Co-ed learning opportunities at Penrhos

While Penrhos is firmly committed to an all girls’ learning environment, we also offer a host of initiatives which are designed to facilitate student collaboration in co-ed working environments.

Penrhos Wesley Year 7 collaboration days

Year 7 students from Penrhos collaborate in academic and pastoral learning opportunities over three jampacked days with their counterparts from brother school Wesley College.

Hosted across both campuses, students apply their 21st century skills to navigate modern world activities — at Penrhos, small groups of 10 girls and 10 boys take to the dancefloor to choreograph their own pop or jazz routine, cook up a storm in the MasterChef challenge, try their hand at podcasting, virtual reality and 3D filming, Minecraft design and textiles challenges.

At Wesley College, the other half of the cohort cycle through some phenomenal team-building exercises including percussion composition, STEM-focused Formula One engineering, Indigenous and cultural activities as well as design and technology projects.

The final day provides some competition between groups through an Escape Room challenge, as well as bit of down-time around a social sausage sizzle.

“The days are full of excitement, friendship and comradeship as girls and boys work together to solve real-world problems, use innovative technologies and learn new skills. This is just one way we are preparing our girls to be future-ready and prepared for a coed working environment,” said Assistant Dean of Teaching and Learning, Shannon Armitage.

Penrhos Aquinas Art Club for Indigenous program

Penrhos Ngala Maya students will meet with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander boys from Aquinas College each term to collaborate as part of the new PenrhosAquinas Art Club project.

Student art collaboration with a cultural focus is a significant opportunity for the sharing of stories, ideas and experiences. Through the process of creating their artworks, students talk about the messages they want to share with the broader community and students from both schools offer support to each other as they explore current issues such as racism, prejudice, educational opportunities and access to culture.

The first artworks will be a set of murals, one for Penrhos and one for Aquinas, which celebrate this year’s NAIDOC theme of ‘Always Was, Always Will Be.’

“In contemporary Aboriginal communities, the differentiation between women’s business and men’s business is still most evident in the custodianship of stories and sacred places.” Working Two Way (2020).

“There are times where it may not be appropriate for students of either gender to participate in an activity or practice, however it may be important for them to witness and appreciate these. Co-ed collaboration allows students to access and gain a general understanding of both sides.” says Penrhos Aboriginal Liaison Officer, Jess O’Donnell.

By forming a relationship with boys’ schools, Penrhos students can learn more about the knowledge which Aboriginal males have custodianship for. Penrhos girls give back reciprocally and will share their experiences and knowledge wherever appropriate. For example, on a recent visit to Aquinas, the boys demonstrated their dancing and spear throwing and played the didgeridoo so that our students can begin to understand and appreciate their significance.

Big-world thinking with Scotch College

Students from the Year 9 Critical and Creative Thinking class work with Scotch College Philosophy students to tackle big world concepts together in Term 3 each year, with the topic of Eugenics as our theme for 2020. UWA Professor Rob Wilson delivered a thoughtprovoking lecture on how Eugenics has evolved and is still having an impact on people today, followed by two student-led ‘communities of inquiry’ on relevant current ethical issues.

As the students work together, they soon discover they have many shared ideas and different perspectives — these, they further developed in training for the 2020 Middle School Ethics Olympiad on 9 November. This state-wide competition saw Penrhos students compete with 20 other schools as they developed their skills in communication, critical thinking and respectful discourse to deal with contentious ethical issues. This year included a range of cases from ESA (emotional support animals) to the ethics of mass quarantining and campus no-platforming; recognition was based on excellence in moral reasoning and Penrhos received honourable mention.

“We felt it was important to provide opportunities for our girls to work their minds in more collaborative endeavours with boys from other schools. Although they might feel a bit uncomfortable at first, they do ultimately find the experience very motivating,” says Gifted Specialist Teacher, Nicole Johnson.

The College Production

Our annual College Production is a wonderful opportunity for Penrhos students to creatively collaborate through performing arts in a co-ed context, over 12 weeks of rehearsal and performance time. This generally includes a cast, backstage crew and orchestra members of more than 90 Penrhos students from Year 7-12, along with several current and former students from numerous independent boys’ schools.

“The College Production is a creative outlet that extends both girls and boys in a collaborative pursuit, culminating in a final performance on stage in front of a sell-out crowd. With time, the awkwardness we observe at the beginning of the rehearsal process develops into joyous teamwork and strong friendships, which often continue beyond the Production and indeed school life,” says Head of Drama, David Ballantyne.

While these are all examples of annual opportunities for collaborative learning, the Penrhos calendar is also full of co-ed social events including the annual Penrhos versus Wesley netball game, highly anticipated Year 11 and 12 Ball, Socials for Years 7-10 and reciprocal invitations to Boarding House dinners (to which boarding students are encouraged to invite family, friends and guests from local boys’ schools, most often their siblings).

At Penrhos, we believe exposing our students to working and social opportunities with boys will help promote their self-esteem, develop their social skills and better prepare them for a diverse world in life beyond the classroom.