Pedagogy and Academics

Power, Without Spectacle

Last week, our Year 10 and 11 Drama students attended RBG: Of Many, One at the Festival Theatre - an experience that extended well beyond performance into a deeper consideration of voice, agency and leadership.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s words sit at the centre of the work: “Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.” This idea of influence - measured, strategic, and collective - offered a compelling lens through which our students could reflect on their own emerging sense of leadership.

Rather than presenting power as dominance, Ginsburg’s story reframes it as persistence, clarity of thought, and the ability to shift perspectives over time. For girls navigating their place in the world, this is a powerful proposition: that leadership need not be loud to be effective, and that change is often built through consistency rather than spectacle.

We see these same principles quietly at work across Loreto. In the rehearsal room, students negotiate meaning, advocate for creative choices, and learn when to yield and when to hold firm. In the classroom, they test ideas publicly, risking being wrong in order to think more precisely. Through initiatives such as SRC, Peace and Justice group, and Environment Club, they practise leading with purpose, inviting others into conversation rather than speaking over them.

Experiences like this invite students to consider how they might use their own voices - when to speak, how to persuade, and what it means to stand firm. At a time when our young women are navigating complex and sometimes contradictory messages about power and identity, this kind of agency feels as important as ever. 

Ginsburg’s legacy reminds us that progress is rarely accidental; it is built through clarity, persistence, and a quiet but unwavering resolve - and that we all have a role to play in creating the conditions in which girls can lead with confidence, purpose, and conviction.

Mel Pedavoli

Assistant Principal: Pedagogy and Academic Leadership