Caulfield Grammar School is a private, co-educational, Anglican, International Baccalaureate, day and boarding school, located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1881 as a boys' school, Caulfield Grammar began admitting girls exactly one hundred years later. The school amalgamated with Malvern Memorial Grammar School (MMGS) in 1961, with the MMGS campus becoming Malvern Campus.
Caulfield Grammar has three-day campuses in Victoria, Caulfield (Years 7–12), Wheelers Hill (K–Year 12), and Malvern House (K–Year 6). It has an outdoor education campus at Yarra Junction, and a student centre in Nanjing, China where the Year 9 internationalism programme is conducted.Penrose (2006), p. 244. Caulfield Grammar is the second largest school in Victoria, currently catering for 3,315 students.
History Foundation and early years
Joseph Henry Davies, who had served as a missionary in southern India, purchased the site for the school — it was adjacent to the Elsternwick railway station, and had been a small lolly shopAt the corner of Glenhuntly Road and Selywn Street (Penrose, 2006, p.6). — for £25 on 16 April and employed his sister and two brothers as teachers. Davies' aim was "that the School should be a thoroughly Christian one" that looked to render "Christian service".Penrose (2006), p. 7.
Although the school was originally located in Elsternwick, it is thought to have been named Caulfield Grammar School because Caulfield was the regional locality — and the geographical boundaries of Melbourne's suburban areas were not strictly defined or precisely named at the time — also, it is significant that the vicar of St Mary's Anglican Church in Caulfield had provided Davies with support when opening the school.Webber, (1981), p.15.
Caulfield Grammar School was founded on 25 April 1881, by Davies, with just nine pupils. Davies' original intention was to commence classes on Wednesday, 20 April 1881;See (see "Tutors, Governesses, Clerks, &c.: Caulfield Grammar School", The Argus, (Saturday, 2 April 1881) p.1, col.E. ) however, due to circumstances that were never clearly explained, Davies postponed the school's opening, at the last minute, until Monday, 25 April 1881.See "Tutors, Governesses, Clerks, &c.: Caulfield Grammar School", The Argus, (Tuesday, 19 April 1881) p. 1, col. D.
A year after opening, the school had 32 students enrolled. To house the growing student body, the school then moved to a nearby small building, later destroyed in a fire in 1890.Penrose (2006), p. 11. Fire at the Caulfield Grammar School; Suspected Incendiarism (The Argus, Monday 28 April 1890, p.8., col.A) In 1896, the school subsumed Hawksburn Grammar School, a smaller local Christian school, situated in Wynnstay Road, Prahran, after Hawksburn's headmaster, Walter Murray Buntine,French, E.L., "Buntine, Walter Murray (1866-1953)", in Nairn, B. (ed), Australian Dictionary of Biography: Volume 7 (1891-1939): A-Ch, Melbourne University Press, (Melbourne) 1979 . was appointed as headmaster at Caulfield Grammar. Hawksburn's 55 students subsequently transferred to Caulfield Grammar.Penrose (2006), p. 17."We feel sure that the parents at Armadale will be sorry to hear that Mr. W. H. Buntine has disposed of his school in Wynnstay-road, and taken that of the Caulfield Grammar School, situated at the corner of the Orrong and Glen Eira roads, but it is some consolation to know that special arrangements have been made whereby his present pupils will be driven free of expense, from the Toorak railway station to the new school in cabs specially engaged for the purpose. Mr. Buntine has been most successful with his matriculation pupils, and we have no doubt that, with the additional conveniences at his disposal, be will sustain his present reputation, and add lustre to the well-known Caulfield Grammar School. We hear that Mr. Buntine takes his present staff of teachers with him, and retains many of those in his new school." (Echoes of the Week, The Prahran Telegraph, (Saturday 28 March 1896), p.4 .) Also: Buntine's Toorak Station to Caulfield Grammar transport for his former Hawksburn Grammar pupils . The current site, a property near Sir Frederick Sargood's Rippon Lea Estate on what is now Glen Eira Road, St Kilda East was purchased in 1909. Classes began on the site on 9 February 1909 and the school's boarding house opened in 1912.Penrose (2006), p. 23.
By 1931, the school's 50th anniversary, attendance had grown to 500 students but Caulfield Grammar was still considered small compared to schools such as Scotch College, Melbourne, Wesley College Melbourne and Melbourne Grammar School. To celebrate the Golden Jubilee, a Jubilee Fair was held at the school in May.Penrose (2006), p. 31. In the same year, the school moved from private ownership to a registered company governed by a School Council, an organisational structure still used today, with formal affiliation with the Church of England.Penrose (2006), p. 26-27.
Post WWII history The school was renamed Malvern Memorial Grammar School in 1948 to honour old boys who had fought in World Wars I and II. Malvern Memorial Grammar School amalgamated with Shaw House in 1971 and became the Malvern Campus, a primary school located in the Valentine's Mansion, and its students began to wear the Caulfield Grammar School uniform.Penrose (2006), p. 53. From 1949 to 1979, Caulfield Grammar had operated Shaw House, its primary school located in Mayfield Street, St Kilda East, offering kindergarten and schooling from Years 1 to 3.Penrose (2006), p. 43.
