Saint Ignatius' College, Adelaide


Saint Ignatius' College, Adelaide, is an independent co-educational day school run by the Australian Province 0f the Society of Jesus located in Adelaide, South Australia. It commenced classes on 13 February 1951. Saint Ignatius' College is part of the international network of Jesuit schools which began in Messina, Sicily, in 1548.The patron saint of the College is the founder of the Society of Jesus, Ignatius of Loyola. The College has two campuses: the Junior Campus in Norwood, containing the Junior School and Early Childhood Centre, and the Senior Campus in Athelstone, located across some 16 hectares of land, home to the Senior School.

History

Single-gender education beginnings and later developments

The College began in Queen Street, Norwood, South Australia, commencing with fifty-two boys and six Jesuit fathers on 13 February 1951. The catalyst was Archbishop Matthew Beovich's increasing interest in commencing more formalised Catholic schooling in Adelaide. Thus the Jesuit boys' day school was established. The initial intake was from Grade 3 onwards. Students prior to this year level were educated at Loreto College, St Joseph's Memorial School, or the local state schools.
The school grew quickly and in 1967 a secondary campus was opened at Athelstone, in the then outer suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia and the Norwood campus became the Junior School. From 1971, the school accepted Kildare College enrolments from girls wanting to complete their secondary studies. At that stage, Kildare offered education up to Year 11. In 1996, the school changed to offer co-educational enrolments from Reception to Year 12, the first Jesuit school in the world to do so.

A co-educational Reception to Year 12 College

Today, over 1500 students are enrolled at the College's Junior and Senior Schools.
In 2005, the College and Mercedes College hosted their inaugural 'Intercollegiate Sports Carnival'. Each year the senior students of both colleges participate in eight sports for nineteen shields in the winter season. The school that wins the majority of the shields is the overall winner of the Carnival and of the 'Mercedes-Ignatius' Shield. Each school alternates the hosting of Intercol each year.
A significant celebration and event in the College community is the annual Patronal Feast Day of Saint Ignatius. A school mass is held at the Norwood Parish for current students and staff of the school; it is one of only two events in the College calendar where students from both campuses are gathered in one place. Saint Ignatius' feast day is celebrated on 31 July.
Aside from Junior and Senior School swimming and sports carnivals, another major event is the school's annual Distribution of Prizes, known as 'Speech Day', which all students from Years 3 to 12 attend. Students from Years 3 to 12 are acknowledged for their achievements in various areas of their schooling life. The 'College Blue' prize is also awarded to any past or present student of the College for extraordinary achievement in their life. It is held at the Adelaide Convention Centre at the beginning of Term 4. The majority of awards are books such as dictionaries and encyclopaedias, as well as a small number of medals and trophies. Future student leaders of the school are announced at this event.
Ignatius Early Years opened in 2009. It is an early childhood education centre located next to the Junior School at Norwood. It is for preschoolers aged 3 to 5 and follows the Reggio Emilia approach on educational philosophy for children.

Recent

Opening in March 2010, the Campion Library is a new double-storey library at the Senior School, developed to replace the previous, smaller library building. The Campion Library contains more classrooms to accommodate the growing number of Senior School students, as well as more modern library facilities. Similarly, opening in early 2011, the new Junior School library building replaced the former Junior Campus administration building, and likewise, includes new classrooms for the increasing student population.
In 2014 the Senior School Performing Arts Centre, a Music and Drama Building, was completed, replacing previous demountable Performing Arts buildings. The building houses student classrooms, tutorial and storage rooms, and an auditorium with raked audience seating for over 300 people.
In 2017 the Caroline Chisholm building was opened. The building is three stories tall with the bottom story being for a reception, student services and a variety of offices for many different people at the school. The second level is a new staff room and the third level is a new versatile learning place for students. This learning space includes a green screen, 'building' workshop as well as a number of interactive classrooms which teachers can book and arrange in the layout they want for their class.

Headmasters

Sport

Students of the College are separated into four houses under a College house system. House members are involved in various musical, pastoral, performing and sporting events alongside participants of their own house and opposing teams. The four houses are named after their patron Jesuit saints:
As well as this, the school has a proud inter-collegiate relationship with Mercedes College, a fellow Catholic school in Adelaide's South. Every year a sporting competition takes place in the winter season with the school who gets the majority of 21 shields taking out the competition. Redemption was complete in 2019 when the boys First XVII Football team won there respected shield for the first time in six years.

Notable alumni

For full list, see

Popular culture

Most scenes in the movie were filmed on location at the College and various scenes in the movie Broken Hill were also filmed at the College.