The Anglican Church Grammar School (ACGS), formerly the Church of England Grammar School and commonly referred to as Churchie, is an independent, Anglican, day and boarding school for boys, located in East Brisbane, an inner suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Founded in 1912 by Canon William Perry French Morris, Churchie has a non-selective enrolment policy and currently caters for approximately 1,800 students from Reception to Year 12, including 150 boarders from Years 7 to 12. It is owned by the Corporation of the Synod of the Diocese of Brisbane.
Churchie is a founding member of the Great Public Schools Association of Queensland (GPS), and is affiliated with the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA), the Independent Primary School Heads of Australia (IPSHA),Independent Primary School Heads of Australia Independent Schools Queensland (ISQ), the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC)Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Australian Boarding Schools' Association (ABSA). Churchie is also an International Baccalaureate World SchoolInternational Baccalaureate#Australia offering the Diploma Programme and Primary Years Programme.
Despite its name, the school is not a Grammar School established under either the Grammar Schools Act 1860 or the Grammar School Act 2016, distinguishing it from earlier established Grammar Schools in Brisbane, Ipswich, Rockhampton, Toowoomba, and Townsville. In 2016, the Queensland Parliament defined Grammar Schools to exclude "Anglican Church Grammar School." The legislation forbids a person from "establish[ing] or operat[ing] a non-grammar school under a name that includes the word ‘grammar’" and makes it an offence to "hold out a non-grammar school to be a grammar school."https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/pdf/inforce/current/act-2016-052 (Section 51) The legislation nevertheless permitted Anglican Church Grammar School to retain its name.https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/pdf/inforce/current/act-2016-052 (Section 69, exempting Sunshine Coast Grammar School and Anglican Church Grammar School from the application of Section 51)
Churchie, widely recognised as one of Australia's most prestigious schools, is among the richest based on earnings and donations from alumni. In 2009, the school raised $30.9 million in fees, charges, parent contributions and other private sources, 26.5 per cent more than any other school in southeast Queensland. In the same year, Churchie also received $7.7 million in donations, primarily from alumni. This figure was the second highest in Australia, surpassed only by the donations to Sydney Grammar School.
History In 1912, Canon William Perry French Morris and his wife (who held degrees in science and medicine) founded a school called St Magnus Hall at Ardencraig, a suburban house in Church Street (now Jephson Street), Toowong, before relocating it to the present site in East Brisbane in 1918.
Canon Morris assigned Saint Magnus, a Norsemen earl, as the patron saint of the school and had hoped that the students would be referred to as 'Magnates'. It is said that he did not like the nickname 'Churchie' at first, however when it had become commonplace by the 1930s and respected around Queensland he accepted the change.
The school's name was changed to St Magnus Hall Collegiate School For Boys and then to The Cathedral School early in 1913 following the move to a new site at St John's Cathedral in the Brisbane central business district. Thirty-three boys completed the school year that year. In 1916, the land that the school currently stands on was purchased and, in 1918, the foundation stone was laid on the school's current site. From 1916 to 1985, the school was officially known as the Church of England Grammar School (CEGS). Prior to the 1985 school year, the school name was officially changed once again to the Anglican Church Grammar School (ACGS), to reflect the 1981 renaming of the Church of England in Australia to the Anglican Church of Australia. However, the school continues to be popularly known as Churchie.
In 1987, Churchie celebrated its 75th year as a school.
In late 2009, the school began extensive construction work to upgrade its cultural and sporting facilities. Over two years, three new complexes were built at the school's East Brisbane campus: the Barry McCart Aquatic Centre, the David Turbayne Tennis Centre and the $9.9 million Sir John Pidgeon Sports Complex, opened by Governor Penelope Wensley in 2010. In 2011, Morris Hall, the school's "spiritual heart", was upgraded and expanded and the adjacent quadrangle, Magnus Quad, was also relandscaped.
In 2012, Churchie celebrated its 100th year as a school.
In October 2016, School House, the oldest building on site and home to the boarding community, was refurbished. The following year The Centenary Library was opened and housed Student Services, the Senior School library, classrooms and a research centre focusing on learning environments.
Patron saint
Canon Morris based much of the school's ethos on its patron saint, St Magnus, a Norsemen earl known for his strength of character and his qualities as an educated Christian man. The Viking tradition is reflected in the school coat of arms, with its shield and battle axes symbolising Viking courage, and its crossed axes signifying self-sacrifice and St Magnus' martyrdom. Many of the school's rowing boats are named after Viking figures, and the school mascot, 'Eric', is also a Viking effigy.
Controversies and incidents In May 2004, Frederick Roy Hoskins, a former teacher and boarding house head, pleaded guilty to seven child sex offences committed against seven victims aged nine to fifteen between 1947 and 1955. The crimes occurred over a 10-year period at the school.
