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Associated Public Schools of Victoria

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Associated Public Schools of Victoria
AbbreviationAPS
Formation1908
HeadquartersAPS House
Hawthorn, Victoria
Location
MembershipEleven member schools
Official language
English
Chair
Philip Grutzner
Melbourne Grammar School
(2024–2026)
Websitewww.apssport.org.au

The Associated Public Schools of Victoria (APS) are a group of eleven independent schools in Victoria, Australia, similar to the Athletic Association of the Great Public Schools of New South Wales in New South Wales and the Public Schools Association in Western Australia. The descriptor "Public School" references the historical usage of the term and the model of the British public school.

The first meet of Public Schools Sports was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 30 November 1870 with Melbourne Grammar School, Scotch College and Wesley College competing and winning that order.[1] The Association was established in 1908 so member schools may compete against each other on the sporting fields, the original competition sports were Australian Rules Football, Athletics, Rowing and Cricket.[2]

Students now compete in a variety of sports, which are split into three seasons, Summer, Winter and Spring. Students in Year 7 and above compete on Saturdays and students in primary year levels compete on Wednesday afternoons. Major annual competitions include the APS Head of the River Rowing Regattas, the APS Combined Swimming & Diving Championships and the APS Combined Athletics Championships.

In March 2005, the APS member schools formed a set of guidelines regarding the awarding of sporting scholarships to students, following criticism of recruiting practices employed by some schools.[3] The headquarters of the APS is known as APS House and is located on Church Street in Hawthorn, Victoria.[4]

Schools

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Current member schools

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School Location Principal Enrolment Founded Denomination Boys/girls Day/boarding Year entered
competition
School colours
Brighton Grammar School Brighton Ross Featherston 1,301 1882 Anglican Boys Day 1958   
Carey Baptist Grammar School Kew, Donvale Jonathan Walter 2,500 1923 Baptist Boys & Girls Day 1958    
Caulfield Grammar School Caulfield, Malvern, Wheelers Hill, Yarra Junction, Nanjing Ashleigh Martin 3,320 1881 Anglican Boys & Girls Day & Boarding 1958   
The Geelong College Corio, Geelong Peter Miller 1,313 1861 Associated with the Uniting Church[5] Boys & Girls Day & Boarding 1908    
Geelong Grammar School Geelong Rebecca Cody 1,463 1855 Anglican Boys & Girls Day & Boarding 1900  
Haileybury Brighton, Berwick, Keysborough, City, Tianjin, Darwin Derek Scott 4,054 1892 Previously associated with the Uniting Church[5] Boys & Girls Day & Boarding 1958    
Melbourne Grammar School Melbourne, Caulfield Philip Grutzner 1,795 1858 Anglican Boys Day & Boarding 1900  
St Kevin's College Toorak, Richmond Deborah Barker 2,079 1918 Roman Catholic Boys Day 1958    
Scotch College Hawthorn Scott Marsh 1,875 1851 Presbyterian Boys Day & Boarding 1900    
Wesley College Melbourne, Glen Waverley, Elsternwick Nicholas Evans 3,145 1866 Associated with the Uniting Church[5] Boys & Girls Day & Boarding[6] 1900   
Xavier College Kew William Doherty 1,802 1872 Roman Catholic Boys & Girls Day & Boarding 1900   

a^ Melbourne Grammar School has a sister school, Melbourne Girls Grammar School, which competes in the Girls Sport Victoria competition. They are often affiliated together despite boys and girls not attending the same campus or wearing the same uniform.

Sports

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Combined Sports

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Students from the Association's member schools participate in a number of Combined Sports (Championship Carnivals) during the year including Swimming, Diving, Rowing and Athletics.

The APS Regatta

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The Victorian Head of the River race is contested between the eleven APS schools, the race is usually the last race of the official APS rowing season and has recently been rowed on Lake Nagambie which is a full buoyed international standard course allowing six boat finals. Girls from the APS also participate in the Head of the Schoolgirls regatta, where they compete with schools from the Girls Sport Victoria (GSV) group.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Public School Sports, The Pioneer Meetings". The Australasian. 26 October 1918.
  2. ^ "Associated Public Schools of Victoria, Celebrating 100 Years" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 October 2009. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  3. ^ Leung, Chee Chee (29 March 2005). "Top schools pledge to play fair". The Age.
  4. ^ "Associated Public Schools of Victoria". APS Sports. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
  5. ^ a b c "Associated Schools". Uniting Church in Australia. Synod of Victoria and Tasmania. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  6. ^ "Boarding returns to Wesley - Wesley College". www.wesleycollege.net. Archived from the original on 20 January 2015.
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