Sylvester College

Eaglemont poaches Ivanhoe private school

The Argus, 06.02.1936, Page 12

New School Proposed

Under the leadership of Mrs G K Brimblecombe several enthusiastic residents of Eaglemont are investigating the possibility of establishing a college on Eaglemont Heights.

A beautiful home with spacious grounds is available.

The parents will meet in council at Mrs Brimblecombe home, 30 Silverdale road, Ivanhoe this evening.

Did you know Eaglemont once boasted it's very own day & boarding school?

• Sylvester College operated at #5 Mount Street, Eaglemont from 27/02/1936.
• Sylvester College transferred from Ivanhoe to Eaglemont at the start of 1936  "where a beautiful residence has been obtained".
• ‌"The property has two acres of garden on the crest of Eaglemont, and commands a magnificent view. Mrs Brindlecombe organised the movement."

"A committee has bought Mr F. Wright's 10-roomed home in Odenwald Road, Eaglemont for about £4000 for a new college.

It will be taken over by the Silvester College within a fortnight, and classes from the kindergarten to the leaving certificate will be conducted."

The committee that managed this shift to Eaglemont met at #30 Silverdale Road.

Sylvester offered tuition and boarding to around 50 pupils.

Principal Miss Catherine Parsons was both owner and Principal. She must have been an interesting character.

She was very fond of ceramics, which featured strongly in the curriculum, exhibitions, fundraisers and promotions for the school.

Other crafts were not neglected:

Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), Saturday 28 October 1939, page 33

"Display of Work

Many parents and friends of the school attended an exhibition of work by pupils of Sylvester College, Eaglemont, which was opened by the mayoress of Heidelberg (Mrs J. L. Ryan) yesterday afternoon. The work on 'exhibition' included projects, lectures, models, illustrated anthologies compiled by the pupils, knitting, rug making, drawing and aprons worn during the children's leisure hours.

Afternoon tea was served on the lawns overlooking the river by the senior girls of the school, the display was arranged in aid of Junior Red Cross funds."

Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Friday 26 December 1941, page 6

"SOMETHING NEW IN EDUCATION

A new educational development has been initiated at Sylvester Co-educational College on Eaglemont Heights. Miss Catherine Parsons, founder and principal, was inspired by American ideas and her school fosters and maintains the home life of the children as much as possible.

Believing that nothing can come up to the parents' love and care of their children and finding that many parents in business are concerned about their children she has made provision for accommodation of the parents on the premises. The children live with their parents just as though they were in their own homes.

Brothers and sisters at this school have the advantage of growing up and being educated side by side. From the earliest stages children are encouraged to find out things for themselves but this does not replace formal instruction and guidance. The pupils use the reference library capably and well, and children of 8 years begin using indexes and reference books. Free reading is encouraged. Each child gives a lecture to its class regularly on a set subject and the class applauds or criticises as it wishes."

"THE VOICE" 1953 VERSION - MISS C. PARSONS, EAGLEMONT‌‌

Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), Tuesday 27 October 1953, page 2‌‌‌‌

Representative Government‌‌‌‌

SIR, — WE PRIDE ourselves on being a democratic country, but it has occurred to me for some time that we are not truly so. There is a great group of well-meaning people who have no representation by their equals in any Australian Parliament. They are the idealists — the professional people —whose avowed aim is to make ' the world a better place. I think it would be a good idea , if each body of professional people were to select one of its most respected members, and ask him to stand for Parliament. It ought to be the highest honor in the land to be so chosen as the representative of say the medical and allied professions, the educationists, the architects, or the scientists. These are just a few of the groups that everyone knows have no voice in Parliament. There must be others. Could we not organise ourselves so that advantage be taken of the wealth of knowledge and experience such members could and would bring to Parliament ? It would give us more truly representative government.‌‌‌‌

CATHERINE PARSONS (Eaglemont).‌‌‌‌

[Miss Catherine Parsons was the Principal - and owner - of Sylvester College, Mount Street, Eaglemont. A lady of somewhat disconcerting views on education, and a bit of a harridan if a letter at Heidelberg Historical Society from a former pupil is to be believed. Her interest in Scientology as a tool in education, and her belief in Scientology's ability to cure physical ailments, would likely arouse close interest from present day education authorities.]

