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The Mount Colah Grammar School
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DescriptionIn years gone by many children in Berowra and the surrounding area left the immediate suburb to attend school. In the mid 20th century, one school available to local families was the Mount Colah Grammar School which was once located near Mount Colah Station. The Grammar School was originally located in Berowra itself, but moved to Mt Colah where it shared the land with St George Church Of England.
Beverley Gibbons attended the school at Mount Colah from the age of ten and recalls:
The Mount Colah Grammar School was a Church of England School run by Mr and Mrs Sidwell. Some people called it Sidwell’s School. All of the buildings were made of fibro, including the little Church which we went to every morning. I remember lining up outside the Church for my first funeral.
It wasn’t a big school. The house which is left is where the Sidwell’s lived and also where Mrs Sidwell taught kindergarten. She had a little Pekinese dog which she used to carry around with her – it yapped and yapped, but she loved it. Mr Sidwell taught the older children in another big building which was nearby – it might have had two rooms. He took classes from 3rd or 4th I think, right through to high school (which was three years then).
We had a school uniform and I remember for the girls it was a brown serge tunic with box pleats and a belt. We wore a white shirt underneath and also a green tie. In later years, for Summer, there was a bone frock with green buttons. We wore felt hats in Winter and in Summer we had straw panama hats.
There was quite a lot of land, and it sloped down at the back into the gully. We had a playing field down there, but there were also a lot of caves, which were very deep.
The school ran for at least 20 years I think, and closed down perhaps in the late 1950s or early 1960s. I think it closed when one of the Sidwells died.
Additional information supplied by G. Bensley:
William Eric Bailey-Sidwell was born in 1892 and married Ruby Scott-Rilatt at Chatswood in 1923. In 1941 Berowra Grammar School was located in Park Street Berowra. In 1946 Mr & Mrs Bailey-Sidwell purchased land on the Pacific Highway Mount Colah. The Mount Colah Grammar School opened in 1949. The school continued to run through the 1950s. Ruby Bailey-Sidwell died on April 6, 1960 and William Bailey-Sidwell died on May 17, 1963.
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Beverley Gibbons attended the school at Mount Colah from the age of ten and recalls:
The Mount Colah Grammar School was a Church of England School run by Mr and Mrs Sidwell. Some people called it Sidwell’s School. All of the buildings were made of fibro, including the little Church which we went to every morning. I remember lining up outside the Church for my first funeral.
It wasn’t a big school. The house which is left is where the Sidwell’s lived and also where Mrs Sidwell taught kindergarten. She had a little Pekinese dog which she used to carry around with her – it yapped and yapped, but she loved it. Mr Sidwell taught the older children in another big building which was nearby – it might have had two rooms. He took classes from 3rd or 4th I think, right through to high school (which was three years then).
We had a school uniform and I remember for the girls it was a brown serge tunic with box pleats and a belt. We wore a white shirt underneath and also a green tie. In later years, for Summer, there was a bone frock with green buttons. We wore felt hats in Winter and in Summer we had straw panama hats.
There was quite a lot of land, and it sloped down at the back into the gully. We had a playing field down there, but there were also a lot of caves, which were very deep.
The school ran for at least 20 years I think, and closed down perhaps in the late 1950s or early 1960s. I think it closed when one of the Sidwells died.
Additional information supplied by G. Bensley:
William Eric Bailey-Sidwell was born in 1892 and married Ruby Scott-Rilatt at Chatswood in 1923. In 1941 Berowra Grammar School was located in Park Street Berowra. In 1946 Mr & Mrs Bailey-Sidwell purchased land on the Pacific Highway Mount Colah. The Mount Colah Grammar School opened in 1949. The school continued to run through the 1950s. Ruby Bailey-Sidwell died on April 6, 1960 and William Bailey-Sidwell died on May 17, 1963.
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The Mount Colah Grammar School. Hornsby Shire, accessed 14/07/2026, https://hornsbyshire.recollect.net.au/nodes/view/4423