On the afternoon of 7 December 2007, a fire started in the Lanskey Building between two Year 7 classrooms. The automated fire system set alarms off, and just after 4:30 pm the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service arrived to find two classrooms badly damaged.
During April 2008, there was community debate when students were disallowed from inviting male partners to the school formal. The school's Headmaster referred the matter to the School Council, which released a statement saying that it 'strongly supported the headmaster's position on the school's education programs in social settings'.
In October 2009, the deputy head of the preparatory school, Chris Klemm, who had worked at the school for almost three decades, was stood down due to 'serious allegations' made against him. The Headmaster issued letters to all parents regarding the matter, but kept the allegation, which was revealed in the mid-semester holiday break, confidential. In November 2010, Klemm was convicted of child sex offences and received a jail sentence of five years.
On 18 February 2023, a student pulled a knife at the Churchie rowing sheds after his 'bag of lollies went missing'. Police were called to the scene and the 14-year-old boy was dealt with under the provisions of the Youth Justice Act.
Headmasters Period Headmaster 1912–1946 W. P. F. Morris OBE 1947–1969 Harry Roberts OBE 1970–1973 Charles Fisher 1974–1986 Bill Hayward OAM 1987–1997 Christopher Ellis 1998–2003 David Scott 2003–2013 Jonathan Hensman 2014–present Alan Campbell
Campus Churchie's twenty-two hectare campus is located in inner-city Brisbane. The school occupies the entire eastern side of Oaklands Parade, a street in East Brisbane, and extends all the way down to the banks of Norman Creek, a tributary of the Brisbane River. The first building on the site was the old boarding house, erected in 1918. Most of the school's buildings are built in the Gothic Scholastic style, characterised by 'decorative, half-timbered gables, red brick face-work, gargoyles and terracotta tiles'. Churchie has all of its sporting and cultural facilities on its East Brisbane campus—including ten playing fields, three swimming pools, two basketball courts, seven tennis courts and gymnasium—on the one campus. The Graham Fowles Boathouse is located approximately one kilometre away in Mowbray Park.
Notable buildings and facilities on the Churchie campus include: Morris Hall – Churchie's main social, cultural and musical building Magnus Hall and Magnus Quadrangle – the school's main academic building The Canon Jones Memorial Chapel – the spiritual centre of the school, named after Canon Thomas Jones, an early supporter of the school. Canon Morris' remains are interred under the chapel's altar Darnell – originally the school library, now the School Council Room and The Old Boys Room School House – the school's oldest building and boarding headquarters The Sir John Pidgeon Sports Complex – contains the school's basketball courts, volleyball courts and gymnasium The Hayward Midson Creative Precinct – home to Visual Art, Film and TV and Design and Technology faculties The Centenary Library – comprising the Senior School Library, Churchie IT, Student Services, Churchie Archives and museum, Mawson House, the Churchie Research Centre, Churchie Learning Support, The Arches café and various classrooms and multipurpose study spaces. The 'Pocket' – a triangle of land bordered by Norman Creek that contains six of the school's playing fields, including the Main Oval
Curriculum
Academic
Churchie is involved in a number of educational research programmes carried out by various Australian universities, including the universities of Melbourne and Swinburne University of Technology. Its new generation learning space and emotional intelligence programmes are examples of such research-led initiatives.
In 2017, Churchie was authorised by the International Baccalaureate Organisation as an IB World School for the delivery of the Diploma Programme and the Primary Years Programme.
Preparatory School Churchie's Preparatory School comprises Reception to Year 6. Students in Years 4, 5 and 6 must lease from the school their own tablet computer as part of Churchie's tablet computer programme. The subjects available to prep students are:
English Mathematics Integrated Studies (Science, Humanities and Social Sciences) Music Visual Arts Health and Physical Education LOTE (Japanese) Religious Education
Senior School In 2015, Churchie combined the middle and senior schools into a single Senior School for the secondary school years (7 to 12). Students in Years 7 to 9 use the same curriculum, which focuses on English, mathematics, humanities, science, modern languages (Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish or French), religious education, and health and physical education. Electives include design technology, and visual and media arts, music, drama, geography, engineering technology, advanced science, information technology, film, television and new media and philosophy and critical reasoning. Year 10 is a preparatory year, in which subjects are presented (where possible) as precursors to what can be expected in Years 11 and 12. All subjects are assessed and reported under a criteria-based approach. Year 10 Students study English, mathematics, history, science, religious education, modern languages and history plus three elective subjects. In Years 11 and 12, students study six subjects. English and Mathematics A or Mathematics B are compulsory. The remaining four are drawn from the following list:
Accounting Agricultural Science Ancient History Biology Chemistry Drama Earth Science Economics Engineering Technology Film, Television and New Media Geography Information Processing and Technology Mathematics C Modern History Modern languages (Chinese Mandarin, French, Japanese, Spanish) Music Music Extension (Year 12 only) Physical Education Physics Technology Studies Visual Art