Marist College North Shore


Marist College North Shore, is an independent Roman Catholic single-sex secondary day school for boys, located in North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, a suburb on the Lower North Shore of Sydney.
Founded in 1888, Marist College North Shore is conducted by the Marist Brothers, based on the teachings of their founder St. Marcellin Champagnat. The school is mainly non-selective, and currently caters for approximately 800 students from Year 7 to Year 12. The college is administered by the Catholic Education Office for the Archdiocese of Sydney, and is affiliated with the Association of Marist Schools of Australia, as well as the Metropolitan Catholic Colleges Sports Association.

History

Marist Brother's School North Sydney (1888 - 1916)

Marist College North Shore was first established on 2 July 1888 by the school's first headmaster, Br Walter Moore. Originally catering for boys in primary to intermediate years, the school would not go on to teach Secondary years until 1965 and then in 2021 would change again to educate both girls and boys from Kindergarten through to Year 12.
The Marist Brother originally opened the school in response to the educational needs of the poor in the North Sydney area, which was, at the time, a low socioeconomic area. The school was the fourth Marist School opened in Australia after Church Hill, Parramatta and Hunters Hill and had a teaching staff of three Brothers and an enrolment of 65 boys. The school initially started as a two-room campus on the site of what is now the St Mary's Campus.
The school was established with the motto “Esse Non Videri”, which is translated to, “to be, not to seem”.

Marist Brothers High School North Sydney (1916 - 1965)

In 1916 the school's enrolments had reached an excess of 300 students and the limited campus was inadequate to educate comfortably. In response to this, the school moved sites to what is now the La Valla Campus but had previously been a local business, Mark Foy's Furniture Repository before 1916. It had been purchased by the Parish Priest at the time, Fr. Cornish SJ and converted into classrooms and a hall known as the Manresa Hall. Once the transformation of the school's campus was completed, the school was named Marist Brother's High School North Sydney.

“Practice and Demonstration” School of St Joseph’s Training School (1916-1955)

After the Marist Brothers left what is now called the St Mary's Campus in 1916, the Sisters of St Joseph moved their primary school which was originally at a site on Mount St to the vacated school. This new primary school became known as the “Practice and Demonstration” School of St Joseph's Training School. In the term of the first principal, Sr Mary Donatres Egan RSJ, the demand for Catholic education in North Sydney grew to the point where the school extended to educate from primary to secondary education which included the building of a new school on the Mount St property the school originated on. This new school specialised in commercial subjects; cooking, domestic Science and dressmaking.
In 1955 when the Archbishop of Sydney established an Education Office, both the Mount St Commercial and Domestic Science School and Ridge St's “Practice and Demonstration” school of St Joseph's Training School combined. The Ridge St campus would educate the primary students with the Mount St campus becoming the senior campus for pupils from Ridge Street, Naremburn and Lavendar Bay. At the end of 1955, the Sister's of St Joseph vacated the school and transferred to Lavendar Bay with the Sisters of Mercy taking over and renaming the school St Mary's.

St Mary's Catholic Primary School (1955 - 2021)

In 1956 St Mary's became solely a primary school, education boys and girls from Kindergarten to Year 4. The construction of the expressway saw the demolition of a large part of the school campus which affected enrolment with there being only 69 students by 1978.
In 1980 however, there was an increased demand for primary education which saw the school extend to teach Kindergarten to Year 6 with enrolment back up to 186 by 1989. This year saw the introduction of the first Lay principal, Mrs Susan Clifton, the school was a single stream school with an entire Lay staff. By the early 1990s it became evident that the school was overdue for construction.
Beginning on 12 October 1992, a construction project which had been approved by St Mary's Parish Priest Fr Joseph Sobb, began. Being entirely funded by the parents and parishioners of St. Mary's School and Parish, the project included the upgrading and refurbishment of the existing building and outside areas. As well as this, a new school block of six classrooms was built adjacent to the existing building. The Blessing and Official Opening of the new building and renovations took place on 24 October 1993. Bishop Peter Ingham presided and over five hundred people were in attendance.
In 2010 as a result of Federal Government funding, the kindergarten to Year 4 learning environments were refurbished and extended along with two new learning areas for Years 5 and 6. These new and refurbished areas where designed and constructed with the intention of creating flexible learning areas and in 2011 and 2012 after a research project collaboration with UTS were further enhanced with new furniture suitable for a higher reliance on technology and flexibility.
In 2012 the North Sydney Parish and St Mary's Catholic Primary School hall was completed for gathering, recreational and performance purposes.
In 2014, a second stream of Kindergarten classes was introduced with the entire school becoming two streamed in 2020.
A construction project in 2015 saw the conjunction of the existing school buildings to form additional classrooms and learning areas.
The most recent phase of construction on the St Mary's campus began in 2017 with the purchase of the property on the West hand side of the school. After demolishing the existing buildings on the property, the St Mary's school building was extended onto the new property with four temporary demountable classrooms installed on the Presbytery grounds to cater for classrooms displaced during construction. After the completion of the construction in February 2018, the demountable classrooms remained to accommodate the students of Marist College North Shore whilst their campus was renovated in 2020.

