Toowoomba Grammar School

Toowoomba Grammar School
Latin: Fidelis in Omnibus ("Faithful in All Things")
Established	1875
School Type	Independent, Single-sex, Day & Boarding
Denomination	Non-denominational
Key People	Peter Hauser(Headmaster)
School Fees	AU$4,152 - AU$9,216 p.a (Day) AU$16,752 - AU$17,576 p.a (Boarding)[1]
Location	Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia
Coordinates	27°33′54″S 151°58′5″E / 27.565°S 151.96806°E / -27.565; 151.96806Coordinates: 27°33′54″S 151°58′5″E / 27.565°S 151.96806°E / -27.565; 151.96806
Enrolment	~930 (P-12)[2]
Colours	Blue & Gold
Homepage	www.twgs.qld.edu.au

Toowoomba Grammar School is an independent, non-denominational, day and boarding grammar school for boys, in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia.

The school was founded in 1875 as a consequence of the Grammar Schools Act of 1860 passed by Queensland's first parliament. The original building was designed by Willoughby Powell and completed in 1876, first opening its doors to boys on February 1, 1877. Toowoomba Grammar has a non-selective enrolment policy and currently caters for approximately 930 students from Prep to Year 12, including 270 boarders from Years 5 to 12.^[2]

The school is affiliated with the Australian Boarding Schools Association (ABSA),^[2] the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA),^[3] the Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA),^[4] Independent Schools Queensland (ISQ),^[5] and has been a member of the Great Public Schools' Association Inc (GPS) since 1920.^[6]

Houses

Throughout most of the late 20th century, Toowoomba Grammar consisted of 10 houses, five dayboy houses (boys who live off-campus) and five boarding houses. Upon his appointment, Headmaster Peter Hauser (2003-Current) amalgamated the houses to curb the trend of dayboy/boarder rivalry (Citation Required). The new houses were simply the names of the original houses joined together. At the outset of 2009 the school houses where again reformed. The new configuration has removed the hyphenated house names. The house names are now the names originally given to the five boarding houses.

(House - Colour)

Taylor - Black

Stephens - Blue

Mackintosh - Red

Groom - Green

Boyce - Maroon

The names of the houses are taken from notable oldboys or staff. For example, Mackintosh house is named after the first headmaster of the school, Mr John Mackintosh.

The five houses compete in interhouse competitions including: Swimming, Track & Field, Cross Country, Touch Football, Basketball, Volleyball, Tennis, Singing, Quiz, Chess, Debating and Theatre Sports.

With regards to these activities, currently Mackintosh house has been the champion house winning the headmaster's shield 2 years in a row so far (2007, 2008).

Co-Curricular

Sport

Toowoomba Grammar School competes in all GPS events except for Rowing and Gymnastics (although they did formerly participate and enjoyed much success). Their most successful sports have historically been Cricket and Volleyball. Toowoomba Grammar School has a healthy intra-city rivalry with Downlands College, playing each other annually in Rugby for the O'Callaghan Cup and in Soccer for the Parents and Friends Cup. Toowoomba Grammar School 1st XV Rugby defeated Downlands College most recently in May, 2009 with a score of 22 - 13 to retain the O'Callaghan Cup, while the 1st XI Soccer also won with a score of 7-1 to retain the Parents and Friends Cup.

Arts

Toowoomba Grammar has a strong Arts department, and participates in a variety of cultural endeavors, with variety of instrumental, vocal and drama ensembles operating with the school. The school's choral ensembles regularly perform at the Toowoomba Eisteddfod, and selected music and drama students also participate in the GPS Day of Music Excellence. The school has a history of staging a school production every year, with the venue alternating annually between the school's assembly hall, and Toowoomba's largest theatre venue, The Empire Theatre. Most recently, Toowoomba Grammar (in conjunction with several other Toowoomba schools) embarked on its most ambitious show to date, with the drama and music departments staging Jesus Christ Superstar at The Empire Theatre in mid-August, 2009. The show played to three near-capacity audiences, as well as claiming a sell-out.

Notable alumni

Politics, public service and the law

• Edwin John Godsall Toowoomba's second native born mayor.
• Littleton Groom - Early 20th century Australian politician.
• Andrew Metcalfe - Secretary of the Australian Commonwealth Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) given responsibility for dealing with the fall-out from the Cornelia Rau and Vivian Alvarez cases in 2005.
• Sir Reginald Swartz KBE MBE ED - A minister in the Menzies, Holt, McEwen and Gorton governments.

Military

Australian Army

• General Sir Henry George Chauvel.
• Lieutenant General Charles George Norman Miles.
• Lieutenant General Cyril Albert Clowes.
• Lieutenant General Eric Woodward.
• Major General Walter Adams Coxen.
• Major General .
• Major General John Irvine Williamson.
• Brigadier General Cecil Henry Foott.
• Brigadier General James Campbell Robertson.
• Brigadier General Arthus Cecil Corfe.
• Brigadier Neville Gordon Hatton.
• Brigadier Eric James Gifford Martin.
• Brigadier David Donal Weir.
• Brigadier Keith Percival Outridge.
• Brigadier Kevin Donald Whiting
• Brigadier Edward Raymond Smith.

Royal Australian Air Force

• Air Vice Marshal Ian Stanley Parker.

Royal Australian Navy

• Commodore William Leonard Taylor

Media, entertainment and the arts

• Alfred George Stephens - Australian author journalist, publisher and critic.
• Alan Jones - Sydney radio broadcaster
• Eric Honeywood Partridge - New Zealand born lexicographer of English, especially slang.
• David Rowbotham - poet and journalist
• Steve Haddan - Australian journalist and comedian
• Jason Little - International Rugby Player

See also

• List of schools in Queensland
• List of boarding schools

References

External links

• Toowoomba Grammar School website
• Toowoomba Grammar School Environment Club website