Penola Catholic College

Penola Catholic College is a co-educational secondary college, located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Patron of the college is Mary MacKillop. It has two campuses: one located at Glenroy which is commonly known as the junior campus for Years 7 and 8 students; and the other, the main campus, in Broadmeadows for the Years 9 to 12 students.HistoryPenola Catholic College is the result of the amalgamation in 1995 of three Catholic secondary schools - Therry College, Geoghegan College and Sancta Sophia College.The site of Therry and Geoghegan Colleges now is the home to the Penola's senior campus (Years 9-12) which is located in Gibson Street, Broadmeadows.The junior campus of Penola (Year 7-8) is located on the original site of Sancta Sophia College in Glenroy.College EmblemThe three leaves symbolise the spiritual, physical and intellectual growth potential of the members of the College community and also represent the three Colleges from which Penola Catholic College has sprung. The trunk of the tree is represented by the cross and points to the life of Christ as a model for the members of Penola Catholic College. The tree reminds us of the aboriginal origins of the name Penola, which means stringybark. The name Penola provides a unifying canopy of care, protection, and security for the members of the College community.College NameThe College name, Penola Catholic College, was chosen because of the strong link of our Broadmeadows campus with Saint Mary MacKillop and the Sisters of St Joseph who established a foundling home on this site in 1901. Penola, a small town in the south-east of South Australia, is where Mary MacKillop opened her first school in 1866 and where together with Fr Julian Tenison Woods she founded the order of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart. The Sisters of St Joseph ministered to the local community and lived on this site from 1901 until the late 1980’s.