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Development
The Development Office is always a busy and dynamic
place and this year has been no exception.We began with a
move, as we relocated our office from South House, which
has been returned to a teaching and learning space for our
Year 4 Programme, toWardynski’s House at 25 Selbourne
Road. This move was as a result of the generous donation
by Mr Victor Lapcik, who expressed his wish that the house
be known by his wife’s family name. TheWardynski’s House
has been able to accommodate all our regular staff and
also offers good storage for the myriad items the
Development Office is required to hold. Questers moved
with us and there is also a meeting room for parent groups.
Following this move came the Ruyton Fair, the first for
12 years. It proved to be an enormous success, thanks to
the amazing efforts of our whole community. It was
wonderful to see how we all pulled together to produce
a varied and enjoyable day. My sincere thanks are extended
to the organising committee and to over 350 volunteers
who assisted to make this such a memorable fun-filled
family day.
At the same time we were also involved in the launch of
the Capital Campaign, to assist with the provision of the
new Margaret McRae Centre, which will incorporate
state-of-the-art Science facilities, flexible learning areas
and classrooms for Years 7 and 8, and spaces for drama and
community events. At the end of 2013 the Ruyton Board of
Directors asked the Ruyton Foundation to raise one million
dollars to help with development of this new centre. As a
result of the generosity of the Ruyton community, including
current and past parents, current grandparents, past
students, staff, and including funds raised from Parents of
Ruyton (POR) fundraising events, over $570,000 has been
pledged towards our campaign total. The Campaign will
continue through 2015 to help us reach our target. Special
mention must be made of the support provided by the
President of the Foundation, Mr Peter Kanat, and by
members of the Capital Campaign Committee who have
invested their time and talents into assisting us with
raising the funds to date.
We value the enthusiasm and help we receive from all our
POR volunteers, with 13 active parent groups within our
community this year. Our parents help support the School
in myriad ways, building the community and assisting their
daughter(s) with co-curricular activities. These activities are
enriched by this commitment. It is the involvement of
parents which helps to make such a varied programme of
opportunities available for Ruyton girls.We thank all of our
parents who have taken on leadership roles. Mrs Fabiola
Mazzocco and Mrs Donna De Bortoli, as Co-Presidents of
the POR, have led our parents ably and we thank them for
their generosity.We look forward to working with Donna
next year, and incoming Co-President, Mrs Sue McLeish.
The Old Ruytonians’ Association (ORA) provides invaluable
support and assistance with our Old Girl activities.We are
grateful to outgoing President, Ms Caroline Jarrett, and
Secretary, Ms Natalie Pullan, for their commitment and
welcome incoming President Ms Sarah Blyth and new
members of the committee. This year we have organised
reunions for the classes of 2013, 2009, 2004, 1994, 1989,
1984, 1974, 1964, the Ruyton Outdoor Club (ROC) and our
Golden Girls’ Afternoon tea for those past students who left
Ruyton prior to 1964. There was a High Tea at theWindsor
Hotel for past office bearers of the ORA, and at the 2013
reunion we were delighted to receive the Class of 2013 Year
12 Gift to the School of a water filling station.We also held a
reunion in New York, while the reunion planned for
Tasmania has been postponed. Thank you to all the Old
Ruytonians’ (ORA) Year Level Representatives who assist
with these events, and also to the ORA Committee who are
unwavering in their support of the School’s activities.
We have been fortunate recipients of generous donations
frommembers of the Ruyton community this year.We have
seen exceptional support of the Margaret McRae Centre
Campaign and the Ruyton Scholarships Fund and will
acknowledge a full list of donors in 2015. In addition we are
grateful to Mrs RuthWirtz who augmented Henty Rowing’s
collection of boats with the gift of the
RuthieWirt
z, a coxed
quad scull.We are thankful to the family of Elizabeth
Harold who established the Elizabeth Dougall Harold Prize
for Music Captain and the School has named two further
prizes in memory of previous Deputy Principals,
Mrs Suzanne Barrah and Mrs Jennifer Nicholls.
This year we completed the installation of new signs
around the School, and have seen the successful production
of our regular publications the
Ruytonian
, the School’s
annual year book,
Scripsi
, the Senior School’s literary
publication, the
Ruyton Reporter
, our bi-annual round-up
of events relating to the community, and the
Wednesday
Weekly
, a newsletter for current parents.
The Ruyton community was saddened by the passing of
much-loved and well-respected Archivist, Mr Trevor Hart.
We welcomed Ms Louise Baker, our new Archivist, who
comes to us with outstanding credentials.With the help of
past students Mrs Alex Caldwell (1968) and Mrs Robyn
Kanat (1980) the process of digitising Ruyton’s records has
commenced and two photo albums have been processed so
far. An Oral History Programme has also been established,
Annual Report 2014
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