Ruyton Girls' School
Encyclopedia
Ruyton Girls' School is a non-denominational, independent
, day school
for girls, located in the inner-eastern Melbourne suburb of Kew
, Victoria
, Australia.
Ruyton was established in 1879 by its first Principal, Charlotte Anderson. Its motto is Recte et Fideliter meaning "Upright and Faithful", which is also the name of the school song. Ruyton caters for approximately 750 students from three-year-old Kindergarten
and Pre-Prep, to Year 12, with boys in Kindergarten and Pre-Prep.
The school is affiliated with the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA), the Junior School Heads Association of Australia
(JSHAA), the Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia (AGSA), the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria (AISV), and is a founding member of Girls Sport Victoria
(GSV).
program, as well as the Vocational Education Training (VET)
course.
, music
, drama
and debating. Ruyton is involved regularly in intra- and inter-school activities, competitions and events, including the Debaters Association Victoria (DAV) debating programme, Girls Sport Victoria
(GSV) sporting carnivals, the Tournament of Minds (TOM)
cross-curricular competition, the Alliance française
French speaking, reading and writing competitions, the Boroondara Literary Award, an extensive range of academic competitions and honours and the Duke of Edinburgh Award.
Ruyton also hosts the inter-school Performing Arts House Festival (PAHF), the Alan Patterson Prize for Public Speaking and the Isobelle Carmody
Award for Literature.
. These classes are shared between Ruyton and Trinity. The two schools also collaborate in the annual Trinity-Ruyton musical
. Ruyton also performs plays with the Scotch College, Melbourne
.
Another of Ruyton's features is its International Programme, providing international opportunities and student exchange
visits through the Sister School Network, a regime created in 1989, that has expanded over the years to include 16 schools throughout Canada
, Taiwan
, China
, New Zealand
, United States of America, United Kingdom
, France
and South Africa
.
An Expanding Horizons Programme is run for each year level from Year Three to Year Eleven. The programme consists of an educational and challenging camp, which visits various parts of Australia, depending on the year level. Camps such as ski camp, surf camp, a political journey to Australia's capital Canberra
and a two-week camping tour of Australia's Northern Territory
are included in the programme.
. Girls from Year prep to Year 12 are divided into four houses, each named after a former Principal of Ruyton - Anderson (Red), Bromby (Navy), Daniell (Sky Blue), and Lascelles (White).
The houses are primarily sporting houses, competing annually in athletics
, swimming
and cross-country
carnivals. They are also involved in inter-house debating and performing arts (PAHF) festivals.
and 2010's Thoroughly Modern Millie
). Middle School Plays are also done in conjunction with Scotch College
.
, the Old Ruytonians' Association (ORA). The Association was founded in 1908, as a way of keeping former students in contact with each other and the School, through social and sporting activities. The current membership of the ORA exceeds 1,300.
Independent school
An independent school is a school that is independent in its finances and governance; it is not dependent upon national or local government for financing its operations, nor reliant on taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of tuition charges, gifts, and in some cases the...
, day school
Day school
A day school—as opposed to a boarding school—is an institution where children are given educational instruction during the day and after which children/teens return to their homes...
for girls, located in the inner-eastern Melbourne suburb of Kew
Kew, Victoria
Kew is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Boroondara. At the 2006 Census, Kew had a population of 22,516....
, Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, Australia.
Ruyton was established in 1879 by its first Principal, Charlotte Anderson. Its motto is Recte et Fideliter meaning "Upright and Faithful", which is also the name of the school song. Ruyton caters for approximately 750 students from three-year-old Kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
and Pre-Prep, to Year 12, with boys in Kindergarten and Pre-Prep.
The school is affiliated with the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA), the Junior School Heads Association of Australia
Junior School Heads Association of Australia
The Independent Primary School Heads of Australia formerly Junior School Heads Association of Australia , is an incorporated body representing the heads of independent primary schools in Australia....
