The Associated Public Schools of Victoria (APS) are a group of eleven independent schools in Victoria, Australia, similar to the Athletic Association of the Great Public Schools of New South Wales in New South Wales and the Public Schools Association in Western Australia. The descriptor "Public School" references the historical usage of the term and the model of the British public school. The first meet of Public Schools Sports was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 30 November 1870 with Melbourne Grammar School, Scotch College and Wesley College competing and winning that order. The Association was established in 1908 so member schools may compete against each other on the sporting fields, the original competition sports were Australian Rules Football, Athletics, Rowing and Cricket. Students now compete in a variety of sports, which are split into three seasons, Summer, Winter and Spring. Students in Year 7 and above compete on Saturdays and students in primary year levels compete on Wednesday afternoons. Major annual competitions include the APS Head of the River Rowing Regattas, the APS Combined Swimming & Diving Championships and the APS Combined Athletics Championships. In March 2005, the APS member schools formed a set of guidelines regarding the awarding of sporting scholarships to students, following criticism of recruiting practices employed by some schools. The headquarters of the APS is known as APS House and is located on Church Street in Hawthorn, Victoria.

Schools

Current member schools

a^ Melbourne Grammar School has a sister school, Melbourne Girls Grammar School, which competes in the Girls Sport Victoria competition. They are often affiliated together despite boys and girls not attending the same campus or wearing the same uniform.

Sports

Boys Girls

Combined Sports

Students from the Association's member schools participate in a number of Combined Sports (Championship Carnivals) during the year including Swimming, Diving, Rowing and Athletics.

The APS Regatta

The Victorian Head of the River race is contested between the eleven APS schools, the race is usually the last race of the official APS rowing season and has recently been rowed on Lake Nagambie which is a full buoyed international standard course allowing six boat finals. Girls from the APS also participate in the Head of the Schoolgirls regatta, where they compete with schools from the Girls Sport Victoria (GSV) group.