Clayfield College - History

History

Clayfield College grew out of the Brisbane Boys' College (BBC), which was founded in 1902. In 1906, BBC moved to Bayview Terrace, Clayfield, moving again in 1930, to its present location at Clayfield, as the school had outgrown the campus. Subsequently, in 1931 Clayfield College was founded on BBC's former site, as the primary school department of Somerville House. The secondary school was established in 1935 and Clayfield was separated from Somerville House.

In 1939, Clayfield opened its boarding school and chose as its motto the Latin Luceat Lux Vestra ("Let Your Light Shine"). Clayfield began its house system in 1946, with four houses – Campbell, Gibson, Radcliffe and Youngman, with Henderson incorporated soon after. Ashburn house came later in honour of Clayfield's first principal, Nancy Ashburn who retired in 1964. Opened the same year, the college library was named after her.

The school's second principal, Ida Kennedy, who retired in 1990, saw the establishment of a science building, a new boarding house, an assembly hall, separate primary department, a second boarding house, the music centre and new classrooms during the 1970s and 1980s. The college chapel was built in 1985.

Mrs Carolyn Hauff AM became the third principal in 1991, retiring in 2006. Mrs Hauff saw the refurbishment and expansion of classrooms and boarding house during the 1990s. In 1997, Clayfield’s Physical Education Centre was built on the former site of the Savoy Theatre, and named after Ida Kennedy, the schools second principal. The development included a tunnel under Sandgate Road providing safe access to the east. Clayfield College continued expansion to the east of Sandgate Road by buying the Turrawan Private Hospital and converting it into a new boarding facility.

Since 2007, Mr Brian Savins has served as the fourth principal of the college. In 2009, Clayfield introduced middle schooling to link junior and senior schooling in a continuous P-12 learning environment. At the same time, the opportunity was taken to adopt the six pastoral houses across the whole college. In October 2010, Clayfield built a new junior schooling building incorporating ten classrooms and administration centre.