Melbourne Girls Grammar School (commonly called MGGS and formally known as MCEGGS), is an independent, Anglican, day and boarding school for girls, located in South Yarra, an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Founded in 1893 by Emily Hensley and Alice Taylor, the school has a non-selective enrolment policy and caters for 1,010 students from Early Learning to Year 12, including 90 boarders. It was originally known as Merton Hall and then as Melbourne Church of England Girls Grammar School.
Melbourne Girls Grammar School is affiliated with the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia, the Junior School Heads Association of Australia, the Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia, the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria, the Australian Boarding Schools Association, and is a founding member of Girls Sport Victoria.
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History
Melbourne Girls Grammar School was founded in 1893, as a private school known as Merton Hall in Domain Road, South Yarra, by Emily Hensley and Alice Taylor. In 1900, the School moved to its current location in Anderson Street, and in 1903 it became the first girls' school to be owned by the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne. Mary and Edith Morris were the headmistresses and in 1911 Mary Valentine Gutteridge led the junior school.
Merton Hall, now the main senior campus, was named after the house in Cambridge, England, where Newnham College began.
The tenth headmistress of Melbourne Girls Grammar, Christine Briggs, announced her retirement in 2007. Catherine Misson was appointed to the position of Principal in 2008 serving until 2019, when Toni Meath, previously principal at Mac.Robertson Girls' High School, was appointed as the twelfth Principal of the Melbourne Girls Grammar.
Headmistresses and principals
Emily Hensley 1893–1898 and Alice Taylor 1893–1895
Mary Morris 1898–1907 and Edith Morris 1898–1912
Agnes Tunnicliffe 1914–1915
Kathleen Gilman Jones 1916–1938
Dorothy Jean Ross 1939–1955
Edith Mountain 1958–1974
Nina Crone 1975–1994
Christine Briggs 1995–2007
Catherine Misson 2008–2018
Toni Meath 2019–present
Campuses
The Junior Years (Prep–Year 4) learning environment is located at the Morris Hall campus on Caroline Street, while the Early Learning Centre (3- and 4-Year Old Program), the Middle Years (5-8) and Senior Years (Years 9–12) are all located at the Merton Hall campus, in Anderson Street, South Yarra.
The Merton Hall campus provides a chapel, gymnasium, library, dining hall, specialist Sport, Art, Drama, Music and Science Centres, assembly hall, multipurpose sports fields and a rowing facility located nearby on the banks of the Yarra River. The Boarding House (which caters for approximately 90 students) is also located on the Merton Hall campus.
Wildfell, which was built in 2011 for the Middle Years Program, includes an eLearning studio and learning studios.
Morris Hall, the Junior Years campus, incorporates learning studios, specialist art, music and science centres, an oval and sustainable gardens.
Buildings and facilities
The School opened its Science Futures Centre in 2005, with a ceremony attended by Sir Gustav Nossal. The Science Futures Centre comprises eight laboratories, three preparation rooms, three laboratory technicians' offices and withdrawal areas. This was renamed the Christine Briggs Building in 2007 following the retirement of Principal, Christine Briggs.
The most recent additions to the campus include the Artemis Centre (2017) and the St Hilda’s garden (2021).
A Strategic Planning Framework was commissioned for the Anderson and Caroline Street sites from the architectural firm ARM.
Academics
Melbourne Girls Grammar offers Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) for its students at Years 11 to 12, with some students beginning their VCE studies in Year 10.
House system
The house system involves many students in a variety of student competitions from sport to art, music, drama, debating and public speaking. The houses run across Morris and Merton Halls and are:
Blackwood: yellow, named after alumna Dame Margaret Blackwood
Clarke: red, named after Archbishop Lowther Clarke, who was a major influence in the early development of girls’ education within the Church of England framework
Hensley: pink, commemorates one of the two first headmistresses of the school - Emily Hensley
Mungo: green, named after "St Mungo", the house in Domain Road where the school first opened in 1893
Taylor: blue, commemorates the other of the first two headmistresses of the school – Alice Taylor
Sport
Melbourne Girls Grammar is a member of Girls Sport Victoria.
Notable alumnae
Education
Enid Joske (1890–1973) was Principal of Janet Clarke Hall in Melbourne
Margaret Loch Kiddle (1933) – Historian
Sally Walker AM (1972) – Vice Chancellor of Deakin University
Community and philanthropy
Gladys Buntine OBE (Spurling 1918) – Girl Guides Commissioner
Vera Deakin White OBE (1909) – Red Cross worker
Entertainment, media, and the arts
Beryl Bryant (1909) – Theatre owner and actress
Caroline Craig (1992) – Actress
Caroline Wilson (1977) – AFL journalist and television presenter
Fay Zwicky (1950) – Poet
Helen Gifford OAM (1952) – Composer
Jill Garner (1977) – Victorian Government Architect
Kate Alexa (2005) – Singer
Stephanie McIntosh (2003) – Singer and actress
Portia de Rossi
Medicine and science
(George) Girlie Chapple Hodges MBBS MS (1904–1999) – A surgeon, who was the first woman to complete Master of Surgery in Victoria. She was also a field hockey player who represented Australia.
Associated schools
Melbourne Girls Grammar School is the sister school of Melbourne Grammar School, with which it has a strong association, as the two stream productions, formals, workshops and concerts together. The student bases also enjoy a strong association throughout the secondary years as many MGGS girls attend Grimwade House (Melbourne Grammar School's co-educational primary campus).