Jan Courtin (1959)

Jan on her first day at Sacré Cœur in 1949

Jan spent all of her school years at Sacré Cœur, before leaving in 1960 to work in the family business. Nine years later, travel beckoned and London became her home for nearly ten years, during which time she met her husband, Marshall.

Returning to Australia in 1977, she spent 22 years in Brisbane, working at the University of Queensland, before deciding in 1998 it was time to move to Sydney.

Opening an art gallery in Paddington, she and Marshall enjoyed eleven years immersing themselves in one of Jan's passions – art. Another is the Sydney Swans.

Premiership players, Nick Davis and Jude Bolton,

with Jan, at the Sydney Swans launch of her book

Her red and white adventure began at her first game at Lake Oval, in South Melbourne, when she was four years of age. She became a Swan for life. In fact, her move from Brisbane to Sydney was because of her beloved team: she simply had to be closer to them and be able to attend games once again.

In 2016, her book My Lifelong Love Affair with Swans was launched at the Club.

In the Introduction, Richard Colless (Chairman 1993–2013) wrote: "Her beautifully crafted book ... [is] written by a true believer for all the other true believers. It is a singularly welcome edition to the rich trove of Swans' history and culture. Jan, you have done the Swans and the millions of true believers proud."

Now, after 19 years in Sydney, Jan is returning to her birthplace, Melbourne.

Leaving the Swans was hard. But she and Marshall will continue travelling to Sydney for as long as they can – at least 12 times a year – to attend their home games. The rest of her time will be spent enjoying the closeness of the Courtin family – something she has missed since leaving for London in 1969.

Copies of the book can be purchased from Jan’s website

Stephanie Howden (2004)

My love of art, design, drawing – it’s innate, I think I was probably born with it. My time at Sacré Cœur gave me the space to explore and turn my passion into a skill, but I certainly never truly contemplated becoming an “artist”.

So I didn’t go to art school. Instead, I used my creative strengths in a periphery sense, studying media and communication followed up by eight years working in advertising. During this time I was influenced by the most brilliant minds and charismatic personalities and became increasingly inspired by the passion they brought to their work. I became distinctly aware it was something I was desperately missing.

Over time, I picked up my fineline pens and black pencils and started working on large scale artworks – simple compositions with intense detail. In many ways, my work is about the craft of drawing itself. It’s an exploration of time, patience and repetition, of the discipline and commitment required to achieve mastery.

I held a solo exhibition As you are at a gallery in Flinders Lane in January 2018 which I will always hold up as one of my proudest achievements. But the traditional idea of being an “artist” who exhibits in galleries still doesn’t feel right for me. What really excites me about art is making it accessible, commercial, consumable. Recently I’ve been collaborating with various designers and brands to explore the idea of art as a piece of branded content and the way it can be experienced outside the gallery walls.

Check out my work at my website

Belinda Griffiths (1997)

Almost 22 years on and the fun memories of my time at Sacré Cœur are still as strong as the day we left!

After studying Sports Management at Deakin University, I was lucky enough to get a job at Melbourne Storm Rugby League Club where I worked my way up until I became the Events and Sponsorship Executive which was my dream job at the time.

Looking to give back to the community (Sacré Cœur Community Service Program inspired!), I moved to The Smith Family as their Head of Events and Fundraising in Victoria. I worked for five years raising funds for disadvantaged Australian Kids so they too can have an education and live a life we often take for granted.

Post charity work, I wanted to do something on my own, fast forward ten years and I now have two online retail businesses. The first is a Party Supplies store specialising in Weddings, Hens Night and Bachelorette Party Supplies. The second, newest business, is Loopys Towels, which is an online store specialising in Turkish Beach and Bath Towels and Kids Hooded Towels. Loopys came to fruition from a simple love of the beach, outdoors and seeing the traditional looped weaving of organic cotton to make towels by Turkish families.

Having automated IT and Warehouse systems has allowed lots of time to travel and work abroad which is what I love doing.

Thank you Sacré Cœur for helping me to become strong and independent and encouraging me to work hard to achieve and follow my dreams.

See more about loopys towels here

School House Patrons

The life of St Madeleine Sophie Barat

Visionary, Compassionate, Loyal