A Girls' School by Design

I’m officially one month into Ruyton, and I can hand-on-heart say I have loved every moment of it. The school is truly special- full of talented educators, passionate administrators and home to one of the most engaged school communities I’ve encountered. And above all the highlight of my time at Ruyton so far was watching the girls bound through the front gates for Day One of the new year- smiling, energised and excited for the learning year ahead. The students have welcomed me with open arms- i’ve enjoyed a kick of the footy, attended the Year 6 Leadership guest speaker, chats at the gates (with many puppies included) teaching STEM to Prep, engaging in the Identity Games with the Year 5’s and i’ve already been tempted by the baking goodies created by the Year 4 students in our Signature programme at South House. And while I haven’t been at the school for long, I’m continually catching myself, feeling inspired by the tangible sense of spirit that is definitively, Ruyton Girls'. 

Last week at the annual Parent Information Evening, I spent some time introducing myself, sharing some of pivotal moments and core values with the parent community, to give them a sense of me as a person and as a leader. I also spoke about how Ruyton capitalises on the benefits of single-sex education, and this is the focus of my blog post.

The Power of Girls' Schools

I've been teaching in girls' school for over a decade now, but in those early days, I will always remember feeling struck by some of the marked differences between how boys and girls learn. After many years of focusing on understanding these differences, I now believe that the power of single-sex education is in part what we teach but also how we teach. The image that you can see in the banner of this blog indicates how early we start to look at differences emerge between boys and girls in their learning. At age three, boys are more focused on action, risk, adventure and dynamic situations. There is far less detail in facial expressions and attention to character. Whereas when we look at the drawing on the left, we can see that girls are far more focused on community, there is more detail, expression and people are often front facing. No picture is better or worse; or right or wrong. But what I can tell you is that educators in single-sex environments know how to bring out the best in the gender they teach.

Here are some of the key ways we do this at Ruyton Girls':

Every Opportunity

Girls fill all the student leadership roles at Ruyton: from the captain of the basketball team to the head of the student body; from the first violin in the school orchestra to the central part in the school play; and from student leadership groups to the leaders of every school club. Younger students see these female leaders as role models and learn that girls can lead in any field. Perhaps, most importantly, girls' come to understand that this can and should continue well beyond school.

A Tailored Curriculum

Girls' education is a specialised field. At Ruyton, we believe that optimal learning for young girls occurs in an environment which is stimulating, supportive and challenging. Our teachers not only think carefully about what we should teach our girls, but they also feel strongly about how we teach our girls. Here's what we know to be true:

• Girls' engagement soars when their learning experience is connected to stories and has links to the community.
• Risk and fear of failure is a huge area that we need to be aware of. The research tells us that girls continually underestimate their ability and overestimate the risk and that’s why we see many girls play it safe. For this reason, our teachers create cultures of learning that ensure our girls can ask questions freely and celebrate intellectual risk-taking.
• We know that signposting lessons for girls are crucial. Learning intentions are a positive start but giving girls' markers or signposts so that they can check they are on track is vital.
• 'Cold Calling' in front of their peers isn't particularly useful for girls. Instead, small group and peer to peer conversations set girls up for success.

Role Models & Leadership: we set the messaging right, from the beginning

From the moment our Junior School students walk through the doors, we focus on providing strong role models and send the message that at Ruyton, you can be any person that you want to be. We do this through the stories we read, the speakers we engage with, the language we use with our students and getting our girls fired up about STEM with specialised classes that explore big questions about the world.

Academic Advantages

Girls in girls' schools achieve significantly stronger academic results than any other group in Australia. Girls are free to pursue academic excellence, and growth in learning is celebrated.

A Final Thought...

In my opinion, being a girls' school by design is about taking the worlds best research and putting it to work in our classrooms and our pedagogy. As educators the better we understand about how girls learn best, the better equipped we are to help them thrive in every aspect of their development.

A short stroll through our spaces will give you a great sense of learning at Ruyton: girls design and build, engage in collaborative investigations, develop their ears for world languages in Chinese and French and always ask questions. On an Assembly day, you will find girls performing what they have discovered, sparking the curiosity of other girls. 

It's an exciting time at Ruyton & I look forward to sharing more of our story with you.

Kate Giles

Head of the Junior School