St George’s College celebrates 40 years of faith, tradition, and growth
Source: NEOS KOSMOS
On Saturday, St George’s College will celebrate four decades of providing coeducational services as the first Eastern Orthodox school in Adelaide. Principal Peter Karamoshos told Neos Kosmos that “800 people will attend the gala dinner at the Adelaide Oval – it’s going to be a big night.”
“We started in 1984, and what is amazing is that Father Patsouris is still our parish priest. It was back in 1983 that he decided to kick-start a school to maintain the Greek language and our traditions. That was a big call back then – there were only 27 students on the first day in 1984, and all those families were connected to the church.”
The original coeducational college – now the junior school – is located on the corner of Rose Street and Dew Street in Mile End. The senior school is on the corner of Henley Beach Road and South Road, on the site of the former Thebarton Primary School.
“The church acquired the property beside the church. There were houses there, and behind the church, they built a hall where they ran Saturday morning Greek school. Over time, they bought houses beside the church,” said Karamoshos.
Karamoshos has worked at the school for nine years, and for six of them as principal. He called it “a big effort” and said, “Families took that leap of faith.”
Father Patsouris’s vision and tenacity, and the families’ commitment, made it worthwhile, according to Karamoshos.
The College began with reception grades one, two, and three in the first year, then the next year expanded to grades four, five, six, and seven.
“It started as a primary school for many years before they bought what was Thebarton Primary School. In 1995, they purchased what was Thebarton Technical Girls High School. We expanded up to year 12, and we have two campuses. One is where the houses beside the church were knocked down, and a purpose-built primary school was developed. That runs ELC for three- and four-year-olds up to year four. Then at the bigger campus, we have years five to 12,” Karamoshos said.
The school has come a long way from the original 27 students and their committed families to having just under 400 students. As the principal said, “we’re growing.”
Karamoshos attributes much of the success to the community and “like-minded families.”
“We’ve got beautiful families – the kids are beautiful. When prospective families come in, we walk them around and they meet all the students, who stand up say ‘good morning’, and are positive, confident young people.”
St George’s College’s success is also reflected in the cultural diversity of the students – it’s not just Greek students that enrol.
“We’ve got a big Serbian contingent because they’re Orthodox, as well as Ethiopian Orthodox, Italian Catholic, and a range of cultures. The one beautiful thing about the school is almost all our kids speak a second language with their parents or their grandparents,” said Karamoshos.
He adds that “everyone is proud of their culture, and because of that, everyone gets along well because we all get it.”
The principal said that the Serbian cohort had grown as they saw the Orthodox faith and cultural values align, and in response, Serbian was introduced as a second language.
“The [Serbian] families and the priests said, ‘If you introduce Serbian, it’s going to be attractive to our families,’ so we did that.”
Karamoshos believes that community and family are the key pillars of the school’s forty-year success.
“The strongest part of our school is our community, like-minded families, and like-minded children. We’ve got amazing support from our community out there. Our families are wonderful.”
As St George’s College marks this milestone, the 40th Anniversary gala not only celebrates its rich history but also heralds a future shaped by the same durable values of community, culture, and faith that have guided the school for the past four decades.
The original article: belongs to NEOS KOSMOS .
