St Kevin's College, Melbourne
St Kevin's College is a private Catholic primary and secondary school for boys located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The college has five campuses, three of which are in the suburb of Toorak, the fourth in Richmond, and the fifth being a sport campus located behind Stockland Tooronga. The school owned a campsite 'Silver Creek' in the town of Flowerdale which was completely destroyed by the Black Saturday bushfires.
St Kevin's College
Latin: Omnia Pro Deo
(All for God)
1918
Deborah M Barker
- Cusack
- Kenny
- Kearney
- Purton
- McCarthy
- Rahill
Green, gold and blue
- Associated Public Schools of Victoria
- International Boys' Schools Coalition
- Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia
St Kevin's was founded in 1918 by the Christian Brothers and is a member of the Associated Public Schools of Victoria. St Kevin's overlooks Gardiners Creek, a tributary that runs into the Yarra River, with Scotch College on the opposite side. The college has a long-standing tradition with the historic St. Patrick's Cathedral and is responsible for educating their choir boys.[1]
The Archdiocese of Melbourne provides oversight of St Kevin's,[2] and its administration is directed by Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA),[3] and is a member of both the Associated Public Schools of Victoria (APS)[4] and the International Boys' Schools Coalition (IBSC).
St Kevin's College has five campuses:
The English curriculum at St Kevin's allows for boys to develop their skills in the communication of ideas and is put into practice through the numerous publications that can be found in the college, each of which is aimed towards a certain audience, and has its own individual purpose.
Controversy[edit]
Student sexism[edit]
On 21 October 2019, a viral video which showed some students performing a sexist chant while on public transport to an inter-school athletics event was made public.[27][28] Following the resultant media furore,[29] a public apology from Headmaster Stephen Russell was issued in a letter sent to all parents the following day.[30] In this apology, Headmaster Russell denounced the students' "misogynistic" behaviour as "offensive".[31] Ten students were reportedly suspended with the possibility of expulsion.[32] Shortly thereafter, a second video was released in which three Year 12 students performed the same sexist chant in public only a few hours after the publication of the first video.[33] The ABC further revealed that in 2018 a group of students made a derogatory rap song about female students from another school.[33] Russell again condemned the students' behaviour as "foolish and reckless" and acknowledged that the college's cultural problems were "more widespread than [he] understood".[33]
Mishandling of child abuse[edit]
In February 2020, it was reported that Stephen Russell wrote a character reference for Peter Kehoe, a non-staff athletics coach accused of grooming a St Kevin's student while under the school's employ. Kehoe was subsequently convicted and sentenced to a community corrections order and placed on the sex offenders register for eight years. The victim settled a civil claim with the school in August 2019.[34][35] Amid calls to resign, Russell responded by suggesting that Kehoe was a "never a member of staff"[36] and expressed his remorse for providing Kehoe a character reference, stating: "I would not do it again".[36] Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said that Russell's response was "just not on" and suggested that Russell would have been removed from his position had he been the principal of a government school.[36]
On 19 February, Russell resigned from the school and dean of sport, Luke Travers, was stood down pending further investigation.[37] Later the same day, John Crowley, principal of St Patrick's College in Ballarat, was appointed as the acting Headmaster of St Kevin's.[37] The employment of Simon Parris, a mathematics teacher, was "concluded" from the Toorak school in late February amid a series of staff removals over a child grooming scandal;[38] and was subsequently suspended from teaching.[38] Janet Canny, a former deputy principal, stepped aside after court action was lodged against her over a complaint alleging breaches of mandatory reporting, and Gary Jones, a teacher, had his employment "concluded".[38][39][40][41] At least six staff members were stood aside or left the school since Russell resigned.[42]