Westbourne Grammar School

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Westbourne Grammar School is a co-educational independent school in Truganina, in the western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria. The school is a member of the Associated Co-educated Schools (ACS). Though Westbourne is nominally Christian and its students participate in regular chapel services, the school is not aligned with a specific religious denomination.

Westbourne has two campuses. The larger campus, opened in 1978, is located on Sayers Road, Truganina (formerly Hoppers Crossing) and offers classes for students at all levels, kindergarten to VCE (Victorian Certificate of Education). A smaller campus is situated in nearby Williamstown and provides education for students up to and including Year 3. There is also an early-learning centre, or creche, at the Truganina campus.

The total enrolment is approximately 1200 students, with 880 at secondary level (Years 7 to 12). Most students reside in the western suburbs of Melbourne, in suburbs such as Werribee, Hoppers Crossing, Melton, Caroline Springs, Altona, Newport, Williamstown, Yarraville, Mumpton and Footscray. The school is also popular internationally and attracts dozens of foreign students each year; it has a single room dedicated for these international students and a comprehensive ESL (English as a second language) program. There are also in excess of 150 teachers, support staff and office workers. The current principal of Westbourne Grammar School is Geoffrey Gordon Ryan. Ryan has held the position since 1990 and is only the second principal of the Truganina campus after John Pascoe who opened the school in 1978.

The school has a thriving co-curricular program that includes voluntary activities such as debating, public speaking, choirs, outdoor education and various sports.

1 Houses
2 Trivia
3 References
4 See also
5 External link

[edit] Houses

The senior school at Westbourne has five houses.

House Name	Colour	Namesake
Westbourne Grammar School houses
Flinders	Light Blue	Matthew Flinders
Hudson	Green	Neville Hudson
Molland	Red	Mabel Molland
Pascoe	Yellow	John Pascoe
Strathmore	Purple (formerly white)	Earl of Strathmore

The house system impacts most of school life. Classes from years seven to eight are taken in house groups and in the later years, form group is still in houses. The students of each house from year eight up all have their lockers together in house-based 'pods'. Inter-house competition takes place each year and includes activities such as debating, public speaking, a trivia competition, badminton, netball and chess. Three major carnival events (swimming, athletics and cross country running) form the main part of this competition. A cup is awarded to the house with the most points over the course of the year.

[edit] Trivia

When Westbourne first opened at its Westbourne campus in the early 1980s, the first students there were housed in two large tents, which they quickly dubbed "The White House" and "The Kremlin".^{[citation needed]}

From the opening of the westbourne campus until the late 90's, westbourne suffered significant issues with flooding during heavy rains. The senior tennis courts were particularly known for holding water past knee hight for days after heavy rain.

A significant chemical leak occurred on the 13th of June 2006 in the science block where 15 litres of a hazardous liquid ate through a steel container. 35 Firefighters and 9 Hazchem vehicles attended the scene.^[1]