Mount St. Joseph Girls' College
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| Mount St. Joseph Girls' College | |
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Virtue Courage
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| Address | |
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| 133 Maidstone Street Altona, Victoria, 3018, Australia  |
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| Information | |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic, Josephites |
| Principal | Ms. Regina Byrne |
| Type | Secondary, Single-sex, Day school |
| School fees | $4500-$4900 |
| Slogan | Virtue Courage |
| Colour(s) | Blue and White |
| Established | 1964 |
| Homepage | www.msj.melb.catholic.edu.au |
Mount St. Joseph Girls' College is a Catholic Girls College located in Maidstone Street, Altona, Victoria, Australia. Mount St. Joseph is one of few schools in Australia that is a Josephite college, founded by the Josephite Order in 1964.[1] There is a strong emphasis on pastoral care, and developing the whole individual.
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[edit] History
[edit] Beginnings
In the early 1960s, the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart made plans of a school for young women in the western suburbs of Melbourne. The school was built in Altona West and opened in February 1964. In the beginning, the school's uniform had a theme of green and brown, and was quite unique and distinguishable to the area. Over the next four decades, the uniform changed slightly on several occasions, including the extra colours of fawn, white, olive and yellow; however, the general theme remained green and brown.
[edit] Uniform Transformation
At the beginning of 2002, a new uniform was introduced by the current principal, Regina Byrne. This uniform changed the school colours from green and brown to blue and white, and was met with mixed reactions from students, teachers and alumni. Some welcomed the change, stating that the old uniforms were 'uncomfortable', 'cold' or distastefully 'ugly', while others felt that the colours at the very least made the school identifiable when compared to the other high schools in the area, most of which had blue uniforms. Although the theme is now generally blue and white, the sport uniform polo top remained yellow. Due to the impracticality of the older students having to buy new uniforms at the end of their high school careers, it was only made compulsory for new students to buy the new uniform, and thus the old uniform will be completely 'phased out' by the end of 2008, when the initial group of Year 7s will finish Year 12.
The School Logo at Mount St. Joseph Girls' College is a white lily, with the motto 'Virtue Courage'.[2]
[edit] Sport & Education
There are 4 house colours for sport days and events which are: Solomon-Barr: Red Penola: Yellow McCormack: Green Kincumber: Blue
There are six homerooms into which the students are divided, in each year level; Anne, Catherine, Francis, Joseph, Therese & Veronica. These homerooms are named after saints, as this is a Catholic school.
Mount Saint Joseph Girls' College has a various selection of subjects from year 7-12 which include the following: Accounting, Art, Biology, Business Management, Chemistry, Drama, English, English Literature, Food and Technology, French, Further Mathematics, Health & Human Development, History, Information Technology, International Studies, Italian, Japanese, Legal Studies, Maths Methods, Media, Music, Physical Education, Physics, Psychology, Specialist Maths, Text & Traditions, Textiles & Design Multimedia, Visual Communications.
Mount Saint Joseph also lets students go into VCE as well as VCAL if necessary.
[edit] Association With Emmanuel College
In the early 2000s, rumours circulated that Mount St. Joseph Girls' College was to be merged with Emmanuel College (formerly St. Paul's College), the closest Catholic boys' school, however, no concrete plans have been made for such a merger. This is mainly because the school is owned by the sisters of St. Joseph, who want the school to be independent, and also because they want to keep the same white lily logo. The two schools do take each other into consideration, a fact which is particularly notable during certain events such as Open Day and parent-teacher interviews, in which are held in the same week, but on different days. This is most likely due to families having their daughters at Mount St. Joseph and their sons at Emmanuel, and so effort is made to avoid 'clashes'.
[edit] Size and Future
Mount St. Joseph Girls' College currently has approximately 950 students and over 100 staff, and maintains steady numbers through drawing from Catholic feeder schools throughout the area, which stretches from Footscray and Yarraville to the east, to Hoppers Crossing, Point Cook, Altona Meadows, Altona and Werribee in the west. There are usually waiting lists for enrolment to the school.
MSJ has made a lot of changes in the past years. They have made a new Gymnasium, Drama/Music building, and are in current development of making a new 7 and 8s block.
Mount St. Joseph Girls' College has a strong emphasis on community, and as such, encourages past students to keep in contact through the Alumni program.
[edit] Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE)
Mount St. Joseph's offers a full range of VCE subjects. The students statistically, tend to do well in the VCE when compared to other schools in the state.
