Our School History
The Sturt Street School was first established in 1883 as one of the four City Model Schools in the CBD area. ‘Model schools’ were those educational institutions where inexperienced or newly appointed teachers could attend for training in the art of teaching.
Known for the first two years of operation as City Model School (Sturt Street) it opened with 821 students and was structured to include separate boys and girls classrooms, an infant (Junior Primary) room and a babies room with a boys Headmaster, a girls Headmistress and an Infants Headmistress.
The newspaper of the day, the South Australian Register reports in 1883 that the imposing bluestone building was “a decided ornament to the street” and that the school had been opened “for the purpose of meeting the want of proper school accommodation, which had been keenly felt in the south-western portion of the city”
In 1885 the name of the school became Sturt Street Public School with enrolments between 800 – 900 students until the 1930’s when the name of the school changed again to Sturt Street Practising School and again in 1961 to Sturt Street Demonstration School.
The practicing and demonstration schools, with single classes of 5 to 14-year old children, specialised in training teachers for one-teacher schools in Outback and rural South Australia.
The declining city resident population from the 1930’s is reflected in the enrolment numbers at the time (450 – 600) resulting in the closure of city schools and only Sturt Street and Gilles Street survived. Increasing numbers of Greek migrants, pre World War 2, moving into the schools catchment area also changed the ethnic composition of the school and Sturt Street was classed as a New Arrivals school. The percentage of Greek students in the school was such that in the 1950’s all school notices were sent home in Greek and English.
In the 1980’s Sturt Street’s tradition of sympathetic help and schooling to migrant families included the South East Asian refugee community where 40 – 50 children were schooled in the upstairs section of the school with the rest of the, mainly Greek, mainstream students schooled downstairs.
The multicultural nature of the programs offered at the school resulted in ethnic communities maintaining strong loyalties to the school and an interest in its future.
Despite the success of the New Arrivals Program, the school was closed in 1996 due to declining mainstream enrolments.
The efforts of a keen interest group of local residents, including past students, advocated for the reopening of the school and in 2003 the Government of South Australia, in conjunction with the Greek Orthodox Community of SA Inc honoured a commitment to re open the school.
Community consultation informed the proposals for the redevelopment as a unique integrated birth to Year 3 site where community partnerships with the City of Adelaide, Greek Orthodox Community, South West residents and local service providers would be integral to the school.
The school re opened in Term 1, 2004 as Sturt Street Community School as an integrated birth to Year 3 site and due to community demand has been extended in subsequent years to Year 7. Ref: Ref: Sturt Street Community School website.
*The Sturt Street School was opened in 1883 as a City Model School. It later became known as a ‘Practicing School’ in 1930 and a ‘Demonstration School’ in 1961, because of its purpose in providing practical training to new teachers, particularly those going to work in one-teacher schools in rural South Australia. The school’s multicultural student body grew in the 1950s and ‘60s with the arrival of children from migrant families in the South West.
Opening
The Sturt Street Model School was officially opened by the Hon John Langdon Parsons, the South Australian Minister for Education, in 1883. It was one of four Model Schools in the city centre, and its purpose was to provide a model of a standardised state school system, following the introduction of compulsory primary school education through the Education Act 1875.
The Sturt Street School was also designed by the same architect as the Grote Street Model School, Edward John Woods, and features the same gothic revival style and bluestone structure. The building included separate rooms for girls, boys and infants. Between its opening in 1883 and the 1930s, the school had enrolments of around 800-900 students.
By the 1930s, the decline in enrolment to 400-500 students reflected the wider decrease in the number of residential dwellings in the South West.
A Multicultural School
In its capacity as a Practicing and Demonstration School, Sturt Street Primary was used to train new teachers by providing classes of children aged between 5 and 14-year-olds. By the 1950s, with the increased arrival of migrants (particularly from Greece) following the Second World War, the school became classed as a ‘New Arrivals’ school. The school community helped foster early multicultural understanding through social evening gatherings, the school band and special classes run by local migrant groups.
Decline and Closure
Re-developments in the South West in the 1960s led to a decline in the number of enrolments at the school. Many students’ families were forced to leave the area as residential buildings were demolished or redeveloped as commercial spaces. The school’s dwindling population, however, did not prevent them from opening a Special Language Unit to cater to the needs of children from non-English-speaking backgrounds in 1980, particularly with the arrival of children of refugee backgrounds from South East Asia. Sturt Street Primary School was finally closed in 1996.
*Opening
The Sturt Street Model School was officially opened by the Hon John Langdon Parsons, the South Australian Minister for Education, in 1883. It was one of four Model Schools in the city centre, and its purpose was to provide a model of a standardised state school system, following the introduction of compulsory primary school education through the Education Act 1875.
The Sturt Street School was also designed by the same architect as the Grote Street Model School, Edward John Woods, and features the same gothic revival style and bluestone structure. The building included separate rooms for girls, boys and infants.
A Multicultural School
By the 1950s, with the increased arrival of migrants (particularly from Greece) following the Second World War, the school became classed as a ‘New Arrivals’ school. The school community helped foster early multicultural understanding through social evening gatherings, the school band and special classes run by local migrant groups. The school closed in 1996.
A New Community School
In 2004, under pressure from local petitioners, the State Government re-opened the school, having consulted with the Greek Orthodox Community of South Australia, the Adelaide City Council and local residents and businesses. The school initially operated as a Birth to Year 3 site, but due to demand extended to include Years 4 to 7. A number of alterations were added to the original buildings, including access, services and amenities buildings. Ref: SA History Hub.
*A letter was received from Miss Rankine, notifying her appointment of head mistress of the girls' department in the City Model School, and that she commenced her duties on January 22. Ref: Evening Journal (Adelaide SA) Tuesday 6 February 1883.
*Mr Bonython reported that he had visited the new school in Sturt Street, and found that it was in a forward state. The upstairs rooms were plastered, but the downstairs rooms were not. It had been stated, however, that everything was going on satisfactorily. Ref: Evening Journal (Adelaide SA) Tuesday 6 March 1883.
*Sturt Street School
Speaking at the recent gathering of the Sturt Street Old Scholars Association the Chief Secretary. (Hon A W Styles) said: Opened on June 1 1883, by the late Mr Alexander Clark, it was called "The City Model School", a name which had previously been borne by the Grote Street institution. In June Mr Clark and all his staff, of which the present Chief Inspector was a member, were transferred from Grote Street to the new school at Sturt Street.
The number of scholars on the roll at the opening was 1218. The number of scholars on the roll at present is 1084.
The diminution is due to the fact that in 1883 the "City Model School" was counted the school of the day, and in consequence it was very overcrowded. The roll included pupils from the city and all the suburbs, even those as far away as the Semaphore and Paradise. In addition to these, parents in the country went to the expense of boarding their children in Adelaide so that they might have the advantage of attending what was regarded as "the blue ribbon school of the day".
The building of larger schools in the suburbs as the years went on, and the fact that a cordon limiting the area from which children can be taken as pupils has been drawn round Sturt Street, have also affected the roll number.
The masters who succeeded the late Mr Clark were the late Mr W L Neale, Mr W M Manghan, Mr W J McBride, and Mr C Bronner (present head master). Ref: Daily Herald (Adelaide SA) Monday 4 September 1916.
