Playful Scholarship: Academic Life
We want our students to be disruptive thinkers for the 21st century. Our ambitious, intellectually curious girls are independent and ready to take risks in their learning. Playful approaches in the classroom encourage our girls to think critically, analyse situations, to cultivate their individual voice and to collaborate with an open mind to find creative solutions.
Finding the joy of learning
“Playful scholarship throughout life is about finding joy, interest, and personal relevance in learning, being active participants in education and in life, leading to a deeper and more meaningful understanding emotionally, socially and intellectually, of this world of ours.”
Ben Turner, Senior Deputy Head
Building resilience through problem-solving
Thinking creatively around a problem is of course at the heart of STEAM – an interdisciplinary focus that brings together science, technology, engineering, the arts and Maths and sees students working across subjects to tackle real world issues. Students know they can try, possibly fail, and pick themselves up to try again, amongst friends and peers who wish them well.
Collaboration and communication
Weekly Civil Discourse lessons start in Year 7, where students learn to analyse how news is covered in the media, or how to engage in Socratic questioning. Across all academic disciplines, students learn to find and own their unique voice.
Independence and leadership
From Year 7 onwards, independent research skills are honed, and we integrate the use of digital tools into metacognition (how we learn to learn). We aim for playful approached to allow our young people to dive into their work, to experience the ‘flow’ of becoming immersed in it, at a time when social media algorithms compete for the attention spans of our children.