St Mary's Catholic Primary School Houses

In 1922 the Marist Brothers opened their fourteenth school in Australia. Located in Mosman, Marist Brother's Mosman was an all boys Catholic high school. The school colours were blue, black and gold school motto was the Latin phrase; “Virtus Ubique Vincit” meaning “Courage Conquers All”.
The school was associated and a part of the Sacred Heart parish in Mosman and the corresponding Catholic primary school, Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School.

Marist College North Shore (1965 - 2021)

After 1916 the next major change to Marist Brother's High North Sydney was in response to the 1965 Wyndham Scheme which saw the merging of Marist Brothers Mosman and Marist Brothers High School North Sydney to create a completely new school.
The new school was named Marist College North Shore and was a Secondary school for boys in the North Sydney and Mosman area. The college adopted the colours blue, black and gold and the former Marist Brothers Mosman school motto, “Virtus Ubique Vincit” meaning “Courage Conquers All”. Sacred Heart Primary School, although no longer a part of the school, remained as a feeder school to Marist College North Shore. This change of school saw a complete redesign and reconstruction of the campus.
In 1996 the La Valla Centre was opened for use as a multi purpose educational facility comprising a hall, art rooms, computer laboratories, music classrooms and practice rooms, Design and Technology workshops, and other assorted facilities and offices. In 2007 the most recent building project was completed. The Coyle Centre contains a new library, additional classrooms, and food technology kitchens. In addition several buildings and sections of the school were given names such as the Mosman Wing in homage to Marist Brothers Mosman and the Manresa Courts.

Marist Catholic College North Shore (2021 - )

On June 27, 2018 at a symposium for parents, parishioners and senior leaders, it was announced that the North Sydney Catholic School Network's Marist College North Shore and neighbouring co-ed primary school St Mary's would combine to become a new North Sydney Educational Precinct. This new precinct named Marist Catholic College North Shore would consist of two campuses which would offer students stage-specific contemporary learning spaces and provide a seamless curriculum pathway from Kindergarten to Year 12. The primary education would continue on the St Mary's Catholic Primary School campus under the shortened campus name of St Mary's, whilst secondary learning would take place on the former Marist College North Shore campus now named La Valla campus.
Both La Valla and St Mary's campus kept the existing leadership teams who would oversee their respective campus whilst running the educational precinct as a whole in a combined team.
From September 3, 2018; Marist Catholic College North Shore opened its first wave of applications for both boys and girls for Year 7 2021.
The new educational precinct would not continue with the current house for both the primary and secondary campus. Changing from Marist College North Shore's Chanel, Kelly, MacKillop, Moore and Salta and St Mary's Ignatius, McAuley, Marcellin and MacKillop to a new houses which would fit with the precinct's new image and vision.
Academically, Marist Catholic College North Shore rarely ranks in the top 150 schools in New South Wales in the HSC but is consistently above state averages. See more below.

