From the Principal

At Girton, we believe there are many ways to strive for excellence – whether it be in the classroom, on the stage, in community service, on the sporting field, or a combination of these pursuits. Excellence manifests uniquely in each individual, and our ultimate aim is to provide our students with a diverse array of opportunities that empower them to explore their passions, uncover their strengths and emerge as well-rounded individuals.

Across the broad spectrum of achievement we foster at Girton, we consider academic achievement to be a foundational element. Strengthening our students’ success as scholars is a cornerstone for instilling a lifelong passion for learning, which can provide the key to a fulfilling and impactful future in the world beyond our school gates. To ensure we are providing the optimum environment for our students to flourish academically, we are continually seeking ways to improve our programs and practices – with a series of projects currently underway to enhance our curriculum, assessment and pedagogy. One of our key aims, as stated within our 2023–28 Strategic Plan, is to continue to achieve academic results that are consistently in the top 15% of Victorian schools, along with a 100% completion rate for alternative pathways such as the VCE Vocational Major (VM) and VET. We want to deliver strong outcomes for every type of learner, equipping them to pursue the future of their choice.

In terms of curriculum, in Issue 13 of eLink, I mentioned the significant undertaking of implementing the new Australian Curriculum (Version 9.0) from Preparatory to Year 10 in 2024. For almost 18 months now, Ms Prue Beckwith and Mrs Tabatha Peter have been leading a curriculum project to ensure we are completely compliant with the new standards and ready to implement Version 9.0. We are excited to deliver a fully revised curriculum next year that will focus on a smaller number of essential concepts or ‘big ideas’, designed to help students gain a deeper contextual understanding and, in turn, lead to improved student outcomes.

Our second area of focus is developing an evidence-based School-wide approach to assessment that not only measures, but strengthens, student learning. In his article in this issue of eLink, our Deputy Principal, Mr Jay Weston, describes our new whole-School approach to assessment and how it will bolster student outcomes. This approach will be initially applied in our upcoming Senior School examinations, before being progressively rolled out across all aspects of assessment throughout 2024. We are confident that the new model will provide our students with a clearer picture of their achievements as they progress throughout Girton, which will in turn foster even stronger academic outcomes.

Our pedagogy – or the art of teaching – is another sphere where we are making significant headway. As a School, we are beginning the journey of shifting our pedagogy towards an approach grounded in explicit instruction, in which teachers break down complex concepts into smaller, more manageable parts, and guide students through the learning process step by step. This is based on the principle that we teach first – providing students with a clear explanation of each topic – and then students practise what they have learnt with the teacher’s guidance and feedback. This structured approach has been shown to maximise student learning outcomes, engagement, confidence, information retention and critical thinking. Following an enlightening presentation from cognitive psychologist Professor Pamela Snow last term, our staff are now actively discussing how we embed these ideas into their teaching under the leadership of our Heads of Department. 

We have already commenced piloting the explicit instruction of writing in our Year 7 and 11 English classes through ‘The Writing Revolution’. Having spent many months immersing ourselves in research and speaking with a variety of experts and practitioners about the merits of this program, we were excited by its potential to elevate our students’ thinking not only in English and Humanities but across all their subjects. Early accounts from our Head of English, Mr Troy Edwards, have been overwhelmingly positive, with students reporting they have felt empowered to improve their writing and have been able to easily implement the strategies, while teachers have noticed positive flow-on effects in students’ work and capabilities. We will continue to refine this program based on student and parent feedback as we extend it into additional year levels during 2024.  

Furthermore, next year in our Junior School, we will be making a substantial investment in our early years program to enhance the teaching of reading. This investment will enable us to introduce a wealth of new ‘decodable’ reading resources at the beginning of 2024. These readers build on the phonics-based approach used in our early years to assist students from Prep to Year 2 in learning to read, spell and articulate sounds with fluency and confidence. The new books will be used for lessons at school, as well as for home reading so students can practise what they have learnt in class. Through this evidence-based program, we aim to develop strong decoding skills that form the basis for reading, thus giving our youngest students the best possible foundation for their school years, remaining with them throughout their lives.

Finally, you may have seen recent media reports suggesting that the state government’s changes to payroll tax could affect Girton by 2029. I wanted to assure you that Girton has not been impacted by any changes at this stage. This is a dynamic space that we are monitoring closely, with the Coalition pledging to remove the tax from all schools in Victoria – both government and non-government – if they are elected in 2026. If, in the future, Girton is affected by these changes, please rest assured that we will endeavour to minimise the impacts to our School community. In the meantime, we continue to work closely with Independent Schools Victoria to advocate for our School, and I will keep you informed about any developments.

As I hope you can see from the raft of projects currently underway, we remain steadfast in our commitment to offering a rich and immersive educational experience for our students at Girton Grammar – as we have done throughout the many changes our School has faced in its storied history.

I appreciate your continued support, and I wish you an enjoyable weekend ahead.

Dr Emma O'Rielly 

Principal