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Mentone Grammar history
Mentone Grammar company history timeline
Sunday 3 March, 1923 was a proud day as 200 guests gathered on the Frogmore House lawn to officially open Mentone Grammar School.
Mentone Grammar School was founded in 1923 by a group of Anglicans who had a high profile in the town, supported by the Mentone vicar.
1924 - The school was reopened and renamed Mentone Girls' Grammar School (St Margaret's). The students, along with their Music Teacher, wrote the school song.
Very soon after McCristal came, in 1899, a college for girls appeared as well. Its name was Mentone High School but it was often called Simpsons' School until it became a branch of P.L.C. and then ultimately, in 1924, Mentone Girls' Grammar School, still in existence as the oldest of the secondary schools here.
1925 - The School Magazine ‘Spindrift’ was first published.
1926 - The Old Girls’ Club held its first meeting.
However, further bad tidings were to come when, in January 1931, Tonkin’s only son, aged 17, lost his battle with leukemia.
1932 - Miss Johnston introduced new curriculum initiatives to provide vocational skills for business employment: Typing and Shorthand.
In 1933 Charles Campbell Thorold, an Oxford-educated Englishman of impeccable family background became the School’s third Headmaster.
In third term of that year he confirmed his decision to join the staff of Geelong Grammar in 1933.
1936 - When the owners of the current site foreclosed on the mortgage, Miss McCowan offered to purchase a suitable site for the school.
The Columban Mission Society, that owned the estate, sold it to the De La Salle Brothers who moved in late in 1937.
The last private College to come to Mentone was St Bede's in 1938.
Jeffery Thorold’s search for a permanent headmaster ended in 1945 with the appointment of Lionel Ashley Large, a skilled and dedicated educator with high Christian ideals.
1951 - The position of Sports Captain was created.
Mentone Girls' High School (now Secondary College) came in 1955 as a government initiative to provide for those who could not, or would not, support private colleges.
Post-war enrolments - 650 by 1956 – transformed the School.
In a fitting tribute School House, whose origin could be traced back to 1957, was renamed Drinan House.
1958 - A large adjoining house was purchased to provide a Kindergarten and Classrooms.
1960 - Additional land was acquired for sporting facilities.
For his part, Lionel Large accepted retirement in 1960 and the Board of Management subsequently appointed Keith William Jones, “the young man from Sydney”, as the Headmaster of Mentone Grammar School.
Keith Jones led from the front the moment he arrived early 1961.
1966 - The Science Laboratories were opened by Senator The Honourable J.G. Gorton.
1969 - McCowan House created; named in honour of Miss Jeannie McCowan.
Building permit and bank finance delays notwithstanding, no fewer than four Board projects came to fruition in 1977: Senior School classrooms, the Music School, the Thorold Hall and the new Keysborough playing fields off Springvale Road.
These facilities and the growing stature of the School attracted attention and enrolments which, in 1980, topped 1000.
In the Senior School the Diamond Jubilee Wing was completed in 1983.
In 1984, display cabinets in the Thorold Hall paraded AGS trophies for Swimming, Cricket, Tennis and Soccer, attesting to the skill and drive of coaches and team players alike.
1986 - The David Hunt Centre was opened, comprising a gymnasium, music school, classroom and specialist facilities.
In 1986 the Old Mentonians celebrated their Headmaster’s 25 years of unstinting service.
Ill-health led to the retirement of Keith Jones at the close of 1987 and his death on 10 January in the New Year.
The successor to Keith Jones as Headmaster of Mentone Grammar School, Neville John William Clark, MC, was commissioned on 11 July 1988.
1988 - Australia’s Bicentennial Year was celebrated with special school events.
1992 - The Simpson Visual Arts Centre was opened by the Honourable Lindsay Thompson, son of Miss Ethel Simpson.
1994 - The Early Learning Centre for girls and boys opened in February.
1995 - Laptop computers were introduced into classrooms.
1997 - The Janice Douglas Junior School was officially opened by the Premier of Victoria, the Honourable Jeff Kennett.
1999 - Centenary Year – celebrated throughout the year at a variety of functions including a Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral, the Centenary Concert at the Melbourne Concert Hall and Speech Night at the Melbourne Town Hall.
2000 - Mentone Girls' Grammar School Old Girls' Club celebrated its 75th Anniversary.
2003 - Our iconic red uniform was launched.
However, the growing financial pressures that assailed the School were deeply troubling to Clark and it was against this background that he chose to retire on ANZAC Day 2003.
Prior to this, the school hierarchy announced, in July 2005, its co-educational intent after a merger proposal put forth by the Board of Management was rejected by nearby Mentone Girls' Grammar School, its sister school.
2006 - The award winning Cobbalanna VCE Centre was opened on the site of the original Cobbalanna School House.
Timothy Argall oversaw the decision in 2006 to admit girls and fully embrace co-education.
These momentous changes led to differences which were resolved by the mutual decision of Headmaster and Board to part in 2006.
2007 - Bay Café was opened.
Appointed in 2007, our current Principal has taken up the challenge of preserving Mentone Grammar’s cherished traditions, while transforming the School into a contemporary, dynamic and innovative learning environment.
2009 - 110 Anniversary year included many celebrations and the introduction of an annual Founders' Day event.
2010 - Opening of the new Early Learning Centre (ELC)
2011 - State of the art Early Learning Centre opened across from the Junior School at 20 Mentone Parade.
2011 - Formal sister school agreements signed with Yamanashi Eiwa Girls' School in Japan and Huaxia Girls' School in Beijing, China.
2012 - Year 7 & 8 Creative Learning Centre opened with the introduction of 1:1 iPad technology and a new Media Design Suite for TV and film production, industrial and web design.
2012 - Establishment of the Remarkable Women Series, honouring Mentone Old Girls who have made their mark personally or professionally on the local, national or world stage.
2013 - Year 9 & 10 Global Learning Centre opened in conjunction with the new Food and Nutrition Centre.
2014 - School’s 115th anniversary year.
2016 - Enterprise Academy officially opened by Creel Price, founder of Club Kidpreneur.
The opening of the Creativity Centre in 2017 has given the Performing and Visual Arts and technologies an outstanding centre from which to inspire future generations.
2018 - Our Aquatic Centre continued development.
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