Mac.Robertson Girls' High School


The Mac.Robertson Girls' High School is a government-funded single-sex academically selective secondary day school, located in the Melbourne CBD, Victoria, Australia. Entry for Mac.Rob, which is operated by the Victoria Department of Education, is by competitive academic examination. It is unique in its status as a statewide provider for girls in Year Nine to Year Twelve. The equivalent for boys is its brother school, Melbourne High School. Each year, over 3,000 candidates will sit the entrance examination for a total of approximately 960 places.

Overview

In 2001, The Sun-Herald ranked the Mac.Robertson Girls' High School sixth in Australia's top ten girls' schools, based on the number of its alumnae mentioned in the Who's Who in Australia. The Mac.Robertson Girls' High School has a long tradition of academic excellence with Victorian Certificate of Education scores propelling the school to be ranked first in the State of Victoria for seven consecutive years from 2002 to 2008, inclusive. The school was ranked third in 2009, but reclaimed its No. 1 ranking once again in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2018. Mac.Robertson Girls' High School was ranked second out of all state secondary schools in Victoria based on VCE results in 2018.

History

The Mac.Robertson Girls' High School began as Melbourne Continuation School, the first government funded school in the state of Victoria, established in 1905 in Spring Street, Melbourne. In 1912, it was renamed Melbourne High School. Originally a co-educational school, the school was segregated by sexes in 1927, with the boys moving to Melbourne Boys' High School in Forrest Hill, South Yarra, Victoria.
Girls continued to be educated in the school on Spring Street, renamed as Melbourne Girls' High School, until the building was condemned in 1930. The school was housed in the then-vacant Government House until 1933, when they moved to State School No. 1689 in King Street. In 1934, with the help of a donation from Macpherson Robertson, a new building was constructed the north-east corner of Albert Park Reserve. The school opened as the Mac.Robertson Girls' High School on 7 November 1934. The school was used as U.S Army Headquarters in 1942 and later by the R.A.A.F. The students took their classes at Brighton Road State School, Camberwell East Girls' School, and University High School during this period.
The building gained a national trust classification in 1987. It was previously gazetted as an Historic Building in 1982. The school celebrated its centenary year in 2005 with Melbourne High School in a joined assembly. Mac.Rob celebrated by inviting Premier of Victoria Steve Bracks to witness the restarting of the school clock tower.

Past principals

Enrolment and structure

The school operates in a two sub-school structure. The middle school caters for students in years 9 and 10, whilst the senior school caters for students in years 11 and 12. The school's enrolment across all four-year levels totals to approximately 950 to 960 students every year. A quota of 250-year 9 students are selected for enrolment every year through the year 8 entrance examination. The year 10 cohort adds another class of 25 into the year level bringing the total to 275 students. The size of both the year 11 and 12 cohorts vary slightly each year, totalling to more than 275 students each year, including the intake of few students into Year 11.

Subjects

In Year Nine, students are offered two electives per semester, with core subjects Maths, English, Science, Physical Education, School Singing compulsory for the entire year. Students have a semester each of Geography and History.
Year Ten students must take the core subjects English, Physical Education, Mathematics, and one language, but are also offered a selection of electives, categorised into Science, Arts/Technology, and Humanities. They choose one elective from each category and may study a Year 11 Units 1/2 subject in preparation for VCE. Electives offered include Women and Madness, Linguistics, Advanced Food and Architecture.
Year Eleven students must complete six subjects at school regardless of any external LOTE. Students can only undertake a maximum of two VCE subjects before Year Twelve providing their GPA from Year Nine and Ten is high enough. Many students choose to take Biology 3/4, Mathematical Methods 3/4 and/or and External LOTE language such as Chinese, Korean or Vietnamese.
Students in Year Twelve generally undertake four to five VCE 3/4 subjects. A maximum of 6 subjects are allowed to be undertaken at Mac.Rob.

Houses

The four houses and their associated colours are:
Nereids official colour is white, although throughout the years it has come to adopt purple as its secondary colour.

Notable alumnae

Notable alumnae from the school include: