Marist College Ashgrove

Marist College Ashgrove was officially founded by the Marist Brothers as a day and boarding College on the 17 March 1940. As a Catholic school, owned and conducted by the Marist Brothers, the College is maintained through the efforts of the Catholic community whose sons it serves. Preference in terms of enrolment is given to young men from Catholic families who retain their contact with and support of the Catholic community in their local parish.

The College comprises 1688 students from Years 5 to 12, 170 of whom are boarders. There are currently 1417 secondary students and 271 primary students enrolled. The College motto, “Viriliter Age – Act Courageously”, challenges each person to envision a more just and compassionate world. The College provides wide-ranging programs encompassing academic achievement, the visual and performing arts, sporting success and service projects.

The ethos and mission of the College are significantly influenced by the charism of the founder of the Marist Brothers, Saint Marcellin Champagnat. From their beginnings in rural France in 1817, Marist schools reflect many of the qualities of Marcellin himself: they are places where hard work and excellent achievement are valued, places where the individual is genuinely loved and prized, where a strong family spirit is evident, places characterised by a lack of pretence, places of simplicity and calm determination. The schools are places that have the Gospel at their heart, encouraging students to respond to it with the same faith and generosity that Mary did.

Marist College Ashgrove stands proudly as a Marist school living in the footsteps of Saint Marcellin Champagnat.

At Marist College Ashgrove, we are proud of the dedicated educators, Brothers and lay people who work with parents to help grow boys into young men.  Since 1940, when the College was founded by the Marist Brothers, as a day and boarding school, our community has sought to build young men who, like St Marcellin Champagnat are “good Christians and good people” equipped with faith, generosity and a willingness to make Jesus known and loved.

St Marcellin was characterised as a man who possessed a strong mind and a gentle heart.  He displayed compassion towards young people and sought to inspire hope in a troubled world. Today, these qualities of compassion and leadership are equally as important and at Marist College Ashgrove we understand that we are shaping the lives of the young men in our care, seeking to create compassionate and capable leaders of the future.

At Marist, we associate ourselves, in all that we do, with Mary so as to bring Jesus to life in the hearts of young people: “All to Jesus through Mary.  All to Mary for Jesus”.  We challenge young men to live lives where Marist values are lived not just spoken. We believe that the holistic educational environment offered to the students of Marist College Ashgrove is more than just a classroom experience. We strive to meet the needs of all our students and their families by creating an environment that inspires spiritual, academic, cultural and sporting excellence.

At Marist College Ashgrove, we recognise the difficult decisions parents need to make regarding to whom they entrust with the important responsibility of nurturing, growing, protecting and educating their sons. One of the best ways for parents to choose the next step in the educational journey for their boys is to experience the spiritual and learning environments and the energy within a school.  It is in this spirit that we invite you to come and see what makes our College so special and to join me on a tour of our wonderful campus.  You will see first-hand how we strive to work with parents and the community to build confident and capable young men of strong character with gentle hearts and with a willingness to make a positive contribution in our church and our world.

We are a faith community, based on the life of Jesus Christ and the beliefs and practices of the Catholic Church. As was Champagnat’s, our vocation is to make Jesus known and loved, and we draw on the inspiration of St Marcellin and the Marist characteristics of family spirit, presence, simplicity, love of work and being in the way of Mary. Our students are encouraged to demonstrate good scholarship, a love of learning, independence in thought and action, and the readiness to take responsibility for their own formation.

Our Marist values of simplicity, presence, love of hard work, family spirit and being in the way of Mary guide the whole College community each and every day. A dedicated staff of Brothers and lay people work hard to ensure each boy has the opportunity to become the best person he can be Members of the College family act courageously and stand in solidarity, committed to the creation of a more just world.