Canberra Girls Grammar School

St Gabriel's School was established with nine students in 1926, as a day and boarding school for girls, by the Church of England[2] religious order, the Community of the Sisters of the Church[4] (the Kilburn Sisters). It catered for the small but growing community in what was designated as the new Federal capital.[2]

St Gabriel's School, 1928

From 1926 to early 1928, the Old Rectory of St John the Baptist Church, Reid, was leased from the Government by the Kilburn Sisters. The rectory was known as Glebe House, and was close to the city. In May 1927, the day before the opening of Parliament House, the foundation stone of the current site on Melbourne Avenue at Deakin, was laid by Lewis Radford, Bishop of the then Diocese of Goulburn. The school officially moved into its new site in 1928. In 1933, the school was renamed Canberra Church of England Girls Grammar School (CCEGGS).[2]

CCEGGS was nearly closed down during the Great Depression, and sold some of its land in order to remain solvent. A boom period in the 1970s saw the school expand, with the Junior School moving to a new Campus in Grey Street, Deakin, to cater for a surge in enrolments. Today the junior school remains on a separate campus within the suburb.[2] In 2001, the school name changed again, this time to its current form Canberra Girls Grammar School (CGGS). In 2004, CGGS opened an Early Learning Centre (preschool) catering for 3- to 5-year-olds on its Junior School campus.[2]

CGGS viewed from Red Hill with Lake Burley Griffin in distance

Canberra Girls Grammar School is located over two campuses (primary and secondary) in the inner Canberra suburb of Deakin,[3] within view of Australia's Parliament House.[4] Combined, the campuses are 10 hectares (25 acres) in size, and include an indoor heated swimming centre, gymnasia, sports courts, playing fields, an aquatic centre on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin, and buildings catering for the performing arts, art and textiles.[10]

The School's most recent additions include a music centre with an adjoining 1,000-seat hall. 2006 saw improvements made to the junior school with the opening of six new classrooms, two music rooms and practice rooms and in 2010 the addition of a new multi-purpose hall, administration block, front office and staff offices. In the senior campus a new administration block, drive through and entrance was built in 2011 and a new award-winning science wing completed in 2012.

Canberra Girls Grammar School was authorized to offer the International Baccalaureate World School Diploma Programme on 21 July 2010. The school was also authorized to offer the Primary Years Programme on 15 September 2011.[11]

As with most Australian schools, Canberra Girls Grammar School utilises a house system for activities and competitions. The system forms the basis of its pastoral care programme.[15] Students in the senior school are divided into six houses:

• Burgmann, named after E H Burgmann, bishop of Canberra and Goulburn from 1950 to 1960
• Deakin, named after the suburb in which the school is situated and former prime minister Alfred Deakin
• Glebe, named after the building in which the school was first established
• Kilburn, named after the suburb in London where the Mother House of the Order of Sisters of the Church was located
• Robertson, named after Archdeacon C W Robertson
• Waverley, named after the Sydney suburb of Waverley where the Mother House of the Order of Sisters of the Church in Australia was located.[15]

Alumnae of Canberra Girls Grammar School are known as Grammarians and can join the schools alumni association, the Grammarians' Association (GA). The GA was formed as the Old Girls' Union in 1931 and has branches around Australia and overseas.[16] Some notable Old Grammarians include:

Entertainment, media and the arts

• Sibylla Budd – Australian actress
• Stef Dawson[17] – Australian actress
• Kate Denborough - Artistic Director Kage Physical Theatre
• Kate Fischer – model, Pru Goward's daughter
• Myfanwy Horne – journalist, writer, reviewer and book editor; wife of Donald Horne
• Samara Weaving – Australian actress, niece of Australian actor, Hugo Weaving
• Sally Whitwell – classical music pianist, composer, arranger, conductor and teacher

Politics, public service and the law

• Tupou Draunidalo – Fijian lawyer, Vice-President of the Fiji Law Society and daughter of former Deputy Prime Minister of Fiji, Kuini Speed
• Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt – British politician; Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester West; Former Secretary of State for Health[18]
• Katrina Hodgkinson – Australian politician and member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
• Fiona Patten - Co-founder and past president of the Eros Association; Director of the Australian National Museum of Erotica; Founder and leader of the Australian Sex Party, member of the Victorian Legislative Council

Science and Technology

• Marilyn Renfree – Professor of Zoology with a research specialisation in marsupial foetal development
• Deborah Terry – Psychology researcher and Vice-Chancellor at the University of Queensland
• Sarah Coupland – Australian pathologist

Sport

• Zoe Buckman – Australian representative to the 2012 Olympics in Athletics[19]
• Katherine Calder – Winter Olympian
• Gemma Dashwood – Represented Australia in swimming at the 1996 and 2000 Paralympic Games; winner of 4 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze medal
• Dimity Douglas - Australian Olympian (swimming)

• Anglican Church of Australia
• List of schools in the Australian Capital Territory
• List of boarding schools
• Head of the River (New South Wales)
• Associated southern colleges

• Official website