Tenison Woods College is a co-educational Roman Catholic secondary school

Secondary school

Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...

 in Mount Gambier

Mount Gambier, South Australia

Mount Gambier is the largest regional city in South Australia located approximately 450 kilometres south of the capital Adelaide and just 17 kilometres from the Victorian border....

, South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

. It is named after the pioneer priest

Priest

A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

, scientist

Scientist

A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...

 and educator Fr. Julian Tenison Woods

Julian Tenison Woods

Julian Edmund Tenison Woods was an English Roman Catholic priest and geologist, active in Australia. With Saint Mary MacKillop, he helped to found the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart at Penola in 1866....

 in recognition of his contribution to Catholic education. It was established in 2001 as an R-12 Catholic college as a result of the efforts of the Parish of Mount Gambier

Mount Gambier, South Australia

Mount Gambier is the largest regional city in South Australia located approximately 450 kilometres south of the capital Adelaide and just 17 kilometres from the Victorian border....

, the Boards and community of Tenison College and St. Pauls Primary School. The school's motto is Let Your Light Shine (from Matthew 5:16) which is displayed on the school logo.
Tenison Woods College has over 1200 students and over 100 staff members.

History

The site that Tenison Woods College occupies was once part of a pastoral holding, Moorak Station. In the late 1920s the Parish of Mount Gambier purchased part of the remaining property from the Pegler family to establish a secondary school for boys. That school, which began in 1931, was known as Marist Brothers Agricultural College.

The Sisters of Mercy

Sisters of Mercy

The Religious Order of the Sisters of Mercy is an order of Catholic women founded by Catherine McAuley in Dublin, Ireland, in 1831. , the order has about 10,000 members worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations....

 began teaching in Mount Gambier in 1880 and moved into the Penola Road convent

Convent

A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...

 in 1908, at that stage called St. Joseph's Convent of Our Lady of Mercy. In 1952 the Parish School of Saint Paul's was merged with St. Joseph's to become Mater Christi College. In 1969 the primary section once more became St Paul's School with secondary education functioning independently as Mater Christi College.

In 1972, Tenison College was formed following the merging of Mater Christi College and Marist Brothers' Agricultural College.

The last Marist Brothers

Marist Brothers

The Marist Brothers, or Little Brothers of Mary, are a Catholic religious order of brothers and affiliated lay people. The order was founded in France, at La Valla-en-Gier near Lyon in 1817 by Saint Marcellin Champagnat, a young French priest of the Society of Mary...

 to teach at Tenison College were in the late 1980s, with the remaining staff at Tenison College being lay teachers

Laity

In religious organizations, the laity comprises all people who are not in the clergy. A person who is a member of a religious order who is not ordained legitimate clergy is considered as a member of the laity, even though they are members of a religious order .In the past in Christian cultures, the...

.

Development

Tenison Woods has continued improving in academic, sporting and available facilities. The school has recently opened the Aston Fields, which include a full sized soccer field and is currently building the flexible learning centre, a multi-million dollar double story expansion for the senior students. Its sporting achievements include winning the year 10 South Australian State Girls Netball Final.

Education

Tenison Woods has a high TER (tertiary entrance rank) result. An average of 23% of students from 2007 to 2009 received a TER of 90 or higher, whilst an average of 45% received a TER of 80 or higher over the same period.

Tenison Woods is one of a few schools that has a system where from year 10, the student starts the next year level a few months earlier (for example, if the student is in year 11, the last semester/term of the year they go into year 12 ). This helps students prepare for year 12 examinations by giving them more study time.

Tension Woods College offers a course Generations in Jazz Academy. According to the schools website, the course contains an excellent balance of performance and academic units. It can be undertaken on a one year, full-time basis. The course involves, Improvisation, Jazz Theory
Aural Training, Jazz History, Large Ensemble and Business of Music.