AISUSA Foundation Event

Saturday 6 October saw Newington yet again as the most represented school at the Australian Independent Schools USA Foundation Event (www.aisusafoundation.com). There were attendees who are Old Boys, future parents and even one current parent! Heartfelt memories were stretched (yes they were all in the First XV, Rowed the First VIII, played bassoon in the Orchestra and managed to be Dux), smiles were large and the Newington Brotherhood was extended to all no matter what the Alumni Year.

That morning Newington secured the ‘AUSUSA Foundation Nick Farr-Jones Touch Rugby Trophy’ in Central Park – even though only Newingtonians turned up bar one Riverview Old Boy!

From the Archives

Exam time

The months of October and November are, perhaps more than anything else, exam time. This has not really changed since the College’s establishment in 1863, but the nature of the exams and the systems they are part of have changed a great deal.

Initially, the end of year examinations were purely an internal affair. In 1867 the Junior and Senior Public Examinations were established, as part of the first set of education reforms of Sir Henry Parkes. The examinations were set and marked by the University of Sydney and represented the first attempt to define the content and objectives of secondary school teaching in New South Wales. Despite being run by the University, the Senior exam was not used for university entrance: there were separate matriculation examinations held early each year for this.

Success in the ‘Junior’ and ‘Senior’ quickly became the measure of a school’s academic performance.  Summary results were published in a veritable ‘league table’ of schools and private tutors: a report in the Sydney Morning Herald of 11 January 1879 showed Newington with the third largest number of successful candidates in the previous year, after Sydney Grammar and Brisbane Grammar (the system included Queensland schools in the absence of a university there). Newington had six of the 42 successful candidates in the Senior and ten of the 239 successful Junior candidates. Newington students occupied three of the eleven places on the ‘Distinguished Order of Merit’, while another won the Silver Medal for Arithmetic.

From its very first year of publication (1884), The Newingtonian reported proudly on the Senior and Junior results, generally listing all the school’s successful candidates and their pass level in each subject. The growth of the school since the move to Stanmore was reflected in the number of successful candidates in the Junior — 22 out of 23 ‘sent up’ — as reported in the December 1884 issue. Two out of three passed the Senior.

In addition to prizes awarded by the University, Newington awarded its own prizes for success in these exams. Initially medals were awarded for passing; later they were limited to the best pass among the College’s candidates. A number of these medals are in the Archives collection: our photo shows the medal awarded to J Alfred Fletcher for passing the Junior in 1872. The Hardy Medal, now awarded for the best HSC result, was instituted in the 1880s for the best pass in the Senior.

The Senior and Junior exams ceased in 1916, following the phasing in of the Intermediate and Leaving Certificates over the previous five years. They were replaced in turn by the School and Higher School Certificates under the Wyndham Scheme in the 1960s.

David Roberts
College Archivist