(JSHAA), the Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia (AGSA), the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria (AISV), and is a founding member of Girls Sport Victoria
Girls Sport Victoria
Girls' Sport Victoria was established in 2001, and is one of the largest independent school sporting association in Victoria, with 24 member schools from around Melbourne....
(GSV).
Curriculum
Ruyton offers students the Victorian Certificate of EducationVictorian Certificate of Education
The Victorian Certificate of Education or VCE is the credential awarded to secondary school students who successfully complete high school level studies in the state of Victoria, Australia. Study for the VCE is usually completed over two years, but it can be spread over a longer period in some cases...
program, as well as the Vocational Education Training (VET)
Vocational education
Vocational education or vocational education and training is an education that prepares trainees for jobs that are based on manual or practical activities, traditionally non-academic, and totally related to a specific trade, occupation, or vocation...
course.
Co-curriculum
The school offers co-curricular activities such as sportSport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
, music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
, drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
and debating. Ruyton is involved regularly in intra- and inter-school activities, competitions and events, including the Debaters Association Victoria (DAV) debating programme, Girls Sport Victoria
Girls Sport Victoria
Girls' Sport Victoria was established in 2001, and is one of the largest independent school sporting association in Victoria, with 24 member schools from around Melbourne....
(GSV) sporting carnivals, the Tournament of Minds (TOM)
Tournament of Minds
The Tournament of Minds is a school competition program available throughout Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore. Teams of students work to solve problems in a number of disciplines, including: applied technology, language and literature, mathematics and engineering, and social sciences...
cross-curricular competition, the Alliance française
Alliance française
The Alliance française , or AF, is an international organisation that aims to promote French language and culture around the world. created in Paris on 21 July 1883, its primary concern is teaching French as a second language and is headquartered in Paris -History:The Alliance was created in Paris...
French speaking, reading and writing competitions, the Boroondara Literary Award, an extensive range of academic competitions and honours and the Duke of Edinburgh Award.
Ruyton also hosts the inter-school Performing Arts House Festival (PAHF), the Alan Patterson Prize for Public Speaking and the Isobelle Carmody
Isobelle Carmody
Isobelle Jane Carmody is an Australian writer of science fiction, fantasy, children's literature, and young adult literature.-Biography:Carmody began work on the highly acclaimed Obernewtyn Chronicles at the age of fourteen...
Award for Literature.
External programmes
In Years 11 and 12, students of Ruyton may study their chosen courses with students from the nearby boys’ school Trinity GrammarTrinity Grammar School, Victoria
Trinity Grammar School is an independent Anglican day and boarding school for boys, located across several campuses in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
. These classes are shared between Ruyton and Trinity. The two schools also collaborate in the annual Trinity-Ruyton musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
. Ruyton also performs plays with the Scotch College, Melbourne
Scotch College, Melbourne
Scotch College, Melbourne is an independent, Presbyterian, day and boarding school for boys, located in Hawthorn, an inner-eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
.
Another of Ruyton's features is its International Programme, providing international opportunities and student exchange
Student exchange program
A student exchange program generally could be defined as a program where students from secondary school or university choose to study abroad in partner institutions...
visits through the Sister School Network, a regime created in 1989, that has expanded over the years to include 16 schools throughout Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, United States of America, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
.
An Expanding Horizons Programme is run for each year level from Year Three to Year Eleven. The programme consists of an educational and challenging camp, which visits various parts of Australia, depending on the year level. Camps such as ski camp, surf camp, a political journey to Australia's capital Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
and a two-week camping tour of Australia's Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
are included in the programme.
Exchange
Exchange runs from Year's 10 and 11 for girls who want to go overseas and visit sister schools or the schools around the area of the continent the girls visit. Sometimes girls from other schools around the world have a couple of girls come and visit Ruyton on their exchange. Girls from years three to 11 all have one camp a year, although some have two as they have a music camp.House system
As with most Australian schools, Ruyton utilises a house systemHouse system
The house system is a traditional feature of British schools, and schools in the Commonwealth. Historically, it was associated with established public schools, where a 'house' refers to a boarding house or dormitory of a boarding school...