Gifted education

Marist College North Shore runs a selective stream from Years 7 to 9 following the Newman Gifted Education Program. To be considered for the Newman Gifted Education Program stream at the school, a student must first be nominated by their parents then are to sit an ability assessment followed by a panel meeting of identification and selection where successful applicants will pass through the first round of selection.
After being elected in the first round a student must prepare a portfolio. After this an Allwell Placement Test will determine who has been selected for the program. This process usually begins at least 3 years before a students first day at the college.
The Newman Gifted Education Program has been in use at the college since 2017.

Faith

The school is run based in faith off the five values of the Marist Charism.

The Five Values of the Marist Charism

Launched in 2017, the vision for learning at Marist College North Shore is Dare to be. This vision is split into four categories;
Every year the College Student Leadership Team commissions a central theme for the school to conduct learning around.
YearCentral ThemeAccompanying ThemesQuote
2014ServiceCourage, Respect, Presence"As each of you receive a gift, use it to serve one another"
1 Peter 4:10
2015LoveRespect, Empathy, Justice, Dignity"Abide in my Love..."
John 15:9
2016PresenceRespect, Compassion, Mercy, Faith"Stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong."
1 Corinthians 16:13
2017UnityHumility, Challenge, Justice, Respect“For you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.”
Matthew 23:8
2018ImagineRespect, Presence, Integrity, Action“All things are possible for one who believes"
Mark 9:23
2019EmbraceRespect, Identity, Compassion, Resilience"Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you."
Romans 15:7
2020CourageGratitude, Respect, Spirit, Action"Be strong, courageous and act."
1Chronicles 28:20

Motto

The schools motto is "Virtus Ubique Vincit" which is Latin for "Courage Conquers All".
When the school was initially established it had the motto Esse Non Videri”, which was Latin for, “to be, not to seem”.
Courage Conquers All - Marist College North Shore Motto

Curriculum

Academic results

Facilities

La Valla campus{{Cite web|title=Facilities |url=https://www.maristcollege.com/our-college/facilities/|access-date=2020-07-01|website=Marist College North Shore}}

Major facilities of the La Valla Campus include:
Other notable named locations in the school include:
Opening 2021.

College crest

The college updated the houses at the start of 2015 moving from the traditional four to six houses

Chanel

Named in honour of St Peter Chanel, one of the earliest Marists and the first Marist Saint. He was a missionary to the Pacific and was martyred on the Island of Futuna.
Motto: Unity, Passion, Commitment.
Colour: Red.

Kelly

Named in honour of Fr. Michael Kelly SJ the Parish Priest of North Sydney who provided the original inspiration for the establishment of the college by persistently inviting the Brothers to commence a school in the Parish.
Colour: Green.
Motto: Service, Knowledge, Strength.

MacKillop

Named after St Mary Mackillop, Australia's first saint.
Colour: Orange.
Motto: Courage, Commitment, Compassion.

Montagne

Named after the man whose death inspired St Marcellin Champagnat, the founder of the Marist Brothers, to begin his work for the poor.
Colour: Purple.
Motto: Faith Through Action.

Moore

Named in honour of the college's first Headmaster, Walter Moore, who had the responsibility of establishing a new school and beginning the proud tradition of Marist Education north of the Harbour.
Colour: Blue.
Motto: Success Through Determination.

Salta

Named in honour of Peter Salta, ex-student and staff member of the college. Peter attended the school as a boy and then returned as a staff member in 1967. He was the longest serving member of staff, finishing teaching duties in 1999.
Colour: Gold.
Motto: Life, Love, Loyalty
In previous years and in certain circumstances the college opened a special extra house:

Ludovic

Usually if the intake of Year Seven students in a particular year is significantly larger than normal, an extra house is opened, often called Ludovic. It is a special house in that it does not have a specific House Coordinator, Senior Captains leadership team, house colour or emblem. Rather the students consist of an even distribution amongst the six main houses and are placed in the Ludovic House for administrative purposes only. This class is an extension class for English students based on exams & Naplan results. Ludovic has been discontinued as of 2017.
Prior to 2006, the four college houses were Chanel, Xavier, Marcellin and Sykes. However, after an extensive review, an overhaul of the house and pastoral systems resulted in significant structural changes and greater emphasis on intra-house relationships and less so on Year groups as collectives. The houses were subsequently renamed; Xavier became Kelly, Marcellin became Moore and Sykes became Salta. The only House that retained its name in the overhaul was Chanel. The house colours of the previous four houses was retained for their successors. The previous posts of Year Seven to Twelve Coordinators were abolished and four House Coordinators were established in their places.
In 2014, the school decided to increase the number of houses from four to six. The new houses of Mackillop and Montagne were established, becoming functional in 2015.
All house are to be discontinued and replaced in 2021.

