AROUND THE SCHOOL
on track
for 2018
Co-education update
At the time of writing we have 50 new
female students and an overall increase
in the number of male students in the
Senior School. Sixteen of these girls are
in Year 7, 11 are in Year 8 and 23 are in
Year 11. Our two most recent tours, held
in August and October, were attended by
over 200 people, expressing interest in all
year groups, from Kindergarten to Year
12. These new enrolments exceed our
original expectations and are likely to
continue growing due to the significant
increase in interest that our Registrar and
enrolments team are responding to.
Many of you will have seen an article in
the Sunday Times on 10 September that
featured our new uniform. The article was
a positive endorsement of our decision to
provide our female students with options for
summer dresses and shorts, and winter skirts
and pants. This is just one of many forums
where our decision to extend co-education
has resulted in the School receiving positive
attention and being considered a leader
amongst our peers.
During the year we have been working
through a detailed Project Plan in preparation
for the commencement of our first girls in
the Senior School in 2018.
Each school’s transition to co-education
has been unique in its context with its own
challenges and rewards.
8
One of our priorities has focused on staff
professional development. In June and
August the School engaged two separate but
equally interesting speakers to talk to staff
on different topics relevant to the extension
of co-education. In June Margo Halbert
spoke to our Senior School team on the topic
of conscious and unconscious bias, then
in August Natalie Charles, Head of Senior
School at Carey Baptist Grammar School
(Melbourne), spoke to all staff about her
journey as an educator with a long history
in boys’ schools and her recent move into a
co-educational environment. Described by
staff as “powerful and illuminating” Natalie
discussed the challenges and differences of
working in single gender and co-educational
environments. Our Pastoral and Academic
Leaders met with Natalie in smaller round
table discussions that focused on key
questions from these groups.
In 2017 the Headmaster and Ms Jen Leah,
Co-education Transition Coordinator, spent