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Tour Details
Ruyton Girls School overall vibe
Ruyton Girls School is one of the small private girls’ schools in inner Melbourne. Despite having about 900 students ( relatively large for a “small” school ), the grounds don’t seem overwhelming or overly expansive.
Perhaps being set amongst old buildings and lush gardens, gives the school a sense of intimacy and small, pleasant spaces.
The buildings that we were able to walk through were clean, not overly showy and the older buildings had a sense of heritage about them. The grounds were clean, the students seemed to calm and engaged with each other and easily engaged with the Lauren when she approached them.
💡 Did you know Ruyton Girls School is in the top 100 Melbourne schools? See our top 100 schools article
Ruyton has a strong wellbeing program that seems very well resourced with a wellbeing leaders and mentors for each year level and wellbeing sessions scheduled every week.
Wellbeing seems to be a very strong focus at the school. According to Linda the principal, wellbeing is central to everything at Ruyton. It’s not only taught and talked about during actual wellbeing sessions, but also embedded into their academic classes.
“How do we incorporate wellbeing into this science class” is one of the questions that would be thought about.
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Ruyton’s tag line is “We believe in girls”. The goal is to bring up girls to be able to have a voice in society and believe in themselves.
The general feeling is that Ruyton girls are encouraged to participate in interests outside of academics such as sports and the arts and are given many opportunities to find their passions through the years.
The school seems to be strong in interschool sports with a very high participation rate amongst the students. There is an entire new wing that will be focused on performing arts, so presumably this is an area the school will be focussing on in the future.
Interestingly, ATAR scores were never mentioned during the entire presentation or tour.
Ruyton Girls School principal’s view
Linda’s presentation ran through the curriculum of each year of senior school and mentioned some highlights of the education at Ruyton. There is an emphasis on individualised learning and empowering girls to be their best. “It’s not about being the best, it’s about being YOUR best”. https://www.youtube.com/embed/kMD0YH43Hj8
Co-curricular activities such as art and sport are encouraged. Wellbeing of girls was spoken about extensively and seems to translate into their seemingly very well resourced wellbeing programs.
She acknowledged that wellbeing programs have needed to adapt and change faster in recent year than academic programs because of the fast changing needs of students today. There is a lot of thought put into wellbeing programs to ensure they stay relevant to the needs of teenagers today.
She spoke about impact of the pandemic, social media, digital literacy and citizenship and how there are specific requirements to look after the wellbeing of girls.
Ruyton has a Director of Wellbeing.
Linda wasn’t available for questions after the tour.
Ruyton’s Girls School curriculum
Ruyton offers a broad mainstream VCE curriculum which is made even broader by their partnership with Trinity Boys School. Towards the older years, classes can be shared with Trinity boys, with some boys attending classes at Ruyton and vice versa.
Ruyton does not offer IB.
Ruyton also offers a VET program with some students going off campus for some classes to study at Box Hill Tafe.
Ruyton’s Girls School co-ordinate program with Trinity
Coeducation opportunities are offer with the Coordinate Program with Trinity Grammar School.
“Co-educational classes are held at both Ruyton and Trinity campuses in all learning areas. The Coordinate Program expands the learning experience for our girls at a time when they are emotionally, physically and socially mature; sharing the expertise of teaching staff and excellent facilities across two schools.”
Wellbeing at Ruyton Girls School
As mentioned above. Wellbeing seems to be front and centre of everything that is done at Ruyton. It’s not only another subject to fill in the timetabled, but actually embedded into the every day at Ruyton which it should be.
When asked about bullying, Lauren is realistic and admitted that at a school of about 950 girls there do have some incidences of bullying at the school, much like any other school of similar size.
There have also been an increase in social challenges at the school post pandemic which is to be expected.
Lauren referred back to the strong wellbeing program. Students who are involved in bullying incidences are well supported through conflict and students needing help integrating back post pandemic are also helped with the program.
Lauren spoke briefly about the Powerful Parenting program which is an opportunity for parents to go to events and partake in their child’s education and experience at Ruyton.
Stephanie Alexander kitchen garden program at Ruyton Girls School
Although this was a senior school tour, we were taken to the Grade 4s building. Grade 4s are lucky enough to have their own cosy building complete with working kitchen and luscious veggie garden with a serious looking outdoor pizza oven.
The Stephanie Alexander program is well and truly incorporated into their grade 4 curriculum with one day per week spent engaged in the kitchen or garden cooking and gardening while investigating curriculum relevant topics such as science and history of plants.
Diversity at Ruyton Girls School
When questioned, Lauren said that neurodiversity is well catered for at Ruyton. They are aware of the issues of neurodiverse students and they are catered for along with all other students as their focus is on individualised learning.
Conclusion
Ruyton’s primary focus is empowerment of girls. It is strongly focused on bringing out the best in girls and catering for individual needs.
Wellbeing is acknowledged as being central to everything in education and Ruyton has much experience in specifically the wellbeing of girls which has its unique challenges. Ruyton has an intimate small school feel and a strong offering for girls interested in sports and creative arts.
There seems to be less of a focus on STEM and academics which would be suitable for many students.
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