Building Future Ready girls
We believe education should be more than just preparing your daughter for exams. While we continue to achieve outstanding academic results, we know that the future of learning is evolving
At St Hilda’s we have looked at the future of education and are preparing for what it could mean without an ATAR ranking system. While we continue to achieve outstanding ATAR results, we have an obligation to teach our girls more than simply to excel in tests. Content continues to be important, however, Google and AI means that we no longer have to rely on our memories. Instead, we need critical thinking skills, problem-solving, data analysis, collaboration, teamwork and the power to influence. These are also key skills for an entrepreneur. We call it an entrepreneurial mindset.
As a leading private girls school, we see this shift not as a trend but as a responsibility. Not withstanding the play on words, we build our girls’ self-esteem through our ESSTEAM™ program. Using an entrepreneurial mindset, we ask girls to solve problems through the lens of sustainability. It takes a cross curricular approach, applying Science, Technology, English, Arts and Maths to achieve a project-based outcome.
Students are less motivated by achieving a high mark and instead build an implicit desire to solve a problem. Sometimes, they are successful. At other times, they face challenges. We value both as important lessons that they can take with them in life.
With over 600 girls studying ESSTEAM at St Hilda’s, our commitment to entrepreneurship outranks our competitors both locally and on a global scale. Working with Curtin University, we are participating in a measurement tool that will assess how teaching an entrepreneurial mindset through high school will impact students’ approach to their studies and their longer-term outcomes.
Simply, the St Hilda’s ESSTEAM™ Program introduces and establishes entrepreneurship skills and opportunities for girls and young women to connect with real-life problems.
