25/09/2026
CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF ST RITA’S COLLEGE
One hundred years ago today, on 26 September 1926, St Rita’s College opened its doors for the very first time, just two months after Presentation Sisters Alice Kennedy pbvm and Mother Mary Patrick Madden pbvm purchased Stanley Hall from the Blume family.
St Rita’s started as both a boarding and day school, welcoming boys and girls from Kindergarten to Year 3, and girls from Years 4 through to Senior. With the help of families from St Agatha’s parish, the former drawing room of Stanley Hall was transformed into the school’s main classroom, where lessons were first taught.
A century later, the College is home to more than 1,200 girls from Years 5 to 12 and has grown into a vibrant learning community that nurtures curiosity, fosters creativity celebrates diversity and lives out the deep commitment to service learning and social justice.
Guided by the example of College patrons, Venerable Nano Nagle and St Rita of Cascia, two great women of faith and strong women of action, students are empowered to be thinkers and leaders; to stand with courage, act with purpose and serve with compassion. At St Rita’s students are challenged to be women of action, not just words – Virtute non Verbis.
