Independent Schools Guide 2023: Research and innovation is key at Melbourne Girls Grammar

From the very beginning, Melbourne Girls Grammar has been a place where the education of young women is highly prized.

The school was founded by Emily Hensley and Alice Taylor – two strong and forthright academics who were determined to champion the education of girls.

“Those beginnings have transcended through our school’s history. We are a very principled school and a strong feminist school with core values of integrity, courage, compassion and selfdiscipline,” says Melbourne Girls Grammar Principal, Dr Toni Meath.

“We have always been bold and innovative, and we have always been at the front of any educational curve.”

Never resting on the laurels of the school’s academic success, recently, the school redefined how it sees excellence in innovation in the classroom and curriculum. With input from students, parents and academic advisers, the result is a platform of six pedagogical principles of learning, including “we are experts in girls’ education” and “we value critical and creative thinking”.

“We are constantly gazing at the horizon to examine what will work for us,” says Meath.

“We are knowledge creators and, with that rationale in mind, we recently launched the Melbourne Girls Grammar Institute (MGGI) to work on research with universities and to work with entrepreneurs to introduce what comes next. As a school that invests in research and innovation, we are not afraid to trial innovations that positively impact girls’ education.”

The MGGI launched mid-last year and is a professional learning research innovation arm within the school. It has an academic advisory board that includes alumni, academics, business people and allies of the school from across Australia. Meath describes the board as a “high-level think tank”.

“The MGGI is responsible for the research partnerships that we engage in, our professional learning, the parent education we provide to our community, and for creating knowledge, such as our pedagogical principles,” she says.

At the heart of all these new initiatives is a drive to ensure girls at the school receive a strong education that places them in a position to achieve their aspirations. The school’s strong STEM focus underscores its determination to nurture students who can tackle any challenge or career.

“The nature of a girls’ school challenges gender stereotypes from an early age, so our girls are explicitly taught they can do anything in the STEM arena,” says Meath.

“We employ the best teachers, many of whom have postgraduate masters and doctorates in their subject, and we have the best facilities in our science and maths labs. We have strong numbers of students studying specialist mathematics and, if they have the capacity, students can do first-year university maths through the University of Melbourne. We’ve set up our curriculum to provide enhancement, enrichment, extension and support. We also have a science partnership with RMIT University.”

MGGS also places great emphasis on the professional development of staff, with opportunities to undertake professional learning fellowships. This year, eight teachers were chosen to be part of the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership – a Victorian government initiative to enhance excellence for the state’s most highly-skilled teachers.

“Our school reflects the very best of Melbourne. We value diversity and inclusion, we are cultural and scholarly, and we have a sense of community,” says Meath.

“We are a thinking school that supports every student at every year level and stage of their development to be bold, resilient and adaptable and to protect their capacity to think, question, challenge and have their own point of view.”

MELBOURNE GIRLS GRAMMAR

Merton Hall
86 Anderson street, South Yarra, 3141

Morris Hall
100 Caroline street, South Yarra, 3141

Website: mggs.vic.edu.au
Enquiries: (03) 9862 9200
Years: ELC to Year 12
Denomination: Anglican
Gender: Girls
Fees: $23,408 to $38,944
Boarding: Yes
Scholarships: Yes
ATAR (median for 2022): 86.57

This article appeared in Domain’s 2023 Independent Schools Guide.