"Vincit Qui Se Vincit" - "He conquers who conquers himself"
The Past
Rose Park Primary School is located in the inner eastern suburbs of Adelaide and was one of the first schools in South Australia. It was named after the suburb in which it is located 'Rose Park' which is named after the Right Hon Sir John Rose who was the chairman of the South Australian Company at the time the district was subdivided.
The land for the school was purchased for £800 in 1892 and the original building comprised seven classrooms with verandahs and two shelter sheds at the back and was planned to accommodate 500 children.
The school opened on 30 January 1893 with Mr. C A Wittber as the first Headmaster. The school began 1893 with a Headmaster, 4 assistants and 294 pupils. By the end of the year, 591 children had enrolled.
The eastern wing was built in 1899 to provide a total of 9 classrooms. The verandahs at the back were removed and a large classroom was added on each of the eastern and western corners.
St. Theodore's Church was purchased in 1924 for £925 and was opened as a woodwork centre in 1925. The building has since been used as a drama area, creative dance area and even as a lunch-time recreational area supervised by a roster of parents.
After the opening of Linden Park Primary School in [INSERT DATE], student numbers gradually declined and levelled off at around 400.
The development of the buildings since the 1950's has been to accomodate changes to the curriculum rather than to the pressures of numbers. Thus, the Grant Avenue building was remodelled as an Open Unit, in 1977 and subsequently re-divided in 1981. A strong library and resource centre developed with particular space requirements. Activity rooms were set aside from ordinary classrooms for multi-purpose usage, assemblies, music, dance and drama and wet-weather activities.
The take-away shop and grounds on the corner of Alexandra Avenue and Victoria Terrace was also purchased in the 1970's.
The closure of Victoria Terrace to through traffic in 1976 and the subsequent development of the area into open space helped to further expand the playgrounds.
In1989 the service lane between the school and the Church Building and the Shop enabled the school grounds to be linked as one area for the first time.
The school held its Centenary Year in 1993 and our Centenary Hall, designed by a parent, was completed in 1993.
The Future
Today, the school has over 400 students. A new two-storey library and classroom building is currently under construction as part of the Australian Government's 'Building the Education Revolution" program and is expected to be ready for occupation in Term 4 2010.
Head Masters and Principals
Content Manager: Mark Colley
Current as at: 6 Feb 10
