Choosing the Right Girls High School

Selecting the right girls’ high school for your daughter means allowing them room to prosper and become exactly who they want to be with all the tools they need to succeed. Sending them to the right school means providing them with the best learning and development tools, social networks, support, and values that will help aid in their future successes and happiness.

In the right school environment, young women thrive, with ample opportunities to realise their full potential and engage with learning opportunities that fit their unique personalities. In their teenage years, the girls’ high school they attend plays a pivotal role in their coming-of-age with factors such as the quality of education, social and learning environment, teacher support and cocurricular choice impacting their learning and development outcomes.

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How to Choose the Best Girls High School for Your Daughter

The girls’ high school you choose is no small decision. Our comprehensive list takes you through all the major factors you should consider to select the girls’ high school that will set your daughter up for her future success.

Academic excellence and opportunities

Every parent wants the best academic environment for their daughter, for them to be a part of a girls’ high school that exceeds academically with an encouraging and sophisticated learning environment. But what does academic excellence look like today?

Over the past few years, there has been a shift in the thinking around ATAR — a growing dialogue that students are more than their final grades has changed the thinking around what an academically leading school looks like. To assess the best educational environment and opportunities for your daughter, look beyond ATAR, and onto the following:

• Academic support – the best girls’ high schools will offer all the tools to see your daughter succeed. At St Hilda’s, we provide girls with extra opportunities to relearn content and address learning gaps in small groups during their learning, in addition to the St Hilda’s Tutoring Centre, which is open after school.
• Academic Enrichment – clubs, competitions, cocurricular activities, and elective courses all assist in the academic excellence of young women. To set your daughter up for success, pick a girls’ high school with an extensive range of options in these areas.
• Accelerated learning opportunities – your daughter will never feel the sting of under-stimulation at the right girls’ high school. Gifted and talented opportunities like St Hilda’s acceleration programs help young women maximise their potential.
• Real-World learning – Looking beyond the curriculum, what other essential skills and mindsets are being taught that can prepare your daughter to navigate and excel in the real world with confidence and resilience.

More than these four factors, the academic excellence of a girls’ high school is a testament to the quality of teaching, the values of the school, and the support provided. When picking the best girls’ school for your daughter, ensure the school you choose has a leading approach to education, with customised teaching solutions that make the most of each girl’s unique difference to create a rich educational environment catered to them.

To learn about our industry-leading approach to teaching and learning, watch our video on the pathways for learning success.

Cocurricular activities

Cocurricular activities not only help young girls build character, develop social skills, and engage with their local community but they provide a creative or athletic outlet for girls to have fun and excel away from a strictly academic environment.

St Hilda’s understands that no two girls are alike in their interests. That’s why, as part of our commitment to providing a leading girls’ high school experience, we provide a large range of options for girls’ cocurricular. Offering a wide range of activities from AFL and badminton to dance, drama and music in addition to our clubs for coding, French, robotics and more, we offer cocurricular that allow young girls the freedom to become who they want to be. Whether they are interested in sports, arts, or critical thinking, there is a cocurricular club to suit their needs.

School values, culture, and community

The values, culture, and sense of community in the girls’ high school your daughter attends should reflect your family’s. Pick a high school with a strong sense of community and a culture that encourages students to lift one another and strive to be the best versions of themselves.

Many of the all-girls schools in Perth will have their values outlined on their website. Assess these values alongside any other indicators of the school’s culture and sense of community such as their mission statement, vision and school events.

At St Hilda’s we keep our values simple:

• Excellence
• Authenticity
• Belonging
• Imagination

These values underpin every part of our core learning and development strategies and help our girls to become the best they can be. Learn more about St Hilda’s vision and values and how we spark extraordinary futures.

Facilities and resources

Leading facilities and resources give your daughter the best chance at success with nothing to hold her back. The best girls’ high schools will boast the modern facilities to help your child prosper. Modern infrastructures, innovations, and the latest technologies and comforts can help your daughter strive to reach her fullest potential.

To help facilitate the success of our student classes and cocurriculars, our school invests heavily in ensuring that we provide the best resources for the next generation of leading young women. With a gorgeous 900-seat Performing Arts Centre and eight 50-metre geo-thermally heated swimming lanes for our St Hilda’s Swim Club, we give our girls all the tools they need to succeed.

Student support services

It’s not always easy navigating high school life, but it’s not something girls will have to overcome alone. A leading pastoral program ensures your daughter has the support she needs to pursue her ambitions even when things seem tough. We believe young women can overcome hurdles when supported, but we also understand that not all pastoral care programs are built the same. A leading pastoral care program will embody all the following attributes:

• Keep the student’s needs as a core focus
• Utilise industry-accredited research to implement the best strategies for care
• Care for mental, social, emotional and physical health for a holistic approach to wellbeing
• Prioritise wellbeing as a key factor for educational and career success

You can learn about our leading approach to student wellbeing on our wellbeing page, where we show how our Culture of Care program goes beyond your standard pastoral program.