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To those staff who are leaving Ruyton, we thank you as a
community for your valuable contribution to the education
of our girls and wish you every success for the future.
I especially pay tribute to Mr David Toleman, Mrs Rachel
Macey and Mrs Melinda Matheson, long serving members
of staff.We thank them for their many years of excellent
service and wish themwell for the future.They will be
greatly missed.
This year has not been without its sadness for the Ruyton
community, particularly from a staff perspective.We noted
the passing of Mr Trevor Hart in April 2014, highly respected
Archivist at the School from 2007 - 2014. Many will
remember him for his humorous and informative excerpts in
theWednesdayWeekly. He was instrumental in assisting the
ORA in establishing the Heritage Trail and supported the
ORA in many other ways. For all of us at Ruyton Trevor was a
true scholar and a gentleman and he will be missed. Mrs
Suzanne Barrah passed away, also in April. She was a former
Deputy Principal of Ruyton, 1980-1991. She enjoyed a rich
professional life as a teacher, mentor, colleague and friend
and brightened and enriched the lives of so many.The
Ruytonian Editor Prize, awarded at Speech Night, will be
named after Mrs Suzanne Barrah, donated by the School to
recognise her exceptional contribution to the life of Ruyton.
Mrs Jennifer Nicholls, past staff member and Deputy
Principal 1981-2009, passed away suddenly in October of this
year. Jennifer was someone who excelled in her many
different roles in the School. She laid the foundations for the
pastoral care programme and also provided the opportunity
for students to have a real voice in School affairs, thus
developing their leadership skills. Jennifer will be
remembered for her wise counsel, fairness, equanimity but,
most of all, for her delicious sense for the absurd.The
Assembly Captain Prize, awarded at Speech Night, will be
named after Mrs Jennifer Nicholls, donated by the School to
recognise her exceptional contribution to the life of Ruyton.
Finally, a sincere thank you to Ms KathrynWatt and the
Directors of Ruyton for their wise and sound governance,
dedication to providing excellence in education for girls, and
their support of Ruyton as a community.
To all of our Ruyton families, on behalf of the Directors
and staff of Ruyton, thank you for your ongoing contribution
to Ruyton as a community of learners and as a connected
community.
I wish you all the best for the festive season and for the
coming year.
Recte et Fideliter.
Ms Linda Douglas, Principal
Art
‘Schools that value creativity lead the way in cultivating the
well-informed and active citizens our future demands: where
individuals are able to generate fresh ideas, communicate
effectively, take calculated risks and imaginative leaps, adapt
easily to change and work cooperatively.’
National Education and The Arts Statement
issued by the
Ministerial Council on Education, Employment and Youth
Affairs (2007)
This year has certainly been a year of learning, not just for
our students, but for the staff as well, particularly with
regard to the digital revolution and its implications for
education into the future. The new iPads and MacBooks
that were supplied to students and staff challenged us to
embed them into the curriculum as valuable tools. In the
Art department, the Mac platform has long been used
within the design field for many of the subjects we offer,
such as Graphic Design, Media, Visual Communication
Design and Digital Photography. The ease with which the
new iPad minis, in particular, could be carried around and
the multitude of apps available also meant the girls were
well equipped for other classes: the iPad cameras enabled
them to gather research images, the Adobe Suite allowed
them to choose the most suitable programme for each task
and a selection of apps presented them with many options
when it came to final presentations.
Our involvement as a team in the Teacher Inquiry projects
across Term 3 enabled us to create a project for our Year 7
Art classes that consisted of a number of components.
We offered an enriching experience for our girls, starting
with a visit to the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) to view
the Italian Masterpieces exhibition. Utilising an iBook,
girls listened to audio explaining events and people and
gathered information about a range of artworks and
artists. They presented some of this in the form of a
‘postcard’ and gained an insight into the art of portraiture
over a long period of time. The final component was the
practical task of completing a group portrait. These were all
displayed in the Muse exhibition mid-way through Term 4.
This year, UNESCO celebrated the third International Arts
EducationWeek in May. The focus of this particular week
was Arts for Peace. Using this theme, we were able to
advocate the importance of arts education in the global
agenda of peace and cultural understanding.We were
fortunate that at this time we hosted visitors from Girls@
theCentre (in Alice Springs), enabling us to share some
special time together through a range of activities and
experiences. They were able to use digital photography and
transfer techniques to create plaques that reflected both
Annual Report 2014
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