St Kevin's College is a private Catholic primary and secondary school for boys located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
The school formally owned a campsite 'Silver Creek' in the town of Flowerdale which was completely destroyed by the Black Saturday bushfires.
St Kevin's overlooks Gardiners Creek, a tributary that runs into the Yarra River, with Scotch College on the opposite side.
The Lansell Road property is now home to the Glendalough Campus, and in 1999 became a full primary school, housing Prep to Year 6 students.
[9] In March 2006, a $16 million indoor pool, gym and sports facility, the Wilding Centre, was blessed by Cardinal George Pell and opened for the students.
In 2010, the Boyd Egan Hall was opened at Glendalough and substantial floods filled the school's ovals and damaged the Fraser Tennis Courts.
In 2011, work began on a three-storey $14 million Science Wing, located adjacent to Heyington railway station at the end of the Kearney Building.
[11] Special events such as "The Great Debate", featuring generations of St Kevin's old boys, took place[12] and a limited-edition 100-year history of the college was published for students and staff.
[15][16][17] 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.
St Kevin's participates in a range of other debating and public speaking tournaments, including those organised by Rotary, the RSL, UNYA and as of 2011, the WIDPSC, with one student competing representing Australia, and recording 8th place.
In 2009, the College won the soccer, Australian rules football and rugby premierships – the first time this was achieved in APS history.
[29][30] Following the resultant media furore,[31] a public apology from Headmaster Stephen Russell was issued in a letter sent to all parents the following day.
[35] Russell again condemned the students' behaviour as "foolish and reckless" and acknowledged that the college's cultural problems were "more widespread than [he] understood".
[35] 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.
[39] 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;[40] and was subsequently suspended from teaching.
[40] 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".