St Peters Lutheran College
Location
Indooroopilly
,
Queensland

Australia
Coordinates27°30′18″S 152°59′4″E / 27.50500°S 152.98444°E / -27.50500; 152.98444
Information
School typePrivate school
MottoLatin: Plus ultra
(Further beyond)
Religious affiliation(s)Lutheran
Established1945 (1945)
AuthorityQueensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority
Head of CollegeTim Kotzur[1]
Staff183 teaching, 182 non-teaching (in 2017)[2]
GradesPrep–year 12
GenderCo-educational
Enrolment2210 (in 2023)[2]
Houses
  •   Gould
  •   Mitchell
  •   Leichhardt
  •   Cawley
  •   Bradman
  •   Cunningham
  •   Chisolm
  •   Laver
  •   Sutherland
Colour(s)
  •   Maroon
  •   Gold
  •   White
SloganExcellence in Christian co-education[3]
AffiliationAssociated Independent Colleges
Websitestpeters.qld.edu.au

St Peters Lutheran College is a Lutheran co-educational private school in Queensland, Australia with teaching campuses in Indooroopilly and Springfield, and an outdoor education centre in Crows Nest. The college provides Prep to Year 12 education, with domestic day schooling at Springfield, with domestic and international day and boarding at the larger Indooroopilly campus. In Year 9, students spend five weeks completing the Ironbark Outdoor Education Program at the outdoor education centre in Crows Nest.

The college was founded in 1945 with the initial purchase of Ross Roy House, later expanding through neighbouring properties and the opening of the Springfield campus in 2008.[4] Both Ross Roy and the chapel have been listed in the Queensland Heritage Register since 2012.[5]

In 2017, St Peters had an enrolment of 1986 students with a teaching staff of 183 teachers with 182 non-teaching staff.[2]

Symbolism

Luther's seal

There are certain symbolic icons present in the college emblem, including Martin Luther's iconic white rose from his seal, and an inverted cross for St Peter, leader of the Apostles in the early Christian Church, who was crucified upside-down.

The School's motto, Plus Ultra, which is Latin for "Ever Higher", is said to emphasise the college's desire for the students to reach their goals in their learning.

Campus

Science lab

Starting with the 1897 Villa "Ross Roy", bought and used as the first building of St Peters in 1945, the college campus has seen significant growth and change over the years.

Theile House, a four-storey building comprising computer labs, classrooms, Year 11/12 lockers, and the Theile study centre, was recently renovated and extended. The facilities in the new building include a study centre for students in Years 11 and 12, with three private study/meeting rooms and numerous computers and laptops available to students. The girls' boarding houses have also been renovated, now featuring air conditioning, and a multi-purpose court.

There are three libraries on campus. The Senior School library is a three-storey facility where students and staff can access a collection of fiction and non-fiction. There are approximately 80 computers and students have access to a number of databases to which the school subscribes.

In 2013, a Performing Arts Centre was also opened. This is a three-storey facility including an auditorium, theatrette, orchestra and band rooms, music and drama classrooms, and rooms for instrumental tuition and practice.

Ironbark

Workshop at Ironbark

Ironbark is the outdoor campus of St Peters Lutheran College. Located near the town of Crows Nest, some 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of Toowoomba and 150 kilometres (93 mi) north-west of Brisbane, the property consists of 600 hectares (1,483 acres) of heavily timbered, undulating granite country. The donation of land in 1971, provided the College with an opportunity to develop and implement an outdoor education program. After several years of discussion and planning, a pilot program was run in 1974. Following the success of the pilot program, Ironbark has been part of the College curriculum since 1976. Ironbark was named for the Eucalyptus Crebra, the narrow leaf Ironbark, which grows across the property.

Heads of College

The Heads of College have been:[6]

Period Details
1945–1954 Wilfred Carl Schneider
1955–1970 Hermann Wilhelm Albrecht Lohe
1971–1994 Carson Dron
1995–2002, 2011 Sally Chandler
2003–2011 Stephen Rudolph
2012–2016 Adrian Wiles
2017– Tim Kotzur

Curriculum

The St Peters curriculum is designed to provide a continuum of experience and knowledge acquisition from Prep to Year 12. To this end, St Peters offers programs within four separate sub-schools: Lower Primary (P–4), Upper Primary (5–6), Junior High (7–9) and Senior School (10–12). Each sub-school operates semi-autonomously with its own Head of Sub-School and administration. The Senior School offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program.[7]

Since 2004, the school has run an exchange program in conjunction with sister school, Immanuel college, in Adelaide, South Australia. The focus of the exchange program, or "Mind Change" as it is known, is to allow gifted students from both schools a chance to meet students their age who they can relate their interests to.

Sport

St Peters Lutheran College boys are members of the Associated Independent Colleges (AIC). While the girls are involved in the QGSSSA competitions.

