Sunshine Coast Grammar School

Infobox Aust school private
name = Sunshine Coast Grammar School


motto = "Strength of Purpose"
established = 1997
type = Independent, Co-educational, Day school
denomination = Presbyterian and Methodist
key_people = Mr Nigel Fairbairn (Principal)
fees = AU$5,210–7,150 p.acite web |url=http://www.scgs.qld.edu.au/files/documents/Forms/Enrolment%20Forms/Local%20Enrolments/SCGS%20Fees%20Local.pdf |title=SCGS Fees Schedule 2008 |accessdate=2008-06-08 |format=PDF |work=Local Enrolments at SCGS|publisher=Sunshine Coast Grammar School]
city = Forest Glen
state = Queensland
country = Australia flagicon|Australia
coordinates = coord|26|41|2|S|153|0|26|E|display=inline,title
enrolment = ~1,220 (P–12)
num_employ =
revenue =
colours = Gold, Maroon, Navy Blue and Green color box|#FFD700color box|#800000color box|#000080color box|#008000
homepage = [http://www.scgs.qld.edu.au www.scgs.qld.edu.au]
The Sunshine Coast Grammar School is a private Christian school located in Forest Glen, a some-what rural town on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

The school has a student body of over 900, from prep to grade 12. The school was established in 1997. It is owned by Presbyterian and Methodist Schools Association, which operates several other schools in Queensland.

History

The School was originally started as a non-denominational educational institute, by the founding headmaster John Burgess.

The Presbyterian and Methodist Schools Association purchased the school from Burgess after he was forced to relinquish financial possession of the school. cite news | last = | first = | coauthors = | title = Controversial school founder dies | work = Sunshine Coast Daily | pages = | language = English | publisher = Sunshine Coast News | date = 2006-11-01 | url = | accessdate = 2006-11-01 ] Nigel Fairbairn took over from the Presbyterian and Methodist Schools Association's Dr Evans.

On July 1, 2006 the school officially opened its Early Learning Centre for children 6 weeks old to school age. This added to the size of the school area-wise.On June 2, 2008, the school flooded after an overnight deluge of rain. The overnight rain came on top of the rain from the prior week. No major incidents have been reported, although one car was caught in a creek at the school. [cite news
last = Wikinews Contirbutors
first =
coauthors =
title = Grammar school floods on Queensland's Sunshine Coast
work = Wikinews
pages =
language =
publisher = Wikimedia Foundation
date = 2008-06-02
url = http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Grammar_school_floods_on_Queensland%27s_Sunshine_Coast
accessdate = 2008-06-03 ]

Academia

Sunshine Coast Grammar School separates its student body into four parts: Senior, Middle, Junior, and Early Learning. They cover the traditional school years of Year 12 down to Year 10, Year 9 down to Year 7, Year 6 down to Year 1, and kindergarten to preschool, respectively. [wikicite|reference= [http://www.scgs.qld.edu.au/about_our_school/schools/senior_school/index.php Senior School] , [http://www.scgs.qld.edu.au/about_our_school/schools/middle_school/index.php Middle School] , [http://www.scgs.qld.edu.au/about_our_school/schools/junior_school/index.php Junior School] , [http://www.scgs.qld.edu.au/about_our_school/schools/early_learning/index.php Early Learning] .] In the Senior School, year 10 students face a difficult curriculum, to prepare them to meet the state-regulated "Senior Education and Training Plan", which leads students to set their direction, i.e., choose a career area.

In 2003, students in year 4 won awards for Creative Writing at the Ekkacite news | title = EKKA RESULTS | url = http://www.newstext.com.au/docs/CML/2003/get.jsp?docid=CML-20030807-1-023-4122447V2@QLD-METRO-2004-2003 | date = 2003-08-07 | author = | work = Courier Mail ]

Schools of Excellence

The school offers "Schools of Excellence" in Tennis, Mathematics and ICT. They are designed to encourage the expansion of knowledge and skill of the students taking part. They take the place of regular classes for students involved.

OP Results

At the end of 2006, there were nine OP 1's and seven OP 2's awarded to the Year 12's with 33% of the students getting OP 5 or better. These were the top results of any school on the Sunshine Coast.cite web | url = http://www.scgs.qld.edu.au/news/article_full.php?id=354 | work = Susnhine Coast Grammar School | title = Grammar celebrates 10 years with outstanding Op Results ] cite news
last =
first =
coauthors =
title = Grammar Students Top OPs
work = Buderim Weekly
pages =
language =
publisher = Sunshine Coast Newspaper Co. Pty Ltd
date =
url =
accessdate = ] An OP (Overall Position) is a ranking score used to place Year 12 students into tertiary courses.

International Studies

Languages

SCGS offers language courses in French, Japanese and Mandarin Chinese. Courses once existing in Italian and Indonesian were discontinued well before the school was in the possession of the PMSA.

Sister Schools

The school has sister schools in different countries around the world. Students may participate in student exchange programs with any of these schools.

These schools are;
* Mulgrave School, Canada
* Seijo Gakuen, Japan

Houses

The school has four sporting houses which the students are divided into. They are as follows:

Music and Media Studies

Ensembles

The school has a senior choir, covering the Middle and seniors schools; a year 3/4 choir and 5/6 choir in the junior school.

Grammar also has a number of instrumental ensembles including a junior concert band, senior concert band, string orchestra and big band. cite web | url = http://www.scgs.qld.edu.au/news/school_news/detail.php?ID=78 | work = Sunshine Coast Grammar School | title = Music Students Scoop Awards | accessdate = 2007-05-26 ]

All of these grous perform at different events and in various competitions.

Media Studies

In a recent interview, headmast Nigel Fairbairn stated that students studied Film and Television, "but not in the traditional form." [cite news |first=Patrick |last=Gillett |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=1st XV News interviews Nigel Fairbairn on Community TV |url= |work=1st XV News |publisher=Patrick Gillett |date=October 6, 2008 |accessdate=2008-10-07 ]

Sport

SCGS has set traditions in the sporting arena. From its rugby union program to its involvement in the Sunshine Coast Independent Schools Sports Association.

The school has sent teams to New Zealand and the UK. The teams, namely in the sports of rugby union, netball and cricket, have drawn comments from the Prime Minister of Australia John Howard and the Premier of Queensland Peter Beattie.cite book |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |editor= |others= |title= UK Cricket Tour 2005 |origdate= |origyear= |origmonth= |url= |format= |accessdate= |accessyear= |accessmonth= |edition= |series= |date= |year= 2005 |month= June |publisher= Sunshine Coast Grammar School |location= |language= |isbn= |oclc= |doi= |id= |pages= pp 6-7 |chapter= |chapterurl= |quote= ]

Both the 1st XV rugby team and the 1st XI cricket team have become state champions, by competing in the Ballymore Cup [cite news |first=Mitchell |last=Dale |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=The best in Queensland |url=http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2007/aug/21/best-queensland/ |work= |publisher= |date= |accessdate=2008-06-09 ] and Australia Post cricket competion [cite news |first=Jon |last=Tuxworth |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Grammar cricketers take out state final |url=http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2006/nov/22/scd-grammar-cricketers-take-out-state-final/ |work= |publisher= |date= |accessdate=2008-06-09 ] .

References

See also

* List of schools in Queensland

External links

* [http://www.scgs.qld.edu.au/ Sunshine Coast Grammar School website]
* [http://studyinqueensland.studylink.com.au/display/provider/provider-info.html?pid=pid-mm-01-01969a Study in Queensland profile]