In 1958, Caulfield Grammar joined the Associated Public Schools of Victoria school sporting competition.Penrose (2006), p. 51-52. Caulfield Grammar was Victoria's fifth largest school in 1959, with over 800 students.Penrose (2006), p. 44. In 1961, Caulfield Grammar School affiliated with Malvern Memorial Grammar School. Malvern Grammar School opened in 1890 as a boys-only secondary school and in 1924 moved into the Valentine's Mansion, formerly the home of Sir John Mark Davies (no relation to the school's founder), a Victorian Cabinet minister.Australian Dictionary of Biography Online (2006). Sir John Mark Davies . Retrieved 11 June 2006. The mansion was built in 1892 and contains a large ballroom. Valentine's Mansion has been listed as a place of historical and architecture significance by both the Victorian Heritage Register and the Register of the National Estate.Victorian Heritage Register (2006). Malvern House. Retrieved 26 May 2006.
During the 1960s and 1970s, student activism saw changes in the school's policies relating to students. Appointed prefects were replaced in 1970 by an elected School Committee to represent the student body, the publication of a student newsletter Demos—containing editorials on aspects of the school—was allowed, religious education classes were made voluntary for senior year levels, the position of school chaplain was abolished, and Caulfield Grammar was the only APS school to allow its students to participate in moratorium marches protesting the Vietnam War on 8 May 1970.Penrose (2006), p. 60-63.
The school's centenary year, 1981, marked the appearance of the first girls at Caulfield Grammar, as a second senior school campus opened at Wheelers Hill on 26 April. Caulfield Grammar had purchased the land for a future project in 1969,Penrose (2006), p. 54. and a new campus was established to celebrate the centenary.Penrose (2006), p. 78. Wheelers Hill began as a coeducational school for all year levels. In 1993, the other campuses opened to girls, making Caulfield Grammar fully co-educational.Penrose (2006), p. 118.
The school established a computer network in 1997 with all students and staff having individual log in details, email accounts, and file space.Novell (2005). Customer Showcase: Caulfield Grammar School . Retrieved 10 April 2008. This capability is referred to as the School's sixth or "virtual" campus, and enables access to email and files from the school network over the Internet.Caulfield Grammar School (2007). Virtual Campus . Retrieved 23 December 2007.
The school's historic War Memorial Hall, opened by Sir Dallas Brooks, the Governor of Victoria, on 27 April 1958, had cost some £50,000 (approx. $12 million in 2016) to construct on the Caulfield Grammar Campus.Webber (1981), 164.The concept of a "memorial Hall" had first been proposed by a member of staff Hugh Gemmell Lamb-Smith — himself an Anzac, who had landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 — in the 1930s; and Lamb-Smith had begun seeking funds from old boys in the early 1940s (see: Caulfield Grammar to Have Memorial Hall, The Argus, (Friday, 11 October 1946), p.3 ). At the time of Lamb-Smith's death (1951), the fund held a little over £13,000. The remaining £37,000 was raised (1957-1958) by a wide range of contributions from the students, parents, old boys, and wider Caulfield Grammar Community. In the early morning of 7 November 2000, the "Cup Day" public holiday, a fierce fire broke out in the then-being-refurbished building (just two weeks away from completion); the roof collapsed, and the entire building was destroyed — only Alan Sumner's stained glass memorial windows escaped damage.Douez, Sophie, "$1 Million School Blaze a Mystery", The Age, (Wednesday, 8 November 2000), p.4.
The school then began to plan the construction of major halls at both the Caulfield Grammar and the Wheelers Hill campuses, naming the project "The Twin Halls". The Memorial Hall at Wheelers Hill was officially opened on 28 July 2005, and the "Cripps Centre", its counterpart on the Caulfield Grammar Campus opened on 25 October 2005. Each hall seats 650 people: the Wheelers Hill hall including a new chapel fitted with a multimedia centre, and the Caulfield Grammar hall including a music/visual art department.Caulfield Grammar School (2007). Our History . Retrieved 22 December 2007. Caulfield Grammar School now has over 3,000 students throughout its three-day campuses.
The school is a member of the Associated Public Schools of Victoria (APS), and is affiliated with the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA), the Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA), the Australian Boarding Schools' Association, and the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria (AISV).
Yarra Junction Campus In 1947, a country centre opened at Yarra Junction on land donated by the Cuming family.School Centre Opened at Yarra Junction, The Argus, (Monday, 24 March 1947), p.7 ; Penrose (2006), p. 34. Cuming House was the first outdoor education campus for an Australian school, set in the Australian bush and close to the Yarra River. The Yarra Junction Campus today allows students to live in sustainable eco-cabins with rainwater tanks and solar power technology.J. Walter, A. Heath and R. Clancy. "Earth Studies – A journey towards a sustainable future ". MESA The Future is Here 2001 – a conference for Environmental Education The Earth Studies Centre, Wadambawilam (Aboriginal term for 'learning place'), operates on wind and solar power, and uses many environmentally sound practices to teach students about long-term environmental sustainability.Going Solar (2004). Case Studies: Caulfield Grammar . Retrieved 10 April 2008 Also on campus is a commercial dairy which produces over 1 million litres of milk annually.Gearin, Mary (10 September 2000). "Eco camp schools students on the environment ". ABC Landline. On United Nations World Environment Day 2001 the Yarra Junction Campus won an award for Best School Based Environment Project for its energy-saving eco-cabins project.United Nations Association of Australia – Victoria Division (2008). World Environment Day Awards 2001. Retrieved 13 April 2008.
Nanjing Campus