Prince Alfred College


Prince Alfred College is a private, independent, day and boarding school for boys, located on Dequetteville Terrace, Kent Town – near the centre of Adelaide, South Australia. Prince Alfred College was established in 1869 by the Methodist Church of Australasia, which amalgamated with other Protestant churches in 1977 to form the Uniting Church in Australia.
The school has enrolment of some 1,100 students from reception and educational year groups one to twelve, including some 140 boarders from years seven to twelve. Prince Alfred College launched its own kindergarten, Little Princes, in 1999, which was renamed Princes ELC in 2009.

School performance

Academic

Senior students study to achieve the South Australian Certificate of Education, or the International Baccalaureate diploma programme. In 2016, PAC ranked equal 9th in South Australia and 524th nationally for academic achievement. In the same year PAC was close to average in all NAPLAN scores for Year 9 when compared to similar schools. When compared to all Australian schools it was substantially above average in reading and numeracy, above average for grammar and punctuation, and average for spelling.
PAC has 112 teaching staff and 117 non-teaching staff.

Demographic

Of the 1102 students attending the school in 2016, 68% of students have parents in the top quarter of Australian society in socio-economic terms, while 1% come from the bottom quarter. 1% of students have indigenous heritage, while 18% have a non-English speaking background.

Financial

According to the Australian Government's MySchool website, in 2015 PAC recorded a net income of $28m, 72% of which came from student fees, 16% from the Australian Government and 6% from private sources.

History

Prince Alfred College was named after Prince Alfred during his visit to Adelaide in 1867. Alfred was one of the four sons of Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert. The school has attracted many royal visitors since its foundation, including Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in 1954.
The founders of PAC were determined that the religious traditions of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, should be indoctrinated in the school. Young Methodist men of the colony and PAC were encouraged to live disciplined, hard working and predominantly Christian lives, even though they were mocked facing society's temptations.
At one time, Princes was the only college in Adelaide to offer the IB Diploma at all three stages; the PYP and MYP are compulsory units of work for Preparatory and Middle school students, enabling its students to continue to complete the Diploma in year 11 and 12, or to be recognised nationally with the SACE.
On Wednesday 18 April 2018, Elizabeth II's son, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, visited Prince Alfred College, and participated in an unveiling a stone to commemorate the sesquicentennial of the College.

List of headmasters

The original school campus is in the Adelaide suburb of Kent Town. The school also owns two other campuses, one for outdoor education in Scott's Creek, and the other in Point Turton named 'Wambana', developed specifically for boys to spend extended periods of time away from home to experience all of the responsibilities adults have to face like; cooking, cleaning, time management and food shopping.

Kent Town

The original and main campus is located in Kent Town, approximately 2 km east of the Adelaide city centre. The land, originally leased by Dr Benjamin Archer Kent from 1840 to 1859, then bought by Charles Robin, was bought at auction from Charles Robin for £2750 on 18 September 1865. However, it was not until 22 June 1969 that the college celebrated its inauguration, two years after the laying of the foundation stone by H.R.H. Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh.
A feature of the college is the Main Building, which was built in three sections. The central section was ready for use in 1869 and housed offices, teaching areas, a residence for the Headmaster, and accommodation for boarders, who have been an important aspect of the College's history. The Waterhouse Wing was added in 1877, and increased the boarding accommodation, as well as providing an assembly room, and a science laboratory. The Cotton Wing, added in 1881, further expanded boarding space and teaching areas. The science hall was opened in 1891, and the Main Building was completed in 1889. The cast iron fence and railings around the front of the grounds were erected by 1905 by the NCP. The former residence of Alexander Dowie became the preparatory school in 1911.
The school campus is divided by the main building, with the preparatory school on the Flinders Street side of the school, and the middle and Senior schools on the Capper Street side. Some of the facilities within the Kent Town Campus include:
;Eric Freak Memorial Chapel
Eric Freak Memorial Chapel was built in 1972 as a memorial to Eric Freak, an outstanding tennis player who succeeded in schoolboy championships and promised a brilliant career in the game before his premature death. The Chapel contains a number of instruments including a grand piano and an organ.

