St Michael's University School

ST MICHAELS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL is a private co-educational school in VICTORIA. It was founded in 1971 when 2 much older private schools were amalgamated. University School was established in Victoria in 1906 to prepare boys from well-to-do families for university entrance. During the 1920s it was briefly a military academy. In the Depression it stumbled into bankruptcy but reopened as a non-profit society. St. Michael's Preparatory School was founded in OAK BAY in 1910 by Kyrle C. Symons, an English-born former cleric. It began in Symons's home, then moved in 1912 to new premises funded by the architect Francis RATTENBURY. When Symons retired in 1946 his sons took over the school. St. Michaels University School has an enrolment of about 890 students, kindergarten to grade 12, one-quarter of whom are boarders. See also EDUCATION, PRIVATE.