AIC premierships

St Peters Lutheran College has won the following AIC premierships.[8]

  • Basketball – 2007
  • Rugby (2) – 2000, 2012
  • Soccer (2) – 2014, 2020
  • Swimming (9) – 1999, 2000, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022
  • Tennis (9) – 1999, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
  • Volleyball (3) – 2012, 2013, 2014

Publications

The school has a number of publications that are made available to the school community, including:[9]

  • The Rock, the Indooroopilly school's weekly newsletter
  • Cornerstone, the Springfield school's weekly newsletter
  • Plus Ultra, a magazine printed bi-annually
  • The Review, an annual publication reviewing the previous year

Chapel

St Peters College Chapel

The St Peters Lutheran College Chapel was built in 1968 to a design of the Austrian-born architect Karl Langer. Langer's work was in a distinctive sub-tropical modernist style and was his last built project. The building has a large well-lit nave with a choir loft, vestry, and meditation chapel and features a large bell tower. It is constructed of load-bearing face brick with a roof of flat metal sheeting.[5]

History

St Peters Lutheran College was established at Indooroopilly by the Lutheran Church in 1945 with 56 boarding students. Ross Roy was the main building and focus for early college life with Luther House built by voluntary labour soon after the college's commencement. St Peters has had seven heads in its history and is the largest Lutheran school in Australia, today, with an enrolment maintained at approximately 2000 day and boarding students and 350 teaching and non-teaching staff. The boarding enrolments are maintained at 150 students. St Peters Lutheran College – Ironbark Outdoor Education Centre, via Crows Nest, was established in 1974 as a trial program and in 1976 as an ongoing outdoor education program. This life changing experience is a five-week program for Year 9 students and indicates St Peters positive and strong commitment to ‘growing’ our Junior High students in significant ways. The ‘Ironbark Experience’ is seen by staff, parents and students as a vital part of the St Peters journey, fostering independence, resilience, teamwork, problem solving, ethical decision making, sustainability and environmental awareness in our young people. Commencing in 2008, St Peters Lutheran College Springfield began as a Prep to Year 8 school. It now caters for Prep to Year 12 and provides the Springfield and adjacent communities with the many benefits of the St Peters journey. All St Peters schools operate under the control of the St Peters Lutheran College Council and Head of College, governed by the Lutheran Church of Australia Queensland District.

Alumni

Alumni of St Peters Lutheran College are known as Old Scholars. All students graduate as Life Members of the St Peters Old Scholars Association (SPOSA).[10] Notable St Peters Old Scholars include North Queensland indigenous leader, Noel Pearson, Olympic athletes Dane Bird-Smith,[11] Maxine Seear, Georgia Bohl, Chris Noffke, Shane Gould, Ariarne Titmus and Pita Taufatofua, and musicians and actors Sigrid Thornton, Hamish Prasad, Craig Horner, and Sam Atwell.

Other well-known past students include ex-Brisbane Lions (now Essendon) Australian football player Mal Michael; 1986 Commonwealth Games 1500m Freestyle Gold Medallist Jason Plummer, Federal MHRs Steven Ciobo and Michael Johnson; TV sports reporter Stephanie Brantz; romance novelist and former Brisbane Broncos cheerleader Ally Blake; singer and member of South Korean K-pop group ENHYPEN Jake Sim, and current Brisbane Lions rookie listed Australian football player Adam Spackman.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Welcome from the Head of College". St Peters Lutheran College. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 "Indooroopilly 2017 School Report" (PDF). St Peters Lutheran College. pp. 5, 12. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 October 2018. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
  3. ↑ "Welcome Message". About Us. St. Peters Lutheran College. 2007. Archived from the original on 5 October 2007. Retrieved 4 October 2007.
  4. ↑ "Introduction & School Details" (PDF). School Report 2007. St. Peters Lutheran College. 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 August 2007. Retrieved 4 October 2007.
  5. 1 2 "Chapel of St Peter's Lutheran College, Indooroopilly (entry 602816)". Queensland Heritage Register. Queensland Heritage Council. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  6. ↑ "St Peters Lutheran College". St Peters Lutheran College. p. 4 (photo captions). Archived from the original on 28 December 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
  7. ↑ St. Peters Lutheran College Archived 4 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine, from ibo.org. Retrieved 19 April 2008.
  8. ↑ "About Associated Independent Colleges". AIC. Retrieved 15 September 2021.
  9. ↑ "Publications". 2007. Archived from the original on 16 June 2006.
  10. ↑ "About SPOSA". Old Scholars (SPOSA). St. Peters Lutheran College. Archived from the original on 22 July 2008. Retrieved 7 May 2008.
  11. ↑ "Dane Bird-Smith". Archived from the original on 19 February 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2017.

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