Timetable structure

The college follows a two-week timetable with each day consisting of 5 one hour periods. Internal and external sporting activities take place after Period 3 on Thursdays. Every second Wednesday following the first four periods, students are sent home allowing staff to work on professional learning programs.

College uniform

Students at Marist College North Shore wear a uniform that consists of a dark blue shirt, either grey shorts or trousers, a black leather belt, knee high or ankle socks, black polishable leather shoes, and either a junior or senior blazer and tie depending on the year group. Blazers are optional during summer months and cannot be worn in conjunction with shorts. When wearing shorts, students at the college must wear knee high socks but whilst wearing trousers, black or grey ankle length socks are required. Wearing of shorts is only an option for students during summer months. Blazers are black with an additional golden trim when in senior years. Students are only permitted to use a black backpack with the college crest as their primary bag and any additional bags must be fully black with no markings. An optional jumper may be purchased and is the only permitted jumper at Marist College North Shore. An optional college cap is the only permitted headwear and is not allowed whilst in a classroom or any indoor activity.
On Thursday or any day when a student has a practical PDHPE lesson, a sports uniform is an optional uniform. The sports uniform consists of a white polo shirt with the college crest, blue shorts or long black tracksuits with college initialling, white socks with college colours and lace up running shoes. If representing the college in a swimming competition of any sort, a college navy blue swimsuit and cap is worn.
The college states that the college uniform can be worn in place of the college sports uniform but not a combination of both uniforms and also that the college jumper may not be worn with the sports uniform.
The college mandates that no makeup or coloured nail polish is worn with uniform and in winter scarves and gloves are permitted if they are wholly grey or black.
The only permitted jewellery is one plain ring and one plain watch. Students are not permitted to have any visible tattoos or writing or graffiti on any part of the uniform.
Marist College North Shore has a hairstyle policy that dictates that hair should be well groomed, simple, unsophisticated and appropriate for a school student, this is usually interpreted to mean of natural colour no tinting or streaking and kept neat, off the collar, off the face and of gradual even grade. The college has specific clauses against dyed hair, ridges, lines, uppercuts, steps, bowl cuts, any excessive shaping with gel and any shaving cut below a no. 2.
The college interprets and enforces the uniform policy on an individual case basis and punishments range from a 20-minute detention after school on the day of minor, temporary infractions, to the suspension of a student for more permanent breaches.

Sport

The college competes in inter-school sport competitions through the Metropolitan Catholic Colleges Sports Association.
Other MCC member schools are: Marcellin College Randwick, Marist College Pagewood, Marist College Kogarah, De La Salle College Ashfield, LaSalle Catholic College Bankstown, Christian Brothers' High School Lewisham and Holy Cross College Ryde. The college has held sporting rivalries with the other member schools for many years.
Summer sports include basketball, cricket, tennis, and touch football. Winter sports include rugby league, football, and water polo. Other sports available throughout the year within the MCC include athletics, cross country running, golf, squash, swimming, and volleyball.t

Culture and arts

The college has a long history of running productions every year that showcases the talent and creative spirit of the students. It has performed a variety of popular and contemporary productions over the years.
YearProduction
2020Shakespeare Festival -
2019Shakespeare Festival
2018The Real Inspector Hound
2017Jesus Christ Superstar
2016Odyssey: Somewhere at World's End
2015Lord of the Flies
2014Guys and Dolls
2013Promises Promises
2012Copacabana
2011Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story
2010Disco Inferno
2009Positions Vacant
2008Return to the Forbidden Planet
2007Tommy

Co-curricular activities

The college runs extra activities alongside the school curriculum. It is mandated that students at the college are a participant in at least one co-curricular activity at any given time.
;Entertainment, media and the arts
;Politics, law, and business
;Sport