. Girls from Year prep to Year 12 are divided into four houses, each named after a former Principal of Ruyton - Anderson (Red), Bromby (Navy), Daniell (Sky Blue), and Lascelles (White).
The houses are primarily sporting houses, competing annually in athletics
Athletics (track and field)
Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...
, swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
and cross-country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
carnivals. They are also involved in inter-house debating and performing arts (PAHF) festivals.
Associated Schools
Ruyton's brother school is Trinity Grammar in Kew. At VCE level, they conduct co-educational classes. Girls also may go to Trinity for classes, and vice versa. From years 9-12 students from both schools are able to take part in the Senior Musical (such as 2008's Oliver!Oliver!
Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens....
and 2010's Thoroughly Modern Millie
Thoroughly Modern Millie
Thoroughly Modern Millie is a 1967 American musical film directed by George Roy Hill and starring Julie Andrews. The screenplay by Richard Morris focuses on a naive young woman who finds herself in the midst of a series of madcap adventures when she sets her sights on marrying her wealthy boss.The...
). Middle School Plays are also done in conjunction with Scotch College
Scotch College, Melbourne
Scotch College, Melbourne is an independent, Presbyterian, day and boarding school for boys, located in Hawthorn, an inner-eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
.
Alumni
Alumni of Ruyton Girls' School are known as Old Girls or Old Ruytonians, and may elect to join the school's alumni associationAlumni association
An alumni association is an association of graduates or, more broadly, of former students. In the United Kingdom and the United States, alumni of universities, colleges, schools , fraternities, and sororities often form groups with alumni from the same organisation...
, the Old Ruytonians' Association (ORA). The Association was founded in 1908, as a way of keeping former students in contact with each other and the School, through social and sporting activities. The current membership of the ORA exceeds 1,300.
- Dame Zara BateZara BateDame Zara Kate Bate DBE was an Australian fashion designer and wife of the Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt....
DBE – Fashion designer and wife of former Prime MinisterPrime ministerA prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Harold HoltHarold HoltHarold Edward Holt, CH was an Australian politician and the 17th Prime Minister of Australia.His term as Prime Minister was brought to an early and dramatic end in December 1967 when he disappeared while swimming at Cheviot Beach near Portsea, Victoria, and was presumed drowned.Holt spent 32 years...
(also attended Toorak College, Mt ElizaToorak College, Mt ElizaToorak College is an independent, inter-denominational, day and boarding school for girls years 7 - 12 and co-educational from pre school to Year 6...
) - Judith Mavis DurhamJudith DurhamJudith Durham, OAM is an Australian jazz singer and musician who became the lead vocalist for the Australian popular folk music group The Seekers in 1963. She left the group in mid-1968 to pursue her solo career...
OAMOrder of AustraliaThe Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
– Singer, Actress, ComposerComposerA composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, PianistPianistA pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
and AuthorAuthorAn author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
; Former lead singer for the popular folk musicFolk musicFolk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
group The SeekersThe SeekersThe Seekers are an Australian folk-influenced pop music group which were originally formed in 1962. They were the first Australian popular music group to achieve major chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the United States...
(also attended The Fahan SchoolThe Fahan SchoolThis article is about the Tasmanian school. For the Irish district, see Fahan.Fahan School is a small independent, day and boarding school predominantly for girls, located in Sandy Bay, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia...
) - Michelle GrattanMichelle GrattanMichelle Grattan AO , Australian journalist, was the first woman to become editor of an Australian metropolitan daily newspaper. Specialising in political journalism, Grattan has written and edited for many significant Australian newspapers....
AOOrder of AustraliaThe Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
– Political reporter for The AgeThe AgeThe Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...