Tasmanian State and Southern School's

Athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

. The college's athletics team have won the SATIS (Sports Association of Tasmanian Independent Schools) Boys' junior title 10 consecutive seasons, and the Southern SATIS title 10 consecutive seasons as well. Other sports on offer at St Virgil's include

canoe polo Canoe polo, also known as kayak polo or polo (to players and fans), is one of the competitive disciplines of kayaking. It incorporates ball-handling skills into a contact team game, wherein group tactics and positional play are as important as in ...

, cross-country,

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically a ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

, touch football,

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

, basketball, rugby, badminton, squash,

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...

, and athletics.

Music

The college has two teacher-coordinated stage bands accommodating players of different skill levels. St Virgil's also offers individual and small group instrumental tuition for those wishing to acquire the skills to excel further than a band setting can allow them. The college also has the facilities to accommodate students wishing to start their own

rock band ''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...

. The St Virgil's College Senior

Stage Band In opera, a ''banda'' (Italian for ''band'') refers to a musical ensemble (normally of wind instruments) which is used in addition to the main orchestra and plays the music which is actually heard by the characters in the opera. A ''banda sul palco' ...

has won numerous awards for its efforts at various

eisteddfod In Welsh culture, an ''eisteddfod'' is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music. The term ''eisteddfod'', which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: , meaning 'sit', and , meaning 'be', means, a ...

s around Hobart. The Senior Band specialises in the areas of contemporary

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

and

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

music. The band often performs at school

fair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Fairs showcase a wide range of go ...

s, school productions and masses. In late 2005, the Senior Band, along with the jazz quartet, toured

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, performing at various schools and other venues. It is currently organizing and arranging plans to go on a similar tour of Melbourne in 2007. The Senior Stage band has also taken part in many St Virgil's school musicals. The band currently has between 10 and 15 members, and mainly features the

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

and

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

(

alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: '' altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In four-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in ch ...

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

and

baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...

), with a rhythm backing (

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

and

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Mus ...

Other co-curricular clubs

St Virgil's College also offers a wide range of co-curricular activities outside of sport and music. Most notably a robotics club who participated in the

FIRST Lego League The ''FIRST'' Lego League Challenge (formerly known as ''FIRST'' Lego League) is an international competition organized by '' FIRST'' for elementary and middle school students (ages 9–14 in the United States and Canada, 9-15 elsewhere). Each y ...

and the FIRST Tech Challenge in 2020. St Virgil's College also offers a chess club. This was founded in 2018 and made the Australian national championships in 2020.

House system

As with most Australian schools, St Virgil's utilises a

house system The house system is a traditional feature of schools in the United Kingdom. The practice has since spread to Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries. The school is divided into units called "houses" and each student is allocated to on ...

. The school houses are: *Doyle – Blue *Dwyer – Green * Hessian (formerly Virgilian House) – Red *Joyce (formerly College House) – Yellow

Notable alumni

An alumnus of St Virgil's College is known as an 'Old Virgilian' and may elect to join the school's

alumni association An alumni association or alumnae association is an association of graduates or, more broadly, of former students ( alumni). In the United Kingdom and the United States, alumni of universities, colleges, school A school is the educati ...

, the Old Virgilians' Association. The Association was established in 1916 as a way for Old Virgilians to meet regularly and keep in touch with news about the college. Some notable Old Virgilians include: ;Entertainment, media and the arts *

Anthony Ackroyd Anthony Michael Ackroyd (born 30 June 1958) is an Australian comedian, writer, musician, actor, speaker, and teacher. He is the creator and CEO of his company, Life Of Anthony. Biography Ackroyd was born in Hobart, Tasmania and grew up in the su ...

– comedian and writer * Geoff "Jeff" Hook – cartoonist * Tom Lewis – author, military historian and naval officer * Toby Leonard Moore – actor *

Don Sharp Donald Herman Sharp (19 April 192114 December 2011) was an Australian film director. His best known films were made for Hammer Film Productions, Hammer in the 1960s, and included ''Kiss of the Vampire (film), Kiss of the Vampire'' (1963) and ' ...

– film director * Peter Damian Williams – author and military historian ;Military * Major General Michael Crane – Commander of all Australian Forces in the Middle East area of operations (

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

) ;Politics, public service and the law * Henry Cosgrove – Judge of the Supreme Court of Tasmania * William Cox –

Governor of Tasmania The governor of Tasmania is the representative in the Australian state of Tasmania of the monarch, currently King Charles III. The incumbent governor is Barbara Baker, who was appointed in June 2021. The official residence of the governor is Gov ...

