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Principal’s Report
Our 136th year has been a year of notable achievement and
progress as the Ruyton community has worked
collaboratively to uphold our deserved reputation for
excellence. Our student cohort has continued to produce
remarkable results in both curricular and co-curricular
activities, while displaying empathy and compassion in all
that they do.The professionalism displayed by our teaching
staff and the support from the rest of our community
combines to ensure Ruyton moves forward with confidence
and ambition.
Ruyton girls have continued our strong tradition of academic
excellence this year and this has been reflected in their
endeavour, effort and achievements across the School. In
2013 46% of our girls in Year 12 achieved ATARs of over 90 and
there were seven perfect scores of 50 achieved by Daniel
Beratis (Trinity Media), Janet Davey (Psychology), Shalini
Ponnampalam (Health and Human Development), Courtney
Powell (Further Mathematics), Betty Xiong (English) and
Deanne Xu (Further Mathematics). Betty Xiong (Dux), Janet
Davey, Michelle Hu, Shu XiWang and Lauren Yip all achieved
ATAR scores over 99, accounting for 8% of our cohort.
All of our girls received a tertiary offer and 65% received their
first preference. In addition to these outstanding results
Premier’s Awards were received by Betty Xiong (English),
Shalini Ponnampalam (Health and Human Development),
Courtney Powell (Further Mathematics) and Janet Davey
(Psychology). Janet Davey and Lauren Yip were both awarded
the Australian Student Prize, a highly prestigious award with
only 500 prizes awarded nationally each year to Year 12
students. Janet was also the recipient of one of the 25
inaugural Graham and Louise Tuckwell Foundation
Scholarships to attend ANU. As a community we
congratulate the 2013 Year 12 students on their excellent
results and acknowledge their hard work and dedication
along with the commitment of our academic staff who
have guided and supported them throughout their time
at Ruyton.
We also recognise the endeavour, effort and achievements of
our Junior and Senior School girls in local, state and national
examinations and competitions across all curriculum areas.
Ruyton girls have an amazing array of opportunities to
challenge themselves academically and to develop an
understanding of their personal strengths and areas in
which to improve.Their involvement also provides important
data to our academic staff to review so we can reflect and
adapt programmes and approaches accordingly.
As a girls’ school recognised for its academic excellence there
has been a continued focus on curriculum review and
learning and teaching strategies by all staff this year to
ensure continuous improvement.Through the
implementation of departmental action plans, directly linked
to the Strategic Plan, we are ensuring that not only do we
meet national requirements but also that the Ruyton
curriculum and approaches to learning provide unique and
rich learning experiences for our girls.This has involved
reviewing School based activities as well as opportunities to
engage externally with other organisations through digital
links, excursions, incursions, workshops, assemblies, expert
visits and camps. Curriculum review is continually
questioning how we are best providing our girls with
opportunities to extend their understanding of current local
and global issues and contexts.
Curriculum leaders have worked collaboratively to develop
and document the Ruyton Learning and Teaching Philosophy
and Practices to emphasise and continue our focus on
personalised learning and differentiation across the School.
This work will lead to a review of Assessment and Reporting
in 2015.
In 2014 the School has implemented a new digital learning
environment for students with the introduction of iPads and
MacBook Airs and access to Apple TV.This has resulted in a
focused effort by staff to transition the necessary learning
and teaching materials and strategies to this new
environment and to explore a range of new approaches and
concepts to best suit the needs of our learners.Whilst this
change has been uncomfortable and challenging at times,
our staff have worked tirelessly to adapt, rethink and revision
learning and teaching strategies. Despite organisational
setbacks at times, as the year has progressed staff and
students have explored newways in which we can create,
curate and collect information with the use of digital
technology. As a result our students and staff have explored
new learning possibilities through this change. More than
ever we are seeing teachers work as guides, co-learners,
mentors, researchers and facilitators in their work with
students, truly changing their approaches and reflecting on
their practice.This work will be ongoing as we continually
reimagine learning and teaching opportunities in a rapidly
changing educational landscape.
Annual Report 2014
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