Our Values Speak For Themselves

Learning and living with purpose and direction

In early 2022, Ivanhoe Girls’ commenced the process of defining our School Values or ‘Core Values’. We were conscious that many Schools often share similar or sometimes ‘cookie cutter’ values and our school did not want to be one of those.

We wanted to ensure our:

• Values drive community – belonging and respect • Values help decision-making and collaboration – what matters to us and how we support each other • Values educate the community about our identity – who we are • Values deliver consistency – what we say and do. The one thing driving us was that we importantly wanted our values to mean something and reflect the unique culture and environment that is Ivanhoe Girls’. They also needed to be strong and concise. At the Staff Conference at the MCG in April 2022, our aims were to promote and strengthen relationships across the School, explore our culture and why values matter, and create and develop a set of values that reflect us.

The three questions posed were:

1. What brings us together as a school community? 2. What distinguishes us as a school community? 3. What behaviours do we value over others? An important aspect of our connectedness comes from our traditions and our shared values. Our new School Values help us live with direction and purpose – providing us with a guiding compass and establishes a positive school climate and culture. Our personal and shared values show us a path forward and inform our actions and choices. In 2019 we characterised our school as a forward-thinking community of learners who are thoughtful in our choices and brave in our actions. Four years on, after broad consultation with the 2022 Student Prefects, the Student Representative Council, staff and Parents’ Association, we have refined who we are by articulating our five core values; Kindness, Curiosity, Bravery, Connectedness and Vibrancy.

We’re brave, not perfect. We encourage each other to give things a go, speak up and be our true ourselves.

We're thriving, creating and growing. We give opportunities our all, contributing with passion and purpose. We want to know why, to speak new ideas, to welcome an alternative view, to understand others, to be forever learning.

In addition to outstanding academic outcomes, if our students can graduate from our school as kind, curious, brave, connected and vibrant young adults, they are well prepared to take responsibility for their own lives and to effect positive change in the lives of others. We are working together to ensure that our new School Values inform every aspect of school life from ELC through to Year 12, parents, staff and our wider school community. These School Values will be integrated and underpin all our learning and wellbeing programs, processes and who we are and want to be well into the future.

Ms Melanie Dow, Director of Communications and Marketing and Mrs Davina McClure, Deputy Principal/Head of Senior School

“Positive learning can only take place in a positive culture. A healthy school culture will affect more student and teacher (staff) success than any other reform or school improvement effort currently being employed.”

Gary Phillips (www.schoolofeducators.com)

We are empathetic and respectful of others and our environment. We embrace differences as they expand and challenge our thinking. We all belong.

We are consciously generous in our thinking and actions towards others and ourselves. We nurture authentic relationships.