Anthony Fletcher Anthony John Fletcher (born 24 April 1941) is an English historian of the seventeenth century. His parents were Dr. (Clarence) John Molyneux Fletcher (younger brother of Eric Fletcher, Baron Fletcher) and Isabel Chenevix Trench. His maternal ...

– former member of the Legislative Council * Peter Heerey – Justice of the

Federal Court of Australia The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law (with the exception of family law matters), along with some summary (less serious) and indictable (mo ...

* Pierre Hutton – diplomat *

Gintaras Kantvilas Gintaras Kantvilas (born 1956) is an Australian lichenologist, who earned his Ph.D. in 1985 from the University of Tasmania with a thesis entitled ''Studies on Tasmanian rainforest lichens''. He has authored over 432 species names, and 167 gene ...

– scientist ( lichenologist) & state public servant *

Paul Lennon Paul Anthony Lennon (born 8 October 1955) is a Labor Party politician. He was Premier of Tasmania from 21 March 2004 until his resignation on 26 May 2008. He was member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly for the seat of Franklin from 1990 unt ...

– 42nd

Premier of Tasmania The premier of Tasmania is the head of the Government of Tasmania, executive government in the Australian state of Tasmania. By convention, the leader of the party or political grouping which has majority support in the Tasmanian House of Assem ...

* Doug Lowe – 35th Premier of Tasmania * Kenneth Lowrie – former member of the Legislative Council and Glenorchy

Alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

Albert Ogilvie Albert George Ogilvie (10 March 1890 – 10 June 1939) was an Australian politician and Premier of Tasmania from 22 June 1934 until his death on 10 June 1939. Early life Ogilvie was born on 10 March 1890 in Hobart, Tasmania. His parents ...

– 28th Premier of Tasmania ;Religion *

Adrian Leo Doyle Adrian Leo Doyle AM (born 16 November 1936) is an Australian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was the tenth Archbishop of Hobart. Early life and education Adrian Doyle was born in Hobart, Tasmania, to Leo and Gertrude (née O'Donnel ...

– Archbishop of Hobart * Michael Tate – Catholic priest and former Federal Justice Minister ;Sport * Scott Bowden – Olympic mountain bike rider and road cyclist * Scott Brennan – Australian rowing Olympic gold medallist and world champion * Sean Clingeleffer – cricket player; Tasmanian wicketkeeper * Sam Darley – Australian rules footballer * Michael Di Venuto – cricket player for the Tasmanian Tigers and Derbyshire County * Brodie Holland – Australian rules footballer for Collingwood Magpies *

Simon Hollingsworth Simon James Hollingsworth (born 9 May 1972) is an Australian former track and field athlete. He is currently the CEO of Athletics Australia. Athletic career Hollingsworth competed nationally and internationally for Australia in the 400 metres ...

–

400 metre hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, onc ...

2X lympian and 3X Commonwealth Games representative; Rhodes Scholar * Eric Huxtable – Australian rules footballer * Caleb Jewell – cricket player for North Hobart, Tasmanian Tigers and Hobart Hurricanes * Oliver O'Halloran – youngest person to fly around world solo, unassisted, completed in 2017 *

Jack Riewoldt Jack Riewoldt ( ; born 31 October 1988) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is a three-time premiership player, a three-time Coleman Medallis ...

– Australian rules footballer for Richmond Tigers *

Sid Taberlay Sid Taberlay is a professional mountain biker from Australia. After training in 2000, he finished third in the U23 National Championships and was selected for the National Team for the U23 World Championships in Spain. Taberley finished in ...

– Olympic mountain bike rider * Ted Terry – outstanding schoolboy athlete, winner of the 1925

Burnie Gift The Burnie Gift is a professional footrace held in Burnie, Tasmania during an annual sports carnival, held on a grass track at West Park Oval on New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve refers to the evening, or commonly th ...

, and – Australian rules footballer for St Kilda Saints * Tristan Thomas – Australian representative to the 2012 Olympics in athletics * Peter Toogood – former Australian amateur golf champion

References

External links

St Virgil's College Website

Catholic Education Tasmania

Department of Education Tasmania
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Virgil's College Catholic primary schools in Hobart Catholic secondary schools in Hobart Educational institutions established in 1911 Congregation of Christian Brothers secondary schools in Australia Boys' schools in Tasmania Junior School Heads Association of Australia Member Schools 1911 establishments in Australia Congregation of Christian Brothers primary schools in Australia