CRANBROOK SCHOOL SYDNEY

:''For other places of the same name, see Cranbrook.''
'Cranbrook School' is located in Bellevue Hill in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1918 by the Reverend Frederick Thomas Perkins, Cranbrook has about 1400 students from pre-school to high school. It is an Anglican school with the boys spread across 11 houses. It is a member of the six-school Combined Associated Schools.

Contents

History

The house system

Boarding houses

Day boy houses

Prefects

School song, motto and crest

Daily life

Academic Results

Sporting Achievements

Neighbouring schools

Other facilities

Notable alumni

See also

References

External links

History

On December 1, 1917, the former private home and vice-regal residence, Cranbrook, was purchased at auction by an agent for Mr (later Sir) Samuel Hordern. He was the main financial benefactor of a group of businessmen and churchmen aiming to establish a Anglican boys' school in the Eastern Suburbs. From December 1917 to June 1918, a provisional committee of 12, comprising the founders and six additional men, prepared for the opening of the new school. They held meetings, ensured building renovations were completed, drew up the first articles of association and appointed the first headmaster, Rev. F T Perkins. On 6 June 1918, the provisional committee reformed itself as the first council of Cranbrook School and organised the official opening of the school for 22 July, 1918.
From the time of its foundation in 1918, Cranbrook School established a tradition of high teaching standards, a comprehensive curriculum and an acknowledgement of the importance of boys' physical and social development and giving individual attention to every boy. As well, boys were expected to contribute their spirit toward the community through participation in social service. Cranbrook also has a strong history of sporting and academic success.

The house system

Cranbrook has a system of houses from year seven to twelve. This system was created in order for boys to socialise better between different year groups, where senior boys would be acting as juniors' mentors within the house. There are currently nine day houses, with about 80 boys each. There are also two boarding houses with around 40 boys each:

Boarding houses

gr
The boarding houses are Rawson and Street.
'Rawson House' (Red) was founded in 1931. It was named after the former Govenor of New South Wales Sir Harry Rawson. The current housemaster is Mr A T Jenkinson.
'Street House' (Green) was founded in 1957. It was named after the Sir Kenneth Street, a previous President of School Council. The current housemaster is Mr A F Slavin.

Day boy houses

The school also has nine boy houses - Stickland, Northcott, Davidson, Wakehurst, Woodward, Perkins, Cutler, Chelmsford and Hone.

Prefects

Every year, the school community elects prefects from boys in Year 12 to serve the school and to enforce the daily routine. There are prefects, head of house prefects, a second prefect and a head prefect.

School song, motto and crest

The school's motto is ''Esse Quam Videri'' and translates from Latin to ''to be rather than to seem to be''.
The school song is called ''Schola Nostra'', 'our school' in Latin. It is sung to the tune of "Gaudeamus" and the lyrics were written by Mr. F Gale. During school sport matches or when farewelling the year 12 boys, Schola Nostra is often turned into a school cheer.
The school crest (see above) incorporates four symbols. The first is the cross that runs through the crest. It is the St George's Cross from the first crusaders and it represents Christianity. The second is the five 5 pointed stars that lie within the cross that represent the Southern Cross. The third is the open book situated in the top left section of the cross representing knowledge. The last symbol is found in the top right corner and is a Roman lamp representing truth.

Daily life

Each day has 6 periods. Each period is 50 minutes in length. The weeks are split up into week A and week B. There is a ten day cycle.
All boys are expected at school by 8:15 am; this is when the warning bell rings. House period starts at 8:20 and goes until 8:40; it is a 20 minute period of house related matters before classes start. Classes conclude at 3.15pm.

Academic Results

In 2005, Cranbrook boys studied 36 courses in 24 different subjects at school for the New South Wales Higher School Certificate (HSC). The UAI, or rank, of students for university entrance purposes, is not available to schools. However, based on the information given to schools;
67% (87 boys) gained UAIs over 80,
34% (47 boys) gained UAIs over 90,
22% (31 boys) gained UAIs over 95, and
6% (8 boys) gained UAIs over 99.

Sporting Achievements

The school has a proud tradition on the rugby field. Cranbrook has won the CAS plume shield (for the winner of the CAS rugby competition) 13 times. Premiership-winning teams played in 1930, 1931, 1933, 1943, 1960, 1969, 1972, 1973, 1978, 1982, 1984, 1985 and 1994. In 2006, the 1st XV won two CAS games, against St Aloysius and Trinity.The team also beat Sydney Grammar, St Pius and narrowly lost to Scots College in the "battle of Bellevue Hill".
In basketball, 2006/7 marked Cranbrook's most successful season in its history, losing only one game from their 10 CAS matches. They placed equal top of the CAS ladder alongside Barker College.
The popularity of cricket at Cranbrook has declined in recent years, with the overall number of teams falling since the halcyon days of the 1990s. The last archer shield winning team was in 1998. Despite this, Cranbrook has had respectable seasons in recent years, particularly in 2001, 2002, 2004,2006, and 2007 when the 1st XI placed fourth or higher.
In 2006, the Cranbrook Athletics squad placed 5th at the CAS Athletics carnival. This was the first time that this had occurred since 1993.
In 2007, the Cranbrook Swimming team placed 5th at the CAS Swimming carnival -- this was the first time that this had occurred in 18 years.

Neighbouring schools

Nearby schools include The Scots College, Kambala Girls School, Kincoppal-Rose Bay and Ascham School.

Other facilities

The Cranbrook gym is used for sports games and PE classes. It is also used as the venue for fortnightly assemblies and other official school occasions such as the Year 12 Farewell Assembly, Scholars' Assembly and Prefect Induction.
Hordern Oval, located outside the Carter Centre on the main campus, is used by boys during PDHPE classes, sport training sessions and rugby and cricket fixtures.
Dangar Oval is located off the main senior school campus, at the rear of the prep school in Kent Road. Car access is through Iluka Street, opposite Lyne Park.
In 2004, Cranbrook announced plans to build a preparatory and primary school complex (including tennis courts, a gymnasium and a multipurpose hall) on the former Rose Bay Bowling Club site, which the school bought in 2001 for a reported $7 million. The development would involve the demolition of the current Cranbrook-owned prep school Dickens House, and of the Rose Bay Bowling Club buildings. Woollahra Municipal Council and the Land and Environment Court both knocked back the school's original plans, which were met by sometimes vehement objection by local residents. The particular concern of the council was the bowling club's zoning as 'open space', on which building is permitted only in a small number of forms; one of them being as development deemed a 'community facility'. The council argued that it had not intended schools to operate on land zoned as 'open space'. Cranbrook took the case to the Court of Appeal, which ruled unanimously on June 19, 2006 that the school's development was permissible with consent under the Woollahra Local Environmental Plan 1995. Justice Basten, one of the three presiding judges, said that:

“Cranbrook School – being an organisation of people seeking to promote the physical, social, cultural, intellectual and religious welfare of school children, and seeking to develop a junior school on the land – is providing a community facility for the purposes of the definition”.

Notable alumni

Former students of Cranbrook are known as "Old Cranbrookians". For a list of notable Old Cranbrookians, see '''List of notable Old Boys of Cranbrook School Sydney'''

See also

★ List of Non-Government schools in New South Wales

★ List of boarding schools

References

★ Cranbrook School website news page

★ ''"Two magic words give the signal for a 'school in a park' "'', June 20, 2006, The Sydney Morning Herald (now archived).

External links

★ Cranbrook School website -

★ Google Maps view