Category: Schools

Wenona: where girls grow into Renaissance women

“I have 49 sisters whom I love and I’ve developed unique relationships with each of them,” says Lily Collins, a Year 12 student at Wenona on Sydney’s Lower North Shore.

Lily arrived at Wenona from Scone in the Upper Hunter Valley two years ago. Close quarters living came as a shock at first, she says: “I felt like I was constantly stimulated with people always around and after my first term in boarding I was exhausted.”

But as strangers became friends, Lily came to realise that she loves

Renaissance women … Wenona Year 12 students Charlotte Doughty and Lily Collins.

communal living. Being surrounded by girls who know and care for her is a great source of support and the best aspect of boarding is that “there is always someone to talk to when you’re feeling a bit sad.”

With new friends, come new experiences. Getting to know her extended boarding family has been eye-opening, Lily says.

“Hearing their life stories and perspectives really challenged my initial way of thinking when I started at Wenona and helped me grow as an individual.”

Flourishing through friendship is a common theme at Wenona with fellow Year 12 student Charlotte Doughty reporting a similar experience.

A day girl since Year 5, Charlotte says she was immediately won over by Wenona’s special spirit.

“From the first day I started, I fell in love with the school and the girls,” she says. “There’s something within our community, which I believe is really quite unique, that has really influenced me.”

Charlotte says Wenona has made her a more “positive and spirited” person thanks to the wonderful relationships she’s formed there and the school community’s exuberant compassion.

“A couple of years ago when Dr Scott had a health scare, our entire school came together to make a music video for one of her favourite songs and theme from the previous year, Brave. Everything else seemed insignificant, while we all banded together to sing for our principal to express our love and hope for her.”

Both girls nominate the school’s Renaissance Studies class as their favourite subject. Developed to encourage critical thinking, the course sees students consider a range of ethical, political and religious matters as they pertain to contemporary life.

Thinking deeply about global issues and questioning their own beliefs is surprisingly exhilarating, the girls find. “It’s a fantastic opportunity to engage with life beyond school in a situation where we are treated and challenged as adults,” Charlotte says.

Studying different belief systems is fascinating, Lily says, and considering one’s own problems in a global context, helps to “put your stress or fears in perspective”.

Wenona’s focus on the bigger picture is seen throughout the school, Lily says. From teachers urging students to read newspapers on a daily basis to the varied backgrounds of her fellow boarders, “everything contributed to my increasing awareness of the world around me and now I love to know what is playing out on the world stage, actively making myself aware of global events so I can engage with the other girls on a different level than just social conversations,” she says.

Next year, Lily is looking forward to studying a Bachelor of Science degree while Charlotte thinks she may take a gap year to travel and do volunteer work overseas. On her return, she hopes to study Economics or International Relations at university with the ultimate goal of working toward the betterment of society.

“I’ve always been interested in International Relations,” Charlotte says. “I believe it could lead me into a place that I find interesting and where I can make a meaningful contribution through my work.”

Spoken like a true Renaissance woman.

Teaching boys how to be men: an interview with Dr Tim Hawkes

“The vitality found in boys remains the same today as it always has,” says Dr Tim Hawkes, headmaster of Australia’s oldest independent school, The King’s School in Parramatta, “however, in an age of political correctness, society’s tolerance of their energy may have changed resulting in a pathologizing of boys.”

Reflecting on the lessons learned over 40 years as an educator, Dr Hawkes notes that longer working hours, reconstituted families and greater stress on parents, have made raising a family harder than ever.

“More and more parents are time-poor and many spend too little time interacting with their children.

Character-driven … The King’s School headmaster Tim Hawkes says schools need to teach life skills and values as well as academics.

“Some research suggests that the average amount of meaningful interaction between fathers and sons is just a few minutes a day.

“We’re in grave danger of seeing a generation of kids raised by the internet,” he says.

As he heads into retirement this year, Dr Hawkes says schools are more important than ever in equipping young people with the requisite skills for a successful life.

“The main life coaches should be parents. However, many parents need help. This is where schools can make a contribution.

“At King’s, we have developed a life skills program that we run alongside our academic program. Our Year 10 Boys to Men Program teaches the basics of independent living. Topics include: how to cook, clean, iron, maintain a home and service a car. The course also includes lessons on interpersonal skills and financial literacy.”

King’s is consistently one of the state’s top performing non-selective schools and achieves excellent HSC results, but academic competence is just one aspect of a well-rounded education, Dr Hawkes says.

“Success isn’t measured by an ATAR; it’s measured by character.”

With the moral ambiguity found in contemporary society, knowing what is good and proper is more vital than ever, he says. “It is also important to remember that we are preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist. The implication for educators is that a good education is not just about the acquisition of facts because they’ll probably be obsolete by the time a student gets into the workforce. We need to encourage flexibility and the growth of problem-solving skills so whatever the future brings our students can cope.”

In keeping with his belief that boys learn through activity, King’s places great emphasis on providing physical challenges, Dr Hawkes says.

“To build resilience, we require all students to engage in team sports, to spend at least two years in the Cadet Corps, to go on treks and experience the exhilaration of activities such as abseiling.”