P A B No. 76

PROFESSIONAL AUDITORS BULLETIN

The Oldest Continuous Publication in Dianetics and Scientology

From L. RON HUBBARD

Via The Hubbard Communications Office,

Brunswick House, 83 Palace Gardens Terrace, London W. 8

20th March 1956

The following is a letter to Mr. John Farrell from the principal of Sylvester Co-educational College, 5, Mount Street, Eaglemont. It is not to be published without permission.

"Dear Mr. Farrell,

I have a lot to say for Scientology. Its wisdom rises above our inadequacy. In spite of my unfamiliarity with Scientological processes, and in spite of all of us being very pressed for time at the end of the school year with Public Exams just seven weeks off, we received a great deal of benefit from the processes administered by an HPA.

In a brief time there was an obvious general uplift in tone; more laughter, less grumbling; happier singing, less fault finding. Quite a number of children became more venturesome, both in and out of school. Some showed a marked improvement in written expression. Ideas seemed to come to those whose work lacked spontaneity or logical sequence.

One girl, usually in the habit of writing a half-page letter to her family asking for things, began writing acceptable two-and-a-half page letters of real news value.

A senior girl whose work was barely at pass level began and maintained work well over the pass level, and sustained her own research in a relatively composed manner, whereas before she had been quite diffident about it.

A boy who had had quite a lot of difficulty with arithmetic speeded up his work to good average speed and, at his father's suggestion, gladly took home his book to catch up a bit during the long Xmas vacation.

Two pupils whose speech was usually so soft as to be practically inaudible in school, suddenly found they had hinged jaw bones and spoke out quite clearly though they themselves were quite unaware of the change.

There were times when a complete change in attitude towards a particular subject was noticeable quite suddenly at the next lesson after processing, or in an evening prep lesson.

The little ones were not given the usual processes, but had a few odd periods where games involving communication were played. They lapped it up and looked for more. It did the shy ones a lot of good.

We noticed that the reading was ever so much better in the last few weeks.

Laughter was much more spontaneous. Perhaps I myself was partly the cause of that - I had had some processing too.

Among the little ones were two very sweet singers whom we needed for our little musical for Speech Night. They had never yet performed on the stage though they had often been prepared for it. Illness invariably cropped up before their performances. It looked as though one was just about to begin a retiring act when a little processing put him right on his feet, and how he sang!

Group activities have been running more smoothly. The orchestra, which comprises six players, had been practising of its own free will without supervision, but the atmosphere has become more friendly, and the performance was sufficiently good for them to play two numbers on Speech Night.

One of the past pupils who has commenced a course in Scientology has had a very fortunate experience. Her eye muscle was weak - now the eye is as straight as could be.

Scientology processes have a way of making the children (and not only the children) more beautiful.

The lips are especially noticeable. They become fuller and more bow shaped. They move more freely to a smile which seems to light up the whole face.

I have seen eyes twinkle that I had never seen do so before - twinkle just for fun, and not because the joke was any richer than before.

Pouts have disappeared. Figures are erect. Postures are maintained longer and steps are lighter and quicker. Work to some doesn't seem such a drudgery either. Chores, I mean.

A very interesting experiment was carried out by Miss Catherine Stewart, a psychologist. Using the California Test of Mental Maturity, Intermediate, 1951, she found a mean increase of 10.6 in the IQ of the group of twelve pupils in an interval of six weeks and two days.

This group of twelve pupils included one boy who showed practically no increase, and left out two who Miss Stewart thought were not test-oriented but who had made remarkable progress in that time.

Mind you it was not roses all the time. The going was very hard at times. Especially so when someone undergoing processing turned on anger and upset others who were not yet firmly established at a happy tone level.

But the hurdles are being cleared one by one, and things look very hopeful for the future.

Even those who are not processed but work in the same environment tend to be uplifted.

The processing was all voluntary of course. And something happened to me myself. I have lost my laryngitis. My voice has come back. My digestion is good. Dermatitis is almost gone. The drudgery has disappeared from mundane chores. There's lots of joy! Isn't life wonderful!!

Expressing my own opinion, I would say: process the teachers first. Get them as high toned as possible and keep them there. They need every atom of 'tone-strength' that they can muster for the tone-lifting processing of the children.

Process the higher toned pupils before the others and their co-operation will materially assist. Don't worry about the religious angle. Processing seems to make children more church minded than before-so in more ways than one.

Scientology does a lot to the good.

Yours sincerely,

Catherine Parsons"