Principal’s Report
Our 135th year has been another remarkable year of
outstanding achievement and endeavour. I congratulate our
students on their individual and collective achievements in
both curricular and co-curricular activities, but, more
importantly, on the way in which they have approached each
opportunity with great enthusiasm, dedication and support
for each other.We are an ambitious community and our
students constantly exceed expectations collectively and
individually. As a community, we embrace our boutique size
and use it to achieve excellence and enjoy a strong sense
of connectedness as a community.
The strength of a Ruyton education is consistently reflected
in the results of our Year 12 girls. In 2012 59% of our Year 12s
achieved ATAR scores of 90 and above and there were
eight perfect scores of 50, achieved by Michelle He, Emma
Jamieson, RylieWallace and Shu Xi Wang in Further
Mathematics, Michelle Hu in Business Management,
Natasha Kotsimbos in Literature, Saskia McEldowney in
Physical Education, Maddison Nash in Economics, Edward
Wang from Trinity in Music Performance, and Betty Xiong
in Mathematical Methods. Natasha Kotsimbos (Dux), Ali
Bethune, Tallulah Butcher, Jenny Guo, Michelle He, Jenny Li,
Lucinda Loane, Maddison Nash and RylieWallace all achieved
ATAR scores over 99, accounting for 12% of our cohort.
Overall Ruyton was placed eighth in the top ten schools in
the state for 2012. All of our girls received a tertiary offer
and 60% received their first preference. In addition to
these outstanding results Premier’s Awards were received
by Michelle He (Further Mathematics), Maddison Nash
(Economics) and RylieWallace (Further Mathematics).
Natasha Kotsimbos (Dux) was awarded the Australian
Student Prize, a highly prestigious award, with only 500
prizes awarded nationally each year to Year 12 students.
As a community we congratulate the 2012 Year 12 students
on their excellent results and acknowledge their hard work
and dedication, along with the commitment of our
academic staff who guided and supported them
throughout their time at Ruyton.
As a girls’ school recognised for its academic excellence
there has been a continued focus on curriculum review
to promote reflection and continuous improvement.
Academic staff have continued to prepare for the
introduction of the Australian Curriculum, in addition to
undertaking Department Learning and Teaching reviews,
and developing and implementing action plans.
This ongoing work has involved not only ensuring that
we meet national requirements, but also that the Ruyton
curriculum is a unique and rich learning experience for
our girls. This year has also seen the third year of our
curriculum review cycle, involving external subject experts
and self-studies involving academic staff and student focus
groups. Humanities, Languages Other Than English and
Science have reviewed their programmes this year.
This ongoing process will support best practice and
acknowledge both excellence and areas to strengthen.
In addition to these learning areas Expanding Horizons and
Outdoor Education were also reviewed. The School
Executive and Board also reviewed policies and procedures
for camps and overseas/ interstate tours.
This year we have celebrated the twentieth anniversary of
the Ruyton/Trinity Co-ordinate Programme, a unique and
successful collaboration, which was recognised officially at
joint Assemblies.We take this opportunity to pay tribute to
the outstanding service and contribution to education of
the retiring headmaster of Trinity, Mr Richard Tudor, and
wish him well for the future.
Ruyton girls have continued our strong tradition of
academic excellence across the School, reflected in their
competition results across many subject areas. Of particular
note were our Junior School Future Problem Solving
Teams who represented Ruyton at the national competition
in Perth and won four of the six possible awards in their
section.We also recognise Janet Davey, Year 12 2013, who
was one of only 25 students across the nation to receive
a Graham and Louise Tuckwell Foundation Scholarship to
attend the Australian national University commencing in
2014. Over 650 students across Australia were considered
for this prestigious recognition of academic excellence
and they took part in a gruelling process as ANU searched
for great thinkers and talented people who want to make
a difference in our community.
At Ruyton we value the development of the individual,
focusing on well-being as well as academic opportunities
and endeavour. This year saw the introduction of a new
staff role, Senior School Leadership Co-ordinator, to develop
further the leadership training and opportunities for
students across the Senior School. As a result, a review of
leadership opportunities across the Senior School has
been undertaken, which led to a number of areas of focus.
We have seen the introduction of an updated Form Captain
role description to incorporate leadership of community
service projects across the year level, along with expanded
leadership opportunities and training.We also saw the
Annual Report 2013
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