Independent Schools Guide 2023: A new era of co-education for St Aloysius

For St Aloysius College Principal Mary Farah, the first school photo of 2023 will be a moment that will remain with her for a long time. Because, for the first time in the Catholic school’s history, the Year 7 photo saw boys and girls standing shoulder to shoulder.

After a rigorous and extensive planning process, St Aloysius College has transitioned from being a girls’ school to a coeducational school, accepting boys in this year’s Year 7 cohort.

“In that first school photo, every student had a huge smile on their face and everyone looked so incredibly smart in their new uniforms,” says Farah.

“I asked students how their first few days at school had gone and, without fail, they responded ‘love it!’. “Seeing children making new friends and exploring our facilities, being curious in their learning and doing all that with a smile and a laugh were definite highlights of the first week for me.”

In 2019, Mercy Education completed a two-year project with Catholic Education Melbourne (CEM) to reimagine Catholic education in inner-city Melbourne. CEM research highlighted that a significant proportion of families who were keen on Catholic coeducation were unable to access a suitable school for their children.

St Aloysius was an ideal candidate to meet this demand and was able to cater to the significant population growth envisaged in the Arden-Macauley development precinct in North Melbourne.

“The decision to become a coeducational facility presents exciting opportunities to further develop our campus and our programs, and to provide an outstanding environment for girls and boys to achieve their potential and strive for higher goals,” says Farah.

“In 2022, I met with all Year 7 and Year 8 students and spoke about the transition to co-education, asked students how they felt about it and what changes and initiatives they felt were necessary in preparation for the boys to join us on site.

“The students’ genuine excitement and eagerness to welcome this new Year 7 cohort were exemplary.”

Farah says there was also unanimous support for the change to co-education among teaching and administration staff at the school.

“The vast majority of our staff have extensive experience in teaching and leadership roles in co-education and, on top of this, they spent much of 2021 and 2022 undergoing professional development to ensure a supported and seamless transition across the college.”

The transition process was meticulously planned to ensure new and existing students and staff were ready for the change. In November last year, the future Year 7 students spent a day at St Aloysius to experience a day in the life of the college.

During that month, they spent time in their classes, met their teachers and became familiar with the college’s layout and facilities.

A shift in timetabling, new membership of the Association of Co-educational Schools that allows students in Years 7 and 8 to compete in interschool sports and in chess, public speaking and debating events, additional staffing, and the appointment of a transition to co-ed leader have helped ease in the new era at St Aloysius.

“This shift presents an opportunity to build on the college’s history of meeting the needs of our community and of being wonderfully successful, but it also ensures that our classrooms represent the world in which we live,” says Farah.

“Our classrooms cultivate an environment enriched by young men and women expressing their intellectual and emotional responses and this lays the foundations for these young people to grow into adults who can confidently share and respectfully engage with all perspectives and with each other.

“I am very humbled and honoured to be leading our very special community at this time. “The journey forward will be an amazing one,” she adds.

ST ALOYSIUS

Main Campus: 31 Curran Street, North Melbourne
Camp Facility: Torquay

Website: www.aloysius.vic.edu.au
Enquiries: 03 9325 9200 / registrar@aloysius.vic.edu.au
Years: 7-12
Denomination: Catholic
Gender: Co-Educational (from Year 7 2023)
Fees: $7,100
Boarding: No
Scholarships: Yes
ATAR (median for 2022): 76.35

This article appeared in Domain’s 2023 Independent Schools Guide.