Principal’s Report
It is an honour to present the Annual Speech Night
Principal’s Report for Ruyton Girls’ School 2012.
It has been a privilege to have led this vibrant School
community through another remarkable year of
outstanding achievement by our girls. 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
every opportunity with great enthusiasm, dedication and
support for each other. Their high level of engagement
across the board has upheld our strong reputation for
excellence. As one of our Year 11 students stated at the Cross
Country dinner this year,
‘
The philosophy of inclusion that
Ruyton upholds and the encouragement of participation is
what make Ruyton achieve as a School’.
The strength of a Ruyton education is consistently reflected
in the results of our Year 12 girls. In 2011 46% of our Year
12
s achieved ATAR scores of 90 and above and there were
eight perfect scores of 50: Georgina Baker (Design and
Technology), Kirsty Ha (English), Caley Jowers (Media),
Natasha Kotsimbos (French), Lauren Markopoulos (English),
Tenille Rollnik (Further Mathematics), Claire Seton (English)
and Tian Yi Xu (Further Mathematics.) ATAR scores over
99
were achieved by Tenille Rollnik (Dux), Karen Tan (Dux),
Georgina Baker, Claire Seton, Tian Yi Xu, Jacquline Evans and
Kirsty Ha. In addition to these outstanding results Premier’s
Awards were received by Kirsty Ha (English), Natasha
Kotsimbos (French), Tenille Rollnik (Further Mathematics)
and Karen Tan (Top All Round High Achiever). Georgina
Baker was a recipient of the Australian Student Award.
ImogenWalsh was selected to perform at Top Class and the
prestigious Top Arts Showcase after her perfect score in the
VCE Drama Solo Performance examination. Nearly a third of
our girls studying VCE subjects received study scores above
40,
continuing a pattern of excellence. As a community we
congratulate the 2011 Year 12s on their excellent results and
acknowledge their hard work and dedication, along with
the commitment of our academic staff who guided them
throughout their time at Ruyton.
As a girls’ school recognised for its academic excellence, we
have maintained a focus on curriculum review to promote
reflection and continuous improvement. Under the
leadership of Mrs Cathryn Furey, Director of Learning, Ms
Bev Casey, Director of Studies, and the Curriculum Deans,
academic staff have prepared for the introduction of the
Australian Curriculum. This preparation 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, encouraging them to explore
their world. This year has also seen the second year of our
curriculum review cycle, involving external subject experts
and self-studies involving academic staff and student
focus groups. This year the English, Mathematics and
Visual Arts Departments have reviewed their programmes.
This ongoing process will support best practice and
acknowledge both excellence and areas to strengthen.
Ruyton girls have continued to excel in a number of state
and national academic competitions across many subject
areas this year. Our congratulations go to the Future
Problem Solving Team who competed in the International
Conference at Indiana University Bloomington, USA, after
winning the national final last year. The girls finished sixth
out of the 58 schools competing in the Junior Global Issues
Problem Solving section of the competition. Ruyton girls
have been particularly keen to take part in both internal
and external public speaking and writing competitions
with outstanding results. Of particular note was Anjali
Bethune’s accomplishment in winning the prestigious
John Button EssayWriting Competition, awarded at the
MelbourneWriters’ Festival.
In the words of Professor Ewing (ACER 2011)
‘
If we don’t
empower kids to think creatively and to be imaginative
and also to be seeing things from a range of different
perspectives, which is what the arts do, we’re selling them
short in a world in which actual knowledge is changing
so rapidly’.
Creativity and imaginative thinking develop
self-expression and self- esteem, as well as encouraging
individuality. Ruyton girls have had a multitude of
opportunities to express themselves creatively this
year through both the Visual Arts and Performing Arts.
Our students have taken part in various excursions to
exhibitions of note through their Art classes. The Mini
Archies’ exhibition in Term 3, exhibiting work from ELC to
Year 10, showed a diverse range of media and approaches
to developing a portrait. In November the Annual Muse
Art Exhibition showcased the amazing array of talent
across the School with one of the highlights being the
outstanding VCE work.
Junior and Senior School students have been able to
strengthen their performance skill through a variety of
Annual Report 2012
2