The Southport School

The Southport School is an independent Anglican early learning, primary and secondary day and boarding school for boys, located in Southport, a suburb on the Gold Coast of Queensland, Australia.
Established in 1901 by the Revd Horace Henry Dixon, TSS is the oldest Anglican boys' boarding school in Queensland and the only all-boys boarding school on the Gold Coast. The school has a non-selective enrolment policy and currently caters for approximately 1305 students from early learning to Year 12, including 276 boarders from Years 7 to 12.
The school is affiliated with the Australian Boarding Schools Association, the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia, the Independent Primary School Heads of Australia, Independent Schools Queensland, and has been a member of the Great Public Schools Association of Queensland since 1920.

WWW tss.qld.edu.au

History

The Southport School was established in 1901 by the Revd Horace Dixon. The land was originally owned by Benjamin and Ann Spendelove.
The first boarding houses were established in 1908.
The Southport School has the third oldest school boat club in Queensland, having first started rowing in 1905. This followed Brisbane Grammar School and Ipswich Grammar School first having a rowing contest in 1890.

Headmasters

The following is a list of the headmasters of the school.

Period	Details	Notes
1901–1929	The Revd Horace Henry Dixon
1930–1935	Bertram George Lawrance
1936–1940	Verney Lovett Johnstone
1941–1950	John Norman Radcliffe
1950–1971	Cecil Garton Pearce
1972–1987	John Henry Day
1988–2003	Bruce Alexander Cook
2004–2020	Greg Wain
2021–	Andrew Hawkins

House system

The Southport School utilises a house system. The Senior School is divided vertically into the twelve houses: eight day boy houses and four boarding houses. The Preparatory School is divided into four houses. The Senior Houses are:

Name	Day/boarding	Colours
Atkinson	Day
Biddle	Boarding
Delpratt	Boarding
Kaiser	Day
Maughan	Day
McKinley	Boarding
Melbourne	Day
Radcliffe	Day
Surman	Day
Thorold	Boarding
Turnock	Day
Walker	Day
Rogers	Boarding year 7 only
Musgrave	Prep-day
Shepherd	Prep-day
Dixon	Prep-day
Mitre	Prep-day

The three original houses – Delpratt, McKinley and Thorold – were founded in 1909, 1909 and 1908, respectively.

Sport

TSS has a strong sporting tradition and over the years has produced many Australian and international athletes of note. The school currently offers the following activities to its students: basketball, chess, cricket, cross country, debating, soccer, gymnastics, rowing, rugby, swimming, sailing, tennis, and track and field. TSS has been a member of the Great Public Schools' Association Inc since 1920. TSS fields soccer teams within the development divisions of Football Queensland South Coast. The school has achieved many sporting premierships during its membership.
GPS Premierships :

Rowing 1918, 1920, 1921, 1923, 1930, 1931, 1933, 1953, 1954, 1958, 1959, 1970, 1978, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1991, 2000, 2006, 2018, 2024, 2025
Cricket 1920, 1923, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1980, 1981, 1982, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025
Rugby 1922, 1926, 1933, 1938, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2017, 2019, 2022
Tennis 1921, 1924, 1926, 1930, 1934, 1956, 2000, 2001, 2018
Swimming 1922, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2016
Gymnastics 1935, 1936, 1962, 1963, 2008, 2009, 2010
Sailing 2002, 2003, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019,2022
Athletics 1918, 1919, 1922, 1929, 1933
Football 2012, 2013, 2014, 2020
Basketball 2009, 2012, 2021, 2023
Cross Country 1990
Shooting 1956, 1963, 1967, 1971

Associated Schools Championships:

Basketball 1980–81
Soccer 1978, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1990

State Championships

Basketball 2012, 2021, 2023

Basketball Team Achievements

Championship Men (Open)

'''Australian Schools Championships'''

Academics

The Southport School employs a team of gifted and talented staff, constituting the school's 'Academic Talent Development' program. The program is composed of enrolled students who have displayed exceptional results in their respective ACER tests, and encourages them to pursue their academic prowess by championing initiatives and competition such as Future Problem Solving, Tournament of the Minds, DaVinci Decathlon, F1 in schools, Maths Olympiads, and various model united nations conferences, including a TSS-run competition including other schools from around South-East Queensland known as TSSMUN, and Bond University's High School Model United Nations competition, BUHMUN.

Notable alumni

The Old Southportonians Association is the alumni organisation for Old Boys of the school. All Old Boys of the school become a member of the OSA, which boasts a proud list of members such as Nathan Sharpe, Michael Neser, and more. The OSA is run by Old Boys and other volunteers The OSA celebrated its 100 years as a recognised body in 2007.
Historic figures also include past choirmaster Henry John King.

Student exchange program

The Southport School is a member of Round Square and as such has an extensive network of partner schools with which it performs many student exchanges. TSS is involved in a student exchange program with the Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States; and with Collingwood School in West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Pacific Cable Station

The two surviving buildings of the Pacific Cable Station were relocated to the school in the year of 1982 for use as the school's music department. Largely untouched from their original form, they are listed on the Gold Coast Local Heritage Register.