From the Chair

St Margaret’s is halfway through its latest strategic plan, ‘Strategic Priorities 2020 – 2025: A local school with a global outlook’, which is available on the school’s website and clearly and concisely outlines our goals and strategies for this period.

What you won’t see in the document is the work that goes on behind the scenes – the actions and measurable outcomes behind the strategies steering us to success. School Council and the senior leadership team hold themselves highly accountable against these goals that are set in response to both internal and external considerations, now and into the future.

I am pleased to share that we are making great inroads against these goals, and many of the stories in this issue of the Flyer reflect our current strategies in operation.

While there is not space to highlight all our progress, I’ll touch on just one strategy under each of the five goals. It should be noted that many of our goals don’t exist just for the current period – they have existed in some form prior to this iteration, and many will carry over into future plans.

1. Goal: Strengthening the St Margaret’s Experience Strategy: Develop our careers and employability programs for Years 9 – 12 which helps students identify and develop the necessary skills to participate, thrive and lead in a global economy.

Improving and enriching our careers programs has been a focus for some years, and it is now a strong and vibrant program. All elements of this program were brought under the umbrella of a faculty in 2021. Much like elearning, matters of career traverse other faculties; therefore, sitting within this structure allows for important synergies across middle leadership. St Margaret’s Plus is now well developed and maps the employability skills gained through involvement across all extracurricular activities, giving students a formal addendum to their academic achievements. Senior students enjoy Beyond the Panama sessions which provide important life skills that sit outside of the curriculum experience. The Year 10 careers program is rich with opportunities for students to explore diverse career and university options, while the portfolio pathways and diplomas and certificate courses enable students to discover other areas of interest. In 2021, we launched the Aspiring Women’s Network breakfasts to expose students to successful women in a range of careers, and Years 11 and 12 now have access to a one-on-one Mentoring Program with early career alumni. This program received an Innovation Award in 2022 from The Educator. The same publication named Kerry Daud, Head of Faculty – eLearning, Research, Technology and Design, among Australia’s top educators in their 2022 Hot List awards, recognising her work in pioneering girls’ participation in eSports, the skills gleaned from which open up a multitude of career pathways.

2. Goal: Focusing on Academic Excellence Strategy: Maintain a sharp and narrow focus on academic excellence

Academic excellence is always going to be a focus of any St Margaret’s strategic plan. Our focus in recent years has been preparing teachers and students for the OP to ATAR change and, of course, guiding all students through the pandemic while maintaining the highest standard of academic care and pedagogy. For the third year under the ATAR system, our students have achieved outstanding academic results and you can learn more about those in this magazine. Part of this story is of course attracting the best teachers and offering them purposeful, impactful professional development, which leads us to the next goal of ‘growing our staff’.

3. Goal: Growing our Staff Strategy: Further develop the Centre for Teaching and Learning Excellence (CeTLe) for the benefit of our staff and to enhance St Margaret’s reputation as a leading school.

Sitting under the CeTLe umbrella is a range of initiatives to grow and inspire our staff. The school also invites teachers from other schools to partake in some programs, which include Managing your Career Conference for those teachers transitioning into middle leadership and the Aspirant Senior Leaders Programs for Middle Leaders. Both these programs contribute to successful succession planning and equips those with leadership aspirations with the skills to confidently step up, and this has certainly occurred within the school.

Other CeTLe initiatives include regular Teachmeets, and our long-running Trends in Education series – a forum addressing topical educational issues delivered by an expert in the field.

4. Goal: Leading in Education Strategy: Encourage, through recognition, our staff members as leaders in education.

Time is taken to nominate our programs and dedicated staff members for awards from various bodies as well as our own internal staff awards. Last year, Louise Brown, Head of Faculty – Sociocultural Studies, received a highly prestigious National Excellence in Teaching Award (NEiTA) Apple Award and the Teacher Mentor Award. In all, 21 teachers were nominated for this Australia-wide award which encourages and supports educators through recognising those who are examples of excellence in their profession.

The school has been extraordinarily successful in other national education awards. In 2022 alone, the school was one of the most decorated schools from The Educator magazine, winning two individual awards, an Innovation Award, and an Employer of Choice award. At the Australian Education Awards, the school received four Excellence Awards. Our award winners are highlighted in this issue.

5. Goal: Resourcing our Future Strategy: Plan for the growth of St Margaret’s through attention to effective enrolment strategies.

In 2019, the school surged past the 1000 mark for enrolments – the highest in its history, to finish at 1023. Today we have 1380 students in total. This growth has allowed us to invest in facilities and infrastructure, staff, and programs. An effective enrolment strategy is not just about excellent admissions staff and procedures and impactful marketing. To gain and sustain this outstanding growth, all areas of the school must excel, growing the fine reputation of the school and positive word of mouth, which is the strongest driver of enrolments.

We are all vital cogs in the wheel of an effective enrolment strategy, and there is much good will and great respect for a St Margaret’s education in the immediate and wider community, and everyone can be proud of the contribution they make to this.

The school’s Master Plan will be completed this year, and there are exciting years ahead with significant capital investment in student facilities. This includes two major projects this year: solar panels on the Philip Harris Gym and The Forest Project in Avoca Courtyard.

The following stories in the Flyer speak more to these goals and strategies and others not outlined here. Despite attempted derailments by a global pandemic, I can assure you the school remained on track and is well and truly delivering in all areas of its strategic priorities to the benefit of our students. We are excited about the opportunities that exist for our school community in this environment of rapid change and complexity, and we remain committed to developing leaders who are future-focused, resilient, and agile.

Deb Smith Chair of School Council