FromthePrincipal

I am delighted to introduce our August edition of the Korovian magazine, and to share with you the myriad activities and achievements that have taken place so far this year. Korowa is an exceptional school but I think it is more than that. It is a place where families connect with each other while watching amazing art and drama, it is a place where students work hard at their studies and playing sport, it is a place where Korovians meet to reminisce or plan for the future, it is a place where staff collaborate and work together. For me it is a real community which creates a true sense of belonging for its many different members, and this sense of community is present in each of these pages.

What I also see when I look at these pages is evidence that proves the value of an all-girls’ education. While for some it may seem self-evident that we should educate boys and girls together, in reality it is far from cut and dried. Statistics show us that girls in singlesex environments regularly outperform their co-ed counterparts. Girls in single-sex schools do more maths and science, but what is not often known is that in a coed science or maths environment, data shows that even the best teacher interacts more with the boys than with the girls. Something that obviously does not happen at a single-sex school! This is what a girls’ school does. It allows our students to grow into young women in an environment where they are free from stereotypes, in an environment where everything is designed for girls. At Korowa the voices they hear are their voices. They learn to have a voice, and they learn that they have a right to be heard. And when they leave school, they leave believing they have every right to be leaders and to be heard.

As someone who has worked exclusively in girls’ school for the past 25 years, I know that girls’ schools work because the girls tell me it does. Not always when they are at school but once they leave and enter the world, they value the education they have had, the voice they have developed. They value the greater opportunities for leadership, that they are able to try more things, that they are more adventurous in their choices. As a Korovian said recently, “every high achievement whether it was leadership, a medal in sport, academic achievement, whatever it was, was achieved by a girl … which made us feel that we could do that too!”

What you see in this magazine is an encapsulation of all that our girls and women do and have done. It shows what a girls’ school can achieve on a daily basis and that Korowa students and Korovians are enabled to be courageous, curious, strong and are will to have a go at something even when they might fear the outcome. I hope you enjoy these Korovian stories.

Frances Booth Principal