“One of the best initiatives at King’s has been to embed a lot of essential life skills into a leadership program,” he says.

Kingsmen undertake a compulsory four-year leadership training course in Years 8, 9, 10 and 11 that encourages service and community involvement, Dr Hawkes explains.

“The course also includes training in practical skills such as goal setting, how to give a speech, how to run a meeting and how to be a great member of a team.

“Leadership is about having the courage to accept responsibility and being prepared to be accountable,” he says.

Parents can help by teaching consequences, Dr Hawkes says.

“Too many kids have privileges without responsibility. If they dent the car, they should contribute to getting it fixed.

“Kids should be given tasks at home as well as at school. They can be responsible for tidying their rooms, cooking a meal every week, sponsoring an overseas child and learning first aid,” Dr Hawkes says.

He may be leaving King’s but educating children remains his passion. His next project is another book in his “Ten” parenting series — “something along the lines of Ten Tests Your Child Must Pass”.

Focusing on the concept of initiation, Dr Hawkes will be considering rites of passage in the modern era and “what we need to do before we can describe our sons and daughters as adults”.

It will continue the theme of his most recent book, Ten Leadership Lessons You Must Teach Your Teenager, in which he offers advice on teaching kids the arts of self-mastery, working in a team, choosing wisely and finding one’s calling.

It is said that while knowledge is power, wisdom is knowing how to wield it judiciously. That, says Dr Hawkes, is the essence of good leadership. Echoing the words of Indian public intellectual Dr Shashi Tharoor, he concludes, “we don’t need minds that are well-filled, we need minds that are well-formed.”

A guaranteed path to Sydney University

Sydney University offers international students a guaranteed path into its undergraduate degree programs through the University of Sydney Foundation Program (USFP) delivered by Taylors College, located at Waterloo in central Sydney.

The alternative entry method caters to students who need to improve their English or academic results in order to meet the requirements of their preferred university course. Students who complete the course to the appropriate standard are automatically offered at place at the University of Sydney.

In 2015, 88.4% of the program’s 460 graduates went on to study at the University of Sydney and all graduates were offered a place at an Australian tertiary education institution.

“USFP is a really good program designed not only to allow you to study at a prestigious uni, but also to be able to do well in it.”
Andrew, Taiwan – USFP grad now studying a Bachelor of Commerce / Law at the University of Sydney.

Of the students who progressed to the University of Sydney, just over half were accepted into Business or Economics degrees, 64 graduates chose Engineering, nine were accepted into the university’s medical school and six students embarked on combined law degrees.

The balance enrolled in Nursing, Veterinary Science, Pharmacy, Applied Science, Education, Architecture, and Music and Visual Arts.

Underlying this excellent result is the college’s focus on teaching the key learning skills that students need to excel academically and succeed at university, says international marketing manager James Flannagan.

“We have an extensive and strong relationship with the University of Sydney. Our programs are university-approved and designed to ensure that the students are learning specifically for their degree path.”

Experienced staff and excellent support mechanisms are also key components of USFP.

“All our teachers are experts in their subject areas and specialise in international education. We provide counselling in all our programs and one-on-one tutoring sessions. We prepare our students professionally, personally and academically for university,” Mr Flannagan says.

Taylors College was founded in 1920 to provide coaching for University of Melbourne students. It accepted its first students from China in 1925 and opened its Sydney campus in 1936. Further expansion to Perth and Auckland followed and today the college is part of the Study Group network of international education providers.

Over its long history of teaching foreign students, Taylors College has developed a unique approach.

“We don’t have student uniforms. Kids are treated as adults and encouraged to take responsibility for themselves and become independent learners within a nurturing school environment,” says Mr Flannagan.

“Students are all international, with a large cultural mix from throughout Asia, but we have students from all over the world. By integrating them fully into college life we can support them in dealing with the cultural change. It’s essential that students develop social networks to help them navigate a new cultural landscape and to help prepare them for the university experience,” Mr Flannagan says.

The college offers a personalised, flexible education experience with three streams in the USFP:

* Standard Program — five subjects, 25 hours per week of class time, over 40 weeks.

* Standard Intensive Program — the fast track to university. Students take eight subjects and class time is increased to 30 hours per week to enable course completion in 30 weeks.

* Extended Program — incorporating a pre-foundation course of 19 weeks followed by the Standard Program, this 59-week course is delivered over three semesters.

Academically gifted students with fluent English skills are encouraged to consider the University of Sydney High Achievers Preparation Program. This 17-week course instills high-level academic competencies along with teaching specific study topics aligned to students’ intended Bachelor Degrees.

The USFP is available only to international students but local students are very welcome in the senior High School stream at Taylors College. Comprising Years 10-12, Taylors High School is a university-preparation academy that applies the same methodologies as the USFP to ensure that students achieve to their highest potential in the HSC.

For more information about Taylors College, see: http://www.taylorscollege.edu.au/ or come meet school representatives in person at the Sydney Independent Schools Expo at Luna Park, Sunday, March 12, 2017.