“Girls that lift girls, become women that lift women.”
Our all-girl environment is our greatest strength. We are proud feminists and believe in equality between genders. St Hilda’s celebrates girls, women, their identities, knowledge, skills and strengths, and empowers everyone to realise their full potential and rights.
If the last two years have taught us anything, it is that our girls need to thrive in uncertainty. St Hilda’s believes passionately in the development of leadership skills, digital literacy, communication, emotional intelligence, entrepreneurship, global citizenship, problem-solving and teamwork to ensure that our girls have the skills to thrive in an ever-changing landscape and make a positive difference for good. They are encouraged to use their privileged education wisely and appreciate their good fortune to have an exceptional education.
As champions of girls, St Hilda’s believes that we need to celebrate girls’ intelligence, strengths and ambitions, and this begins when they are developing an understanding of who they are, what they believe in and identifying the values they align with. Our girls are motivated to discover and embrace the courage to be themselves, understanding that their authentic self is their competitive advantage, both now and in the future.
As females, many of our girls are fortunate to have strong relational abilities, influential communication skills, empathy and emotional intelligence. St Hilda’s girls are encouraged to use these innate attributes to their advantage. They are significant players in the modern world. If a girl can do advanced physics, speak three languages and achieve top academic results, but can’t manage her emotions, practice conflict resolution, or handle stress, none of those other achievements are really going to matter. Our girls understand the need for these skills so that they can be who and what they want to be.
St Hilda’s understands the importance of not dampening high-spirited girls. This squashes their individuality and only encourages them to be like everyone else. Our girls want to do and be good. The challenge is that the good people don’t stand up because good people don’t want to rock the boat. Our challenge at St Hilda’s is to support our ‘good girls’ to find this space. Girls are driven by what they have seen in the world, so it is our responsibility to instil confidence in them that allows them to use their voice outside of the safety of St Hilda’s.
St Hilda’s recognises the power of the pack. Girls alone have power, however collectively, they can have impact. Lifting each other up, channelling their energies and focusing on the power of collaboration is how girls are moving forward, reversing the stereotype that women don’t support other women.
Ultimately our girls want to perform well because they are motivated and inspired to do so. Furthermore, they don’t want other girls to underperform so specifically target those underperformers and help them achieve. Examples of this are plentiful when you see St Hilda’s teaching and learning in practice. When a girl can’t solve a challenge, other students immediately offer assistance, without hesitation. They do this across all learning areas and do it in a very mature way. They ask leading questions rather than simply giving answers. They guide rather than show. They encourage rather than mock. “Let me help you” is part of their learning vocabulary.
Our girls’ ability to share their gifts for the common good is admirable and is what gives St Hilda’s the point of difference of not just being an academically excellent school but one with an amazingly impressive soul. It is the spirit of St Hildas, which comes from within our girls, that makes teaching at St Hilda’s an absolute joy.
