Newman College is a Catholic coeducational Kindergarten to Year 12 School which educates in the Marist Tradition. It is owned and governed by the Marist Brothers and is a member of the Association of Marist Schools of Australia (AMSA).

Newman College traces its origins to 1913 when the Benedictine Monks at New Norcia invited the Marist Brothers to Western Australia to staff their newly established boarding college, St Ildephonsus.

A more direct link also exists with a later Marist foundation, St Joseph’s - Subiaco, which opened in February 1954. It was due to the rapid growth of this latter College that the move to Churchlands was first discussed.

In 1965, when the move eventually took place, the Benedictines resumed responsibility for St Ildephonsus, changing its name to Salvado College. Many of the Brothers and senior boarders from New Norcia transferred to the new Marist College, as it was then called.

In 1977, the Newman System of schools was established to restructure Catholic education in the area by bringing together the schools administered by the Brigidine and Dominican Sisters and the Marist Brothers.

The name of Newman was chosen in recognition of the great religious thinker and leader of the Nineteenth Century, John Henry Newman, who was a Cardinal of the Catholic Church. It is from his epitaph that the College motto, “Through shadows and images to truth”, is drawn.

After several more changes, the Primary and Secondary schools were amalgamated in 2005 to form the Newman College we know today. This involved the relocation of Years 8 and 9 students to the Churchlands Campus and the appointment of one Principal for the Kindergarten to Year 12 College entity.

The School operates on three sites with an integrated administration:

K-3 Early Childhood Marian Campus, Floreat
This Campus has a Marian theme, as the focus at the Campus is on nurturing the young children in their early years of schooling. There is an emphasis on the Marist phrase “In the way of Mary”.

4-7 Primary Lavalla Campus, Churchlands
This Campus reflects the origins of the Marist Brothers, as it is an appropriate time for the students to hear the story of St Marcellin Champagnat and the early Marist history. We seek to link the Campus with the primary school at La Valla in France, Marcellin’s first appointment as a curate and the place where he began his group of Brothers.

8-12 Secondary Marcellin Campus, Churchlands
This Campus has as its focus, the character of St Marcellin Champagnat – “strong mind and gentle heart”.