;ANZAC Hall
ANZAC Hall was relaunched in September 2010 after renovation works which turned it into a fully equipped theatre facility with audio and lighting capabilities. The building provides extensive facilities for music, drama, workshops, seminars and associated events. ANZAC Hall seats up to 800 people. The hall is currently beging redone and is due to open for the start of term 2.
;Piper Pavilion
The Piper Pavilion, adjacent to ANZAC Hall, is a venue for exhibitions, trade shows, seminars, conferences, cocktail receptions and flow on events from ANZAC Hall.
;The John Dunning Sports Centre
The John Dunning Sports Centre is a facility for the preparatory school's students. It seats approximately 700 people, and can also be used for hosting theatrical performances, art shows, luncheons, alumni events and presentation evenings.
;Sports Centre
The Sports Centre is a flexible multi-purpose sporting and health facility, including a two court basketball stadium, an indoor swimming pool, change room facilities, squash courts, and a number of multi-purpose teaching and function spaces. It was redeveloped, and was completed in early 2013. It also houses a health and fitness studio.

Scotts Creek Campus

Scotts Creek campus is the college's Murray River retreat. The Scotts Creek Outdoor Centre is located near Morgan, approximately 165 km from Adelaide. It provides a mix of environmental education, adventure and personal development activities.

Wambana Campus

Wambana Campus is an off school ground recreational camp. The primary purpose of Wambana is to foster growth by helping adolescent boys better manage the transition to adulthood through immersion in community, academic, spiritual and outdoor adventures.
Wambana is a six-acre property situated on the coast of southern Yorke Peninsula, bordering the township of Point Turton and rural farming land. Students and staff live in a small village in which residential accommodation and a classroom are clustered around a central meeting facility. The property consists of six accommodation buildings known as "Wardlis". Wambana accommodates up to 32 students for five-week periods.

Houses

Since its inception, the college has used a "House" system – all students belong to a House. It is the school's aim that activities that are part of the House system continue to build the strong community feel that the founding fathers envisaged in 1869.
Over the course of each year, students participate in inter-house competitions for the Wesley Cup – competitions include swimming, athletics, rowing, chess, debating, music and drama performances, and year level lunchtime sports. The "Academic Effort" grades earned by students also contribute to the House points tally.
Currently, the PAC Houses are Taylor, Cotton, Watsford and Waterhouse. At the time of the school's centenary, the houses were Bayly, Cotton, Waterhouse and "School"; at that time all boarders were members of School House.
The houses play in competitions to see who wins the house cup and the spirit cup.

Sport

Rowing

Rowing began at PAC in 1883 and has played an important part in the school's sporting culture since that time. The school has two boat houses, at West Lakes and by the Torrens Lake in the City of Adelaide's parklands. The school employs a full-time Director of Rowing,. Although competition in local and national regattas forms an integral part of the rowing programme, the main event for each year is the Head of the River. The school won the Head of the River in 2012, 2013 and 2014, captained by Jack Kelly, Nicholas Parletta & William Burfield. These years marked the first time the college has won three consecutive titles at the event.

Intercol

Each sports team at Princes has an annual fixture against traditional longtime rivals Saint Peter's College, known as the "Intercol". These are considered by the two colleges to be the most important games of the seasons, and the fiercely fought matches of the more popular sports draw big crowds of students and old scholars from both schools. The Intercols have been played for over 100 years. At one time, the Australian rules football and the Cricket intercols were both played on Adelaide Oval. The Cricket Intercollegiate match has been competed since 1878. According to Richard Sproull this is "the oldest unbroken annual contest in the history of cricket".

Outdoor education

The Prince Alfred College Outdoor Education programme provides a variety of integrated activities designed to allow boys to face challenges beyond those possible in a suburban day school. Current activities are focused on the Scotts Creek Outdoor Centre at Morgan on the River Murray.
In 2008, the college opened its Wambana Campus at Point Turton on the Yorke Peninsula. Year 9 students spend 5 weeks at the new facility, learning field science and mathematics along with other subjects and life skills as well as community service.
Year 11 students undertake practical leadership training and are encouraged to nominate for trips to Nepal, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Kangaroo Island.

Notable alumni

Notable old scholars of Princes include:

Rhodes Scholars

The Rhodes Scholarship is a postgraduate scholarship for study at Oxford University. South Australian recipients who attended PAC include:
Rhodes ScholarYear
awarded		College at OxfordRef
1937New College-
1913Christ Church-
1964Magdalen
1933Christ Church
1957New College-
1909Balliol-
Sir 1930New College-
1919Christ Church-
1904Balliol-
1911Magdalen-
2006Merton-
1951Christ Church
1948Queen's-
1916Balliol-
1983Magdalen-
1963New College-
1960Exeter-
2014St Peters College-
1982New College-

Academia, medicine and science

Cricket