St Augustine's College, Sydney

St Augustine's College, Sydney is an independent Roman Catholic single sex primary and secondary day school for boys, located in , on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The school caters from approximately 1,200 boys in Year 5 to Year 12 with an education ethos of Augustinian. It was founded by the Priests of the Order of St. Augustine Also, the official school Jubilee tie (to be worn only throughout 2006) was created to celebrate this anniversary. The 50 Year Jubilee Tie On 25 February, over 1200 students, Old Boys, and past and present staff attended the 60th Anniversary Commemorative Mass at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney. The principal celebrant of this Mass was Peter A Comensoli, Bishop of Broken Bay, assisted by Old Boy of the college, (Class of 1967) Christopher Saunders, Bishop of Broome as well as Dave Austin OSA, Prior Provincial, and several other Augustinians. Students were presented with a new 60 Years tie and lapel pin to wear at the Mass and for the rest of the year. The original Augustinian logo/crest was incorporated into the design of the tie.

The Patron of the college the 4th century saint, Augustine of Hippo, and its motto "Vincit Veritas" (Truth Conquers) is taken from his writings.

The school is located in the Northern Beaches Council area. Most students are Roman Catholic. Over recent years, the college has offered the opportunity for international students (usually from Asian countries such as China) to study at the school usually with the hope of progressing on to an Australian University and then returning to their homeland, being educated in both Australian and Augustinian culture. The fees are often significantly higher for a student coming from overseas compared to a local student because the Australian Government does not subsidise their tuition fees. The college usually accepts entrants from overseas in Years 10–12, so that an appropriate ratio of local to overseas students is maintained. This was a student group founded and run from the 1970s by Rod Cameron OSA during his long teaching tenure at St Augustine's College, (1964–1984). Cameron had a long established extensive personal relationship with Indigenous Elders throughout Australia. The Red Land Club specifically fostered a sense of connection and understanding with Indigenous Australians. It did this through poetry, drama, music, performance, meetings, seminars, regular Aboriginal elder guest speakers such as Mum (Shirl) Smith, as well as travel into indigenous communities and Dreaming sites through Australia.

A choral tradition was established at the Brookvale college from the 1950s.

Band and Instrumental music were fostered through the music department's many peripatetic teachers, including players and principals from the internationally acclaimed Sydney Symphony such as Walter Suttcliffe (Double Bass) and Edwin Lorentzen (French Horn, band). The full time music staff included Ronald Bopf O. S. A. (Recorders and classroom music, on staff 1957–1972), Paul Whelan O. S. A. (flute and piccolo, on staff 1962–1966, 1968–1979), Lynne Leak, Gareth Jude (band) and Graham Press (band). Under Ann Sutcliffe, the college taught Early Music through its madrigal group, and its brace of recorders in the recorder group. It also played and sang in Benjamin Britten's Noye's Fludde together with St Andrew's Cathedral School in St Andrew's Anglican Cathedral in 1977. In conjunction with the drama department, the school also produced musicals such as Gilbert and Sullivan operettas including Trial by Jury in 1978 collaboration with Monte Sant' Angelo and Stella Maris Girls College at Manly.

Shakespeare's plays were among dramas performed by students at the college during the 1970s, under drama head Barry Hayes (on staff 1969–1975). Then from 1977 to 1980 under the direction of Les Solomon (now well known in Australia and New York as a theatrical manager and agent), in 1977 the school produced The Pirates of Penzance (in collaboration with Monte and Stella Maris), 1978 Frank and Eleanor Perry's David and Lisa, Bob Babalan and Gary Burghoff's You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, 1979 James Hilton's Goodbye, Mr. Chips, The Crucible by Arthur Miller and in 1980 Harvey Schmidt's The Fantasticks. Most recently the school produced "The Musical, The Musical", written by college staff, in the 1990s and again in 2006. In 2008 the school produced the musical Little Shop of Horrors. The school is also involved in the production of short films by students. In March 2016 the college launched a co production with Stella Maris College of In The Heights under the musical direction of Joe Montz with Owen Vale and Geoff Cartwright directing.

The school's main classrooms and facilities consist of several buildings some stand alone and some interconnected. In recent years the college has undertaken further refurbishments and expansion meaning many facilities located within the buildings have been moved multiple times. In 2016, two new buildings were constructed and many offices and classrooms renovated. The main buildings in the school are as follows:

The Augustine Wing is the oldest of the buildings at the college. its Foundation Stone was laid and blessed on 1 April 1956. It was initially a two storey full brick structure built to house 5 classrooms but was extended to the north to house another 4. The first section was officially blessed and opened by Norman Cardinal Gilroy on 17 March 1957, despite already being used since November of the previous year. The wing, like the school, is named after St. Augustine of Hippo.

The Mendel Wing, opened in 1961, was specifically designed to hold the school's science classrooms and laboratories. The current Clancy Wing which incorporates the original Mendel Wing was opened in 2017. It houses the new Good Counsel Wing for the Primary School, teachers' offices and an Open Learning Centre. It is three stories high and was initially named after the Augustinian geneticist, Gregor Mendel. Mendel was Abbot of the Abbey of St. Thomas in Brno in the Czech Republic, and the Brno Augustinian community is unique in having an Abbot rather than a Prior to lead it. It was recently upgraded and the science classrooms moved to a new